Sympathy Paul Laurence Dunbar Poem Analysis

Whether it be social discrimination or women’s rights, people in the history of the United States have been fighting for equal rights. The poem “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and the speech titled “After Being Convicted of Voting in the 1872 Presidential Election” by Susan B. Anthony both have similarities and differences. They are similar with their central idea and author’s purpose; they are different in how their supporting details are executed. The two pieces share the central idea of “an aspiration for equal rights” and a similar author’s purpose. Both the speech and the poem share the plea of the author, whether it is an emotional plea or a political plea. One of the emotional pleas in Dunbar’s “Sympathy” is that African Americans’

Anthony’s speech “After Being Convicted…,” both have the common author’s purpose of making either an emotional or political plea. In “Sympathy,” Dunbar makes an emotional plea by expressing that just because African Americans were considered to be free when he published the poem, they were not free in terms of that they were bound by segregation. In the line “It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core…,” Dunbar is using a word with a somewhat neutral connotation for the word “prayer” in order to get the reader to comprehend that the bird is desperate which shows an emotional

Anthony having different ways of expressing their central ideas using supporting details, they both have the same central idea and a similar author’s purpose. “Sympathy” uses the metaphor of a caged bird in order to convey the central idea, while “After Being Convicted…” uses technical language to develop its central idea. They share the central idea of “”an aspiration for equal rights” and a similar author’s purpose by showing either a political or emotional plea. Overall, both the poem and the speech are both similar in some aspects, yet different in