![]() ![]() The dreams of Black people were never given a chance, unlike the free, white people. The first line in the fifth stanza reveals the author’s feelings of her own dreams, “a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams”. His wings are clipped and his feet are tied The caged bird, never having experienced freedom and wanting freedom, thinks and sings only of freedom.īut a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams The free bird owns the world, “he names the sky his own”. Instead, it “thinks of another breeze” and “the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn”. The free bird doesn’t have to think about freedom because it is free. In stanza four, we look back at the different life of the free bird. Singing was a way to express the pain and longing for freedom.Īnd the trade winds soft through the sighing treesĪnd the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn The caged bird sings of freedom, of fear, and things unknown. Here in the third stanza, Angelou describes the caged bird’s song. Maya Angelou revealed in her autobiography that this is often how she felt, unable to enjoy the innate freedom she should have been given as a human. Angelou says this is why the bird “opens his throat to sing”. The caged bird also has his wings clipped and feet tied, being completely restricted and trapped. These bars represent both physical and emotional oppression that has changed the bird. A stark contrast from the free bird in the first stanza. The caged bird can “can seldom see through his bars of rage”. It went from bright open skies to a dark narrow cage. The author goes on to describe a bird that “stalks down his narrow cage” and you can immediately feel the tone has changed. The first word, “But”, emphasizes this contrast. The second stanza contrasts the first, as she introduces the reader to the caged bird. The reader can visualize a bird enjoying the sun and breeze in its natural habitat. The free bird has the right to “claim the sky”. ![]() She uses imagery here, painting a picture of a free bird flying in the wind with a sunny, orange sky. Further use of these literary devices, along with imagery, metaphor, symbol, and enjambment, can be seen with an analysis of each stanza.Īngelou begins the poem by describing the experience of the free bird. Alliteration is also used with “cage” and “can” as well as “sun” and “sky”. Repetition is used throughout, most noticeably with “free bird” and “caged bird” and again in the sixth stanza, where the poet repeats the third stanza. Angelou uses several literary devices throughout “Caged Bird”. It was written in free verse however, there are a few examples of iambic meter. This is a 6 stanza poem that ranges in length. It was and still is a reflection of the oppression of the Black people in America. These birds act as a metaphor for oppression, highlighting the privilege of those free and the suffering and resilience of the oppressed. The free bird is happy and able to live in nature as it pleases while the caged bird suffers. “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou is a poem that describes the two opposing differences between two birds a free bird and a caged bird. ![]()
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