Compare And Contrast Angelou And Paul Laurence Dunbar

Analysis of “Sympathy” In the 20th century poem “Sympathy” Paul Laurence Dunbar uses imagery, irony, and repetition to develop the three shifting tones. In addition, he points out that without freedom individuals will feel trapped and wounded. Throughout stanza one, Dunbar uses rhyme, repetition, and imagery to convey a tone of innocence. Imagery of a bird singing and the first bud of flowers opening gives us a visual representation of pleasure and being born new, thereby, a feeling of innocence. In the repeating line “I know how the caged bird feels,” to emphasize the pleasure of freedom that the bird feels.

An Unjust System Freedom does not feel ‘free’ to all people, as many have struggled throughout the centuries to reach the treasured outcome of freedom that Americans so often speak pridefully of. An excerpt from Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing?, “Caged Bird” is a stand-alone poem written by Maya Angelou in 1983. In the poem “Caged Bird,” Maya Angelou displays the drastic differences between the “free” whites and the “caged” blacks by emphasizing the endless freedom that Caucasians historically have had, while African Americans have had to live in the midst of fear. The African American voice is evident in this poem through the “caged bird” as the speaker powerfully demonstrates her thoughts being opposed to a “free” bird, which is presumably Caucasian Americans. The caged bird has limited opportunity, which is clear as the bird is trapped inside a “narrow cage” (“Caged Bird” 9).

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

Dunbar’s exquisite subject of a bird shows how African American people became less human, and more animalistic. A caged bird is similar to how, even though African Americans are humans and technically “free”, they were still trapped. Dunbar’s powerful word choice emphasizes struggle and pain that occurred in the attempt to gain true freedom. Dunbar expresses the caged bird “beats his wings” until “its blood red on the cruel bars” (8-9). The author’s word choice of “beats”, “blood red”, and “cruel” narrates a hard, tedious struggle.

Both of the birds sing for their freedom and sing through their pain. The two poems “Sympathy” written by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “Caged Bird” written by Maya Angelou are so similar, yet so different. Both of the poems are very similar because they both share a single underlying theme which is Freedom. Both Dunbar and Angelou wrote their poems about a universal concept that individuals will find at some point in their lifetime. These poems show that when one fights for their rights they will face difficulties, but them having hope will help for them to overcome their pain.

When the poem was wrote in the 1800s, many African- Americans were in slavery, and the poet wanted others to know how many of them felt. In the poem "Sympathy", by Paul Laurence Dunbar, he tells a story of a bird who is experiencing lack of freedom by using symbolism, figurative language, and imagery. In the first stanza of the poem the poet displayed sensory imagery. Sensory imagery is the language that appears to a reader’s five senses that includes; sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Dunbar used three of the five which included, sound, smell, and sight.

The Tropical Bird Cage Hanging in a Condominium’s Window In the poem, “Sympathy” written by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, the caged bird is a metaphor that portrays the notion of injustice through many unique literary devices such as detail, diction, and imagery. Dunbar evinces a tempestuous attitude of injustice, including freedom and exploitation, as a story of a bird’s life is used as a metaphor for these two characteristics. Dunbar writes, “When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;/when the wind stirs soft through the spring grass.” (Dunbar 2-3) From this quote, an individual can comprehend that Dunbar uses imagery--describing the calm and bright landscape--to exhibit the idea of freedom. An individual may also notice that the author uses diction,

Whereas Noah thought he was the one that caused his Mothers death, as the night before she found out about his sexuality and he found out the fact that she wanted to divorce his father. That morning they both got into a fight and as she was driving away, Noah was yelling at

Over 500,000 copies were sold within the first year, but it was not well received. Many critics considered it socialist propaganda. It was banned from schools and libraries due to its language and “obscenities.” People also protested the book for its treatment of corporate farmers. At the time this book was written farmers were being pushed off their land by banks and the dust bowls and were migrating west to find work. This affected the composition because it highlighted the poor conditions of migrant workers which eventually lead to First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt supporting the book and having congressional hearings held about those conditions.

The book A Thousand Splendid Suns was to show the evil acts that happened in Afghanistan in the end of the 1950’s to almost present day. The books author, Khaled Hosseini mainly showed the unjust treatment of the women in Afghanistan. A Thousand Splendid Suns vividly describes how the afghan people were tortured. This book has high and low points with many plot twist that will keep most people off of their seats. The story starts off with Mariam, a girl whom is mentally tortured by her mother.. Mariam lives with her mother, Nana, for the first fifteen years of her life, but something tragic happens which forces her to get married to an abusive middle-aged man named Rasheed in a distant city.

He got disability and social security for six years until he stopped getting checks from social security because there were supposedly numerous unskilled one handed jobs. It was situations like this that made Vietnam veterans feel unappreciated. The veterans from World War II were welcomed with open arms while the Vietnam veterans were denied social security. Black veterans who came back home were not treated with the respect and dignity that they deserved. First lieutenant Archie Biggers was treated differently by the black community because he was an officer.