Interpretation Graphic Organizer: How Is Pathos Created In This Poem

Responding to Poetry
Hand In Assignment
Instructions: Answer the questions below. You will also create an Evidence & Interpretation Graphic Organizer (6 marks) to support your answers with as much detail as possible. See example of one entry here.
2) How is pathos created in this poem? Explain. /3
Pathos is created in this poem by using significant words which have immediate associations with common emotions and circumstances in most reader’s minds. These words include “freedom”, “caged”, “grave”, “dreams”, “sing, and “fearful”, among others. These words, and the ideas behind them, are often used in both regular discussions and media surrounding the general ideas of freedom and longing for it. Freedom is one of the most important ideas

I felt responsible for my own circumstance when the poem stated: “can seldom see through his bars of rage.” The bars of my own rage and my own emotions made me feel confined to stay where I am at, but because of my own inability to see outside of this cage of my own making. When the author wrote “his wings are clipped and/his feet are tied,” I thought about the external factors that affect this self-inflicted imprisonment of emotions. I felt out of control and as though I could not influence the circumstances of my own life. The poem later discussed how the caged bird sings “of things unknown/but longed for still.” This reminded me of how I always long for that which I don’t have, whether I know what it is that I am longing for or not, and regardless of if I know whether it is actually better for me. I felt like sometimes I’m not even wishing for something else, I’m just desperate for ‘not this’. I felt hopeful when I read the statement “for the caged bird/sings of freedom,” because singing carries implications of joy and energy, indicating an optimism for the future and for perhaps achieving ‘not this’. The next line reminded me of my greed, and how even when I have what I want, I only want more: “the free bird thinks of another breeze.” The second to last stanza brought feelings of regret. The statement “but a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams/his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream” made me think through how the cage that I am building for myself with those negative emotions kill my dreams and aspirations. Those emotions come back stronger, as a scream, when I notice the grave that I have put my dreams