Personification In The Caged Bird

As Maya Angelou once said “For the caged bird / sings of freedom” (Angelou 1969. Line 37-38). For most people freedom appears as an assumed privilege. However, it is easy to forget those in the past and the present can only dream of freedom. Maya Angelou’s poem is a reminder of the people who did not have a chance at a free life. Maya Angelou, a North American author, poet, and civil right activist, has become a voice for those who had failed to speak up for themselves. She is recognized for being a spokesperson for black people, woman, and for her commitment of raising the moral standards of black and white people living in the United States. Angelou has written several poems and stories to interpret the horrifying events African Americans experienced in the 1960’s. In the poem, “Caged Bird”, Maya Angelou, utilizes the literary devices of personification, metaphor, and juxtaposition to demonstrate through the metaphor of a caged bird the plight and oppressed life black people had to live.

Using personification Maya Angelou describes the painful situation of the caged bird and its nonexistence freedom. She writes

While the majority of the poem focuses on the caged bird, Angelou includes a stanza about a free bird. She says in the stanza, “…and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn / and he names the sky his own” (Angelou, 1969, Line 15). This quote is expressing how many liberties the free bird has and it makes the reader understand how important happiness is in people’s life. Freedom means happiness; and without happiness life becomes pointless. Moreover, by contrasting the controlled life of the caged bird to the self-governing life of the free bird, Angelou further highlights to the reader all the caged bird or slave is missing. Angelou’s use of juxtaposition added to the reader’s discomfort with the caged bird’s circumstances as the reader sees the luxuries of