Sympathy And The Caged Bird Poem Analysis

On a literal way the poem is describing how a bird tries to escape from a room because it is lock in it, which is a dramatic situation, as it is described in the poem. The first interpretation, is that “she” will be free when “she” dies, as every time “she” tries to reach freedom fails “And leads to ample space, the only Heav’n of Birds”. The second is more pessimistic as it concludes that “she” will never be free, as every time “she” tries to reach that freedom there is a hindrance or it is not what she expected. Another interpretation would be that “she” thinks that there is a world out there because “she” can see it, but every time “she” tries to get to that world “she” fails so “she” realises that it is a bogus

An innumerable amount of poems have been written over the history of humanity. With so many poems, there is an inevitable amount of similarity in the poems that exist, but on the other hand a guarantee of a certain degree of diversity. Even with two poems that seem to be exactly the same, one might find that they have contrasting elements upon dissecting them, and vice-versa. An example of two poems like this are “The Lanyard” by Billy Collins and “The Gift” by Li-Young Lee. Both poems contain like themes, similar yet disparate tones, and differ in their language use.

The human connection to birds is a fascinating thing that is often depicted in stories. Humans want to be free like birds and fly away from the troubles that are present in their life. Birds reflect the image of freedom in life, so it’s no wonder that the Bald Eagle is the emblem of the United States; a country built on the principles of freedom and equality. Two famous poets by the names of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Maya Angelou used the image of the bird to describe how they felt in their own life. Even though Dunbar wrote in the Reconstruction Era and Angelou wrote around the time of the Civil Rights Movement, their ideas were almost identical. Angelou and Dunbar show similarities when they describe feeling trapped like caged birds, but their portrayal of the birds contrast in their actions

“Clearly animals know more than we think, and think a great deal more than we know.”- Irene M. Pepperberg. This quote shows that animals are smarter than we think and know more than we think they know. In the two poems “A Blessing” and “Predators”, there are many ways that they are similar and different. Both stories have the same author’s style, setting and animals as characters, and a human and animal connection. But, the stories are different because of the poetic structure, tame or wild animals, and simple of sophisticated diction.

Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Tom ran for it even though he knew there were high risks of him being killed, which shows how the caged bird in the poem “Caged Bird” is much like him. In the poem “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou, the caged bird is compared and contrasted to a free bird and by examining the circumstances of Tom Robinson’s life, I say that he is very much like the caged bird. For instance, in stanza two it’s stated “His wings are clipped and/ His feet are tied/ So he opens his throat to sing.” If we compare the bird’s wings to Tom Robinson’s hope, the feet to his heart, and his action of  running to the action of opening his throat to sing, we can visualize the song that Tom Robinson would sing, one about him losing hope and not wanting anyone to control his life anymore, and so in this manner he is very much like the caged bird in this poem. Similarly, Tom Robinson’s physical struggles can be compared to the caged bird in the poem “Sympathy”. In the novel it’s written “Tom

From the 1880’s into the 1960’s, a majority of American states enforced segregation through Jim Crow laws. In her story, “In My Place,” Charlayne Hunter Gault recounts an experience of hers that describe the horrifying governing principles that people had to follow and live with on a day to day basis. The ending of these principles was a task that required courageous and cunning characteristics as well as a dedicated soul. Throughout her experiences, Ms. Hunter unknowingly began the generation of a movement that would soon lead to the latter years of segregation as well as the Jim Crow laws. Although Charlayne Hunter Gault's experiences were wearisome and problematic, Hunter dramatizes her audiences experience by addressing her “caged bird”

If we look at the time period Dunbar grew up in, there are parallels to be drawn in terms of the poem and his life. The idea of a caged bird, something meant to fly and be free but held captive is similar to what it would have most definitely felt like to grow up during this time as an African American. In fact, Dunbar himself can be viewed as this caged bird, which explains why he knows the things the bird experiences all too well. It would have been extremely hard, even for someone as talented and intelligent as Dunbar to rise up within a community during this time period if they were African American. They were restricted and held back by society and discrimination, much like the bird was held by the cage. Only by writing and expressing himself on the page he touched, unlike the bird, Dunbar was able to break free of his

The feelings of the birds and how they go about their lives is a way to show what the caged bird is longing for, but can’t have. In “Sympathy”, the author sympathizes with the bird’s feelings of being caged in rather than talking about what it would be like to be free. The title “Sympathy” is so appropriate for the poem because it really is about how the bird feels and how you can sympathize with the pain and imprisonment the bird feels. There should be no preference over one of the poems. The reason being is that both poems were great at showing that it is freedom that they want and

Under the Rice Moon, by Rhianna Puck, is a short story about a small bird in a large, Chinese city. A small cliff swallow is trapped in a small cage at a small food vending cart on the side of a busy street. It is exchanged to many people in the hustle and bustle of the city, confused and distrot. He is eventually brought to the room of a small girl, bedridden with a fever. This bird has given up all hope of freedom by this point and doesn’t know what will become of him. The girl wakes in the middle of the night and notices the caged bird. She frees the bird out her window, knowing the distress of being kept inside. There are many themes that can be found in this short story, many of which could change someone’s life for the better.

Let’s start by looking at the protagonist of the poem who illustrates a lot of psychoanalytical issues in his ordeal with the raven. From the start of the poem to the end, the reader can recognize and identify many defenses. Some of them include selective memory, selective deception, selective perception, denial and displacement especially towards the end. The most significant issue presented in the poem is the fear of being abandoned. Let me delve deeper into the subject.

Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the first African-American poets to receive widespread recognition from both the Caucasian and African-American communities released many pieces of literature expressing his feelings throughout his life during the Reconstruction era. Two of these pieces, “We Wear the Mask” and “Sympathy” were short poems that veered from his regular dialectic pieces, aimed at aiding in Reconstruction, and held hidden rebellions against the mistreatment of African-Americans at the time the passages were released. The African-American and Ethnic Literary Studies critical approach is a tool used while critiquing pieces of literature that hold common themes or elements tracing back to slavery and segregation in early America. This approach

Emily Dickinson opens up her poem with the famous line, “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words,’’. Paul Laurence Dunbar ends his poem with the line “I know why the caged bird sings!”. These two lines from the poets form the theme of the two poems. The poem “Hope is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson, and “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar both present a theme that suffering makes you appreciate hope much more. It seems that hope and pain are almost a dynamic duo. You cannot appreciate the good if you do not experience the bad. However in the poem “Sympathy”, by Dunbar, you can visualize the darker side of hope seeing as he gives more insight in the hurting side of hope. Both the poems use the metaphor of a bird to visualize the overall meaning of the poem. Dunbar uses his bird as a metaphor for the lack of freedom and

“A Caged Bird” was a poem that represented the early stages of Angelou’s life. There are several themes like race, change and freedom, which explains the survival of the fittest. The imagery used in the poems allows a vision of what the bird was like before being in a cage. There is a sense of abandonment because of the unfortunate faith that period of life has produced. Another major theme is

Trapped. Nowhere to go and no one to turn to. You sing. But does your song really reach anyone? If you ever felt this way you certainly would have felt like the birds in these poems. In the poems “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou, both portray captive birds that sing. However in “Sympathy”, the bird pleads with god for freedom, whereas in “Caged Bird” the captive bird calls for help from a free bird.

Angelou was born as “Marguerite Annie Johnson on April 4, 1928 in St Louis, Missouri”. “Caged Bird” was first published in the collection Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing? 1983. (Davis) “Caged Bird” is the poem which lead to Angelou’s autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” 1970, (Davis) and in 1979 was made into a major motion picture. (IMDB) This poem addresses the feelings of isolation and segregation which allows the reader to travel the path of Angelou during the social injustice