Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis
An Introductory Note :[Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary ]
Caged Bird By Maya Angelou was first published in her book, “Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing?” in 1983. The poem is a Metaphor illustrating the differences between African-Americans and Whites during the civil rights era. The author, a black woman who grew up in the South during this era, is expressing her feelings at the discrimination she faced during her life. Her first autobiography published in 1970 is titled, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”.
Like much of Angelou’s work, “Caged Bird” is an unstructured poem that uses techniques such as rhyme and alliteration to create focus. Additionally, repetition keeps specific words and phrases in the minds of the readers. “Caged Bird” originally appeared in Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing?, published by Random House in 1983, and then in Maya Angelou: The Complete Poetry, published by Random House in 2015.
Substance :
“I know why the caged bird sings” is Maya Angelou’s heart-wrenching poem that reflects on the mindless oppression that the Blacks were subjected back in the olden days. Her portrayal of the injustice using a “free bird” and a “caged bird” leaves us with a bitter taste that reminds us of the long abolished slavery.
An Analytical Summary :
1. Adding contrast to the title of the poem, the poet begins with a description of a free bird. It describes how a bird that is free to fly performs all kinds of tricks in the air. A free bird can flow with the wind stream. It reminds us of the people who are free to live as they wish. They can do whatever they want to.
II. A free bird dips his wing in the orange sun rays. A person who is free can take part in the brightness of this world. Only a free person can dare to claim the sky. Freedom knows no limit.
III. The poet then talks of a bird who is limited to a narrow cage. Such a bird can not see through his bars of rage. Restriction from freedom fills us with hesitation towards life. In such anger, one can not see ahead.
IV. A bird inside the cage has no wings to fly because they are clipped and his feet are tied. He can not go anywhere so he can use his mouth only which is free to sing. It reminds us of the poet’s own life in which she faced so much but kept singing poems.
V. Again the poet compares the free bird to a caged bird who can only sing fearfully. Due to the lack of freedom, most of the things from the outer world are unknown to the caged bird so he longs for them.
VI. A song travels from place to place so the song of the caged bird can also be heard in distant hills. It means, her claims for freedom through her poetry are now known in distant places too.
VII. Here, the poet primarily draws out the fact that only in freedom, one can see the beauty of this world. The free bird thinks of a comfortable breeze. For him, the wind goes softly through trees. He has good food ready to eat. The fat worms are waiting for him on a beautiful lawn where he can freely fly and eat them. He has the freedom to name his own sky. The lack of freedom doesn’t allow a person to even name things for him.
VIII. Alternatively, the poet speaks of a caged bird who can never act on his dreams. His dreams remain dreams without any fruition into reality. He stands on the grave of his own dreams which died out slowly. save so
IX. A caged bird is afraid of its own shadows. His dreams are now turned into nightmares and his shadow reminds him of that. It is the unimaginable exploitation which the poet and her people went through. As a caged bird, whose wings are clipped and feet are tied, she can only sing now. 63 min
X. The poet finally ends with a gleaming picture of a caged bird who sings a rapidly alternating tune full of fear. The poem as a song repeats its earlier images of longing for the unknown in a caged bird. There is still hope because his tune is traveling across distant places and everyone is noticing because he sings of freedom.
Paraphrase:
A free bird flies on the wind, as if floating downstream until the wind current shifts, and the bird dips its wings in the orange sunlight, and he dares to call the sky his own. But a bird that moves angrily and silently in a small cage can barely see through either the cage bars or his own anger. His wings are cut so he cannot fly and his feet are tied together, so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings fearfully of things he does not know, but still wants, and his song can be heard from as far away as distant hills, because the caged bird sings about freedom. The free bird thinks about another breeze, and about the global winds that blow from east to west and make the trees sound as if they are sighing, and he thinks of the fat worms waiting to be eaten on the lawn in the early morning light, and he says he owns the sky. But a caged bird stands on the grave of his own dead dreams, and his dream self screams from the nightmares he has. His wings are trimmed down and his feet are tied, so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings fearfully of things he does not know, but still wants, and his song can be heard from as far away as distant hills, because the caged bird sings about freedom.
Title :
Published in 1983, the poem “Caged Bird” repeats a familiar symbol for the author. It is contained in the title of Maya Angelou’s first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1970; the title is a line from Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy.” The symbol appears again in one of her last projects, Caged Bird Songs. The poem explores the themes of oppression in society, anger, hope, and freedom.
The juxtaposition of the trapped and untamed birds can easily represent the repression of African Americans compared with whites, but many readers see the caged bird as symbolic of anyone restricted by society. The title, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, comes from the last line of the poem “Sympathy” by African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. The caged bird in the poem beats its wings against its cage bars and pleas to be set free from imprisonment.
Background:
Angelou uses the metaphor of a bird struggling to escape its cage, described in Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, as a prominent symbol throughout her series of autobiographies. Like elements within a prison narrative, the caged bird represents Angelou’s confinement resulting from racism and oppression. In this poem, the poet tried to narrate the sufferings of African-Americas. She described that free bird flying the sky the come down to in the pool of sunlight. Unfortunately, the caged bird was trapped by the rage related bars. It had no way to express itself but to sing. It sang about freedom which could be heard by everybody.
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Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis Caged Bird by Maya Angelou Summary Analysis