Paul Laurence Dunbar Sympathy

Maya Angelou is a leader by example, she sets the standard by her actions and the stories she tells teaches the audience a lesson. Majority of her work is to inform us of the past and she wants us to learn from her experiences in life; she is a life teacher. The purpose of this poem was to inform us of the history of our country. The poem is titled “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” and her purpose of writing this is to teach the reader why the caged bird sings. Maya Angelou wants to put the reader in her shoes to get the ultimate experience of racial inequality but instead by taking the role of a caged bird or a free bird.

At a point in time in the life of every person, a feeling of being trapped or stuck occurs. The poem “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar represents the speaker’s vast knowledge of the feeling of being enclosed in a place where they are tremendously uncomfortable. The speaker explains the actions of a bird trapped in a small cage and explains the motives behind the actions. The speaker reveals that the song the caged bird sings is not a melody exuberating joy, but a cry begging for freedom.

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” depicts two birds which are used as metaphors to express the state in which the two classes of people live. In one description the poem describes the standard of living of a bird of privilege which alludes to the lives of whites. Then it describes caged birds whom of which are crying out for freedom, and are meant to represent African Americans during this time. It describes the feeling of being trapped and calling out for

It is also evident from the “prayer he sends from his heart's core” that this is an extremely desperate action. This desperation to be free, as well as the struggle and fight the bird faces conveys that freedom is desire for all beings. Maya Angelou's Caged bird also conveys this message through juxtaposition. She writes, “and dips his wing/in the orange sun rays/and dares to claim the sky/But a bird that stalks/own his narrow cage/can seldom see through/his bars or rage” (Angelo 5-11). The juxtaposition of the free bird and the caged bird expresses freedom is a desire for all beings. The use of juxtaposition places ideas together to contrast them. First, one reads about a free bird that can fly in the open. Then, one reads about the caged bird who can’t see anything but his “bars or rage”, or his anger and resentment to being trapped, and is “singing for freedom”. The first bird is living it’s natural life as it “dares to claim the sky”. Through this contrast one can see that the first bird is in it’s natural habitat while the second is scared and angry. It is evident through juxtaposition that freedom is a desire for all

Oppression is at the root of many of the most serious, enduring conflicts in the world. Times were tough in America during the turn of the century. Lots of changes were occurring, and many folks had a difficult time coming to terms with them. Black Americans in particular found themselves caught in a culture that appeared somewhat better than it had been before and during the Civil War. But the fact of the matter was: things just weren't so peachy. This poem is a reaction to the racial climate of the late nineteenth century. The son of former slaves, Paul Laurence Dunbar, was born on June 27, 1872 in Dayton, Ohio to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War. At age 33, he died of tuberculosis on February 9, 1906. He was the first African-American poet to reach a wide audience, publishing verse poems and short stories before his early death. His use of both negro dialect and standard English helped to portray his cultural lifestyle, joys, and tribulations distinguishing him from other writers of the late 1800s, early 1900s. In his poem, the speaker opens the poem with the declaration that we wear masks that hide our true feelings. He goes on to emphasize the severity of the pain and suffering that these masks try to cover up. By the end we understand that all of the politeness and subdued emotions are just phony disguises of the painful truths that hide behind them. With that knowledge, he try’s to get his audience to understand his purpose in

In Maya Angelou’s poem, “Caged Bird”, She explains how a bird is trapped inside of a cage and can not escape from thick metal bars that hold it back. It imagines and signs of having freedom. People believe this is about a bird, but what if it isn’t. I believe that this is talking about a person who can’t make the decision if they want to keep fighting to do free.The bird can’t decide if it wants to fight to soon wear the bars of the cage down so it can finally fly away aswell or to give up and use its voice and

From Hughes poems readers get a sense of the emotions and longings that many slaves experienced. “There are words like freedom sweet and wonderful to say. On my heart-strings freedom sings all day everyday.” To many people in America freedom is something that they feel they are entitled to because America is supposed to be the land of the free. Today that is true for all Americans but a long time ago freedom meant so much more than it was today.

The bird in the story represents someone who lost hope in receiving freedom. That concept is best shown in the story, “But the swallow no longer believes what people say”. The bird lost complete hope. The bird is promised that he will be taken care of, but each time he finds himself in the hand of a new owner. In each situation he begs to be freed but no one seems to understand him. The

In the poems “I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings” and “Sympathy both authors dealt with oppression. Through Dunbar’s writing he

The poem “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar was published in the late 1800’s. It is a poem written in first person sympathising with a caged bird. Dunbar begins with describing the sun, grass and river. Then, he goes on to explain that he knows why the bird beats its wing on the cages bars. He states that the bird wants to fly out of the cage to a tree branch and will continue to beat his wing against the cage until he is able to fly.

Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the first African-American poets to gain national recognition. Dunbar was born on June 27, 1872. Dunbar started writing at an early age about his parents’ life on a plantation as slaves. Paul Laurence Dunbar was a very talented writer, a good role-model, and a great poet. Paul Laurence Dunbar was influenced by two major things in his life, one of which is racial discrimination.

“Caged Bird,” is one of the most renowned pieces by the late Maya Angelou. The poem depicts a bird trapped in a cage like portrayed in the title. At first, the beginning stanza has a very cheerful tone. Images of a bird flying freely in the sky and having no worries are drawn in the readers’ minds. Suddenly the following two stanzas transition to more of a hopeless and angry tone. Instead of imagining a free bird, now we see a caged bird having its wings clipped. Even though the bird is in a terrible situation, it still manages to open its throat to sing.

“Sympathy” by Paul Dunbar and “Bury me in a Free Land” by Frances Watkins Harper are two African American poems that differ in tone and style. Both of these poems however, despite their differences, address prominent historical aspect of African American slavery and present the misery of Black men living in America during that era. These poems, through numerous rhetoric devices, present the struggle of African Americans facing the clash between bondage and freedom.

‘Caged Bird’ is a poem about a bird being held back in its cage as it watches another bird fly freely through the sky. This poem could mean numerous things, but I believe this poem is about someone fearing the unknown. Of what would happen if they left their cage, their safe place. But they can’t help by being curious what their freedom could be. So, they’re tied back by their own fears. Too scared to open their wings and fly away. Perhaps from past experiences, or anxiety building up over their time in the cage. “but a bird stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage, his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat”. They let the unknown tie their feet and clip their wings, but their envy of freedom still drifts along with their fears, so they open their throat to sing. Even how angry they get with their fits of rage, they’re too scared and too damaged to overcome their fears of what they don’t know. Perhaps someone can change their fears. Warn them so they can morph and overcome them.

In the last stanza, the caged bird’s song symbolises the emotions and cries of freedom. The combination of the two represents that there is a need for every child to reach their full potential. Something that cannot be achieved with helicopter parenting and the barriers placed upon them.