I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Analysis

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange suns rays
And dares to claim the sky.

But a BIRD that 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 to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.

Summary of “I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings”
Popularity: The poem “I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings” was written by Maya Angelou, a popular African American poet, and is an excellent literary play on Social Discrimination Against Blacks in American Society. Using the metaphors of caged and free birds, Maya Angelou has highlighted the nature of captivity and the importance of American ideals of freedom, liberty, and criticism of racial discrimination: Maya Angelou has imagined two birds is caged and the other is free. The caged bird represents African Americans and their sad situation compared to white Americans. She says that the free bird is free to move anywhere in the world while the caged bird is in captivity, full Afro-Americans did not have the freedom to move and enjoy life as whites before the civil rights movement. The freedom of the free bird and the alienation and captivity of the caged bird have been compared and contrasted in terms of both communities and the positive points of freedom have been highlighted.
Main themes: The poem has two main themes. The first main theme is given in the first stanza, which is freedom. It occurs through the image of a free bird that goes where it wants, from the enjoyment in the current to the flight in the wind. The second theme is the captivity that paralyzes the bird in the cage. This theme continues in the third stanza and tries to affirm that the caged bird is forced to sing a song of freedom. Then the free bird reappears in the fourth stanza and enjoys life in the trade winds, the trees, and the breadth and breadth of the sky. The fear of the birds while trying to sing a tune for his freedom during his captivity. The main literary resources are analyzed below.

Alliteration: Alliteration is a literary device in which a series of words begin with the same consonant sound. sound on "rarely seen through" and then / w / sound on "waiting worms" and then again / sh / sound on "shadow screams".
Assonance: Assonance is the use of vowel sounds in rapid succession. The poem has a few assonances, for example / i / tones in 'distant hills' and' sings with fearful hills'.
Consonance: Consonance means repetitive tones produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase. In the lines “But a bird that stalks go down” / b / tones are repeated and in the same way / d / tones are repeated in “trade winds”.
Bilder: Since pictures concern five senses, this poem is full of different pictures: "Free bird" and "Back of the wind" pictures for seeing and feeling. Similarly, there are some images like "orange rays of the sun" for sight and "throat to sing" for hearing.
Metaphors: There are two main metaphors. The first metaphor is of the free bird, which is for white Americans or free people, while the caged bird is the metaphor of African Americans and their captivity in social norms.
Personification: Maya Angelou has used the personification as "sighing trees" when if it were trees She personified the bird by changing its PR onoun from "its" to "his".
Symbol: Maya Angelou has used different symbols to show racial discrimination and social construction against her community, the caged bird is a symbol of incarceration, while her song is a symbol of freedom
This analysis shows that this poem has used resources literary devices to point out The importance of freedom before the Civil War era and even now.

Analysis of poetic devices in "I know why the caged bird sings"
Although most of the poetic devices are part of the literary devices, some resources are only used in poems. Here is an analysis of some of the main poetic devices used in this poem.

Final rhyme: The final rhyme is used to make a stanza melodious, as in the first and second lines of the third stanza, the rhyming words are "trill", "still" and "strident".
Internal rhyme: The rhyme internal is a rhyme within a line as in the line "waiting on a bright lawn at sunrise" two words "sunrise" and "lawn" rhyme with each other.
Repetition: The poetic, also like the rich device of repetition, emphasizes a point through repetition such as “A free bird thinks” and “The caged bird sings” that have been repeated in the poem several times.
Stay: The poet has used stanzas with a different number of verses without a regular rhyme scheme.

Usage quotes from “I know why the caged bird sings”
These two lines can be used for a speech given on freedom or liberty.
“A free bird jumps on the wind's back

and floats down the river until it ends the current. ”

These two lines can be used to make people realize wildlife and the value of freedom for birds.
“ The caged bird sings a frightening

trill of things unknown but still longed for.