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Caged Bird

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Nolwazi Nxumalo
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13 views9 pages

Caged Bird

Uploaded by

Nolwazi Nxumalo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Caged

Bird
Maya Angelou (1983)
Poem - Background
Poet and time period

• Prior to Civil Rights Movement when there was segregation and inequality.

• Poet was an African-American woman (marginalised / oppressed).

• Angelou wrote her autobiography with a similar title. In her autobiography she talks
about the struggle of being a Black author and poet.

• She often felt like her words were not heard because of the colour of her skin.

• In the poem, the caged bird is an extended metaphor for the Black community in
America (and around the world).
Stanza 1 tone:
peaceful, joyful,
satisfied

A free bird leaps


on the back of the wind Personification

Lots of nature imagery.


and floats downstream
Connotations of freedom and till the current ends
beauty. Allows reader to
appreciate the “free” bird in its and dips his wing
natural habitat .
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky. Hyperbole indicating
extreme confidence.
The free bird has the ability
to do anything.
Tone becomes dark
and unnerving.

Indicates a contrast /
shift from the first
stanza.
But a bird that stalks The free bird gets to
enjoy the whole sky. The
down his narrow cage caged bird can hardly
even see it.
can seldom see through
the bars of rage metaphor
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing
Repeated to emphasise the distressing
condition of the caged bird and how he
longs for freedom. He is crippled and can’t
move BUT still has a voice and can be
used.
The caged bird sings
This stanza is also with a fearful trill
repeated later in the poem Look carefully at the diction
(last stanza). It serves to
of things unknown used for each bird throughout
further solidify the but longed for still the poem.
difference between the two
birds. and his tune is heard Think about the connotations.
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 Personification .
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn
bright lawn
and he named the sky his own.
Echoes the idea presented in
line 7 of the free bird claiming
the sky.
Another metaphor.
So many dreams have died
because the speaker was never
given the freedom to achieve all
that her white counterparts were
able to achieve.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams


his shadow shouts on a nightmare screams
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
Personification
so he opens his throat to sing.
Desire for freedom
and expression
Discrimination and
racism made up her
cage (oppression).

The caged bird sings Even though the caged


bird may not have
with a fearful trill experienced true
of things unknown freedom, deep down the
bird still knows it was
but longed for still created to be free.
Her cries are heard and his tune is heard
BUT only as soft,
distant background on the distant hill
noise.
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

Again, hasn’t experienced it


but was created for it.
Caged Bird - general notes
• Form: no set rhyme scheme or pattern BUT some examples of iambic meter. The
poem combines freedom and restraint. The plight of the two birds is echoed in the
form.

• 6 stanzas: 2 for free bird, 4 for caged bird = caged bird’s experience is highlighted.
• Themes: racial oppression, freedom, captivity, happiness / sorrow.
• Speaker: addressing inequality and oppression.
• Free bird diction: links to nature, has positive connotations. Free bird = person with
freedom and opportunity.

• Caged bird diction: links to confinement, has negative connotations. Caged bird =
oppressed person with no opportunities.

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