I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Class XA poetry)

BEFORE YOU BEGIN THIS LESSON PICK UP YOUR TEXTBOOK AND READ ALONG WITH THE ABOVE VIDEO OF THE POEM

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou

Major Themes:

1)    The bird in the cage is a symbol of all African - Americans and their collective struggle for their rights, freedom, and equality in America.

2)    The free bird symbolizes the white population who have never known oppression or discrimination for their race.

3)    The caged bird also symbolizes the struggle of a black author who tries to make the voices of her people heard.

4)    Imagery such as the lines, “grave of dreams...nightmare scream” is in sharp contrast to the liberty of the free bird as shown in the poem.

5)    The poem presents a contrast between the free bird and the caged bird.

6)    The poem uses metaphor, imagery, and symbolism to talk about the problems of racism and confinement.

7)    The poem ends on a note of the constant longing for freedom.

8)    Autobiographical in nature: When we say a poem is autobiographical we mean that it contains elements of the poet’s own life. This poem speaks of the struggles of not only the Black people but also Angelou’s own struggles as a Black woman to make her own voice and the voice of her people’s struggles against injustice. Her own struggles allowed her to feel the pain of her people as well.

Analysis:

Stanza 1:

A free bird leaps/ on the back of the wind/ and floats downstream/ till the current ends

Leaps: jump

Downstream: situated or moving in a direction a river flows (in this case the direction of the wind)

Current: a body of water or air moving in a definite direction.

A free bird does not have to worry about making the effort to fly the way white people need not make an effort to live well. The free bird need not even make an effort to fly he can simply glide on the wind and float in the direction he wishes to go.

And dips his wing/ in the orange sun rays/ and dares to claim the sky.

Dares: have the courage to do something

The imagery used here of the free bird doing something as seemingly impossible as dipping his wings in the orange sun’s rays shows us how much freedom people who are not discriminated against have. This they seem to take for granted. The line “dares to claim the sky” indicates that the free bird’s happy life has made him bold and brave enough that sky is the limit for how much he can do and how far he can fly

Stanza 2:

But a bird that stalks/ down his narrow cage/ can seldom see through/ his bars of rage

Stalks: move threateningly in an angry manner

Seldom: not often or rarely

Rage: violent uncontrollable anger

By contrast, Maya Angelou now presents the image of the caged bird. He walks angrily in his narrow cage and his entire life is full of the anger that has come from his imprisonment. This is done to show the reader that the cage is a metaphor for imprisonment and discrimination. Until African Americans were granted civil rights they were kept separate from the whites in public and even educational institutions. They were told to use separate bathrooms and very often denied the same freedom and opportunities often granted to whites.  The word “narrow” is used to describe how restricted the caged bird is. Without the freedom to grow, he grows angry. He can rarely think of anything except his anger of his imprisonment.

His wings are clipped/ his feet are tied/ so he opens his throat to sing.

Clipped: Wing clipping is the process of trimming a bird's primary wing feathers so that it is not fully capable of lying.

Clipping a bird’s wing and tying his feet is compared to robbing a man of his freedom. The way a bird cannot practice its greatest talent of flying so does an African American person become incapable of pursuing his own talents or having his own achievements when opportunities are denied to him or her.

For example: Prior to World War II, most black people were low-wage farmers, factory workers, domestics or servants. By the early 1940s, war-related work was booming, but most black people weren’t given the better-paying jobs. They were also discouraged from joining the military. (Source: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement)

The reference Angelou makes to singing refers to the fact that the only thing left for people like her was to raise their voices against discrimination in other ways such as The Civil Rights movement, music, art and even with poems such as this one, which is a way to make people understand the pain of being forced to live under such prejudice.

Stanza 3:

The caged bird sings/ With a fearful trill/ of things unknown/ but longed for still

Trill: a quavering or vibratory sound, especially a rapid alternation of sung or played notes.

"The caged bird launched into a piercing trill"

Fearful: feeling or showing fear or anxiety.

"They are fearful of the threat of nuclear war"

Longed for: To desire greatly or yearn for something, especially something that is difficult or impossible to obtain: I long for the carefree days of my childhood.

The singing of the caged bird is tinged with fear. He or she longs for freedom which is unknown to him or her, but it continues to sing sadly in its cage hoping for its freedom.

And his tune is heard/ on the distant hill/ for the caged bird/ sings of freedom

If the caged bird cannot fly the only way it can make its voice heard across great distances is by continuing to sing for its freedom.

Stanza 4:

The free bird thinks of another breeze

Here Maya Angelou brings us back to the image of a contrast of the free bird. Not only has it been flying easily along with the current, but now he is free to enjoy yet another breeze and explore and exploit every part of nature.

And the trade winds soft through sighing trees

Trade winds: a wind blowing almost constantly in one direction

Sighing: emit a long, deep audible breath expressing sadness, relief, tiredness, or similar.

"Harry sank into a chair and sighed with relief"

(of the wind or something through which the wind blows) make a sound resembling a sigh.

"a breeze made the treetops sigh"

The free bird is certain of its freedom. He can use the winds to get through his life with little to no effort. The image of the soft winds and sighing trees shows us how comfortable the free bird is while being unaware or perhaps even ignoring how his counterpart suffers in a cage. The image is a metaphor for whites being oblivious to the suffering of African American people.

And the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn/ and he names the sky his own

dawn: the first appearance of light in the sky before sunrise.

Fat worms: symbols of easy opportunity.

There is an idiom that the early bird catches the worm (This proverb is used to tell you to act early or right now to be successful. If someone says, "The early bird catches the worm," he/she means that if you do something early or before anyone else, you will have an advantage and be successful). In this case, however, the free bird easily catches the fat worms as the bird’s only other competition is in a cage and cannot possibly snatch the fat worms from the free birds. A startling metaphor for the fact that as long as Black people are not given the same opportunities as white people they will be unable to reap the same rewards.

The last line claims that the free bird can claim the sky for himself and need not share it with anyone else.

Stanza 5:

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams/ his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

The imagery shifts from the soft, pretty tone of the earlier stanza to a much darker more frightening one that the caged bird is forced to live with. While the free bird has the opportunity to pursue his desires.  The line  ‘stands on a grave of dreams’ means that the caged bird is forced to confront the fact that whatever dreams he may have, they may always remain unfulfilled. The shadow shouting refers to the fact that without dreams all the caged bird has are nightmares instead.

His wings are clipped and his feet are tied/ so he opens his throat to sing

(Repetition of lines from Stanza 2. Refer to explanation of stanza 2) Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer and more memorable.

Stanza 6:

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 poet chooses to repeat this stanza as though it is the chorus of a song. (see earlier note on repetition) It is also a reminder that the way the caged bird will continue to long for the freedom it may never experience; the African Americans will continue the struggle for equality and freedom of opportunity no matter how long it would take. Freedom being worth any suffering they might be forced to endure.

Literary Devices

Alliteration – It is the close repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the beginning of words. For instance,

1. Can seldom see through
2. His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
3. The free bird thinks of another breeze
4. The fat worms waiting

Personification – a figure of speech in where abstract ideas and inanimate objects are given with attributes of living beings. For instance,

1. His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
2. A free bird leaps / on the back of the wind

Metaphor- a figure of speech where comparisons between two seemingly different things are made indirectly. In this poem, the “caged bird” is a metaphor for the poet herself, an African American author. The “caged bird” represents the misery and distress of all those African-Americans who had to face inhuman treatment during the apartheid.

Allusion –  a reference to other works or cultures in either prose or poetry. Published in 1983, “I know why the caged bird sings” is a poem written by Maya Angelou. Through this poem, she makes is a reference to Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem earlier poem “Sympathy”. 

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

                                         A free bird leaps on the back

Of the wind and floats downstream

Till the current ends and dips his wing

In the orange sun rays

And dares to claim the sky.

1. Explain how the poet refers to nature here. Examine the line ‘dares to claim the sky’                                                                                                                                    [3]

Ans. She refers to nature by describing the way ‘a free bird leaps on the back of the wind’. She also describes the bird’s flight against the orange sky. The last line speaks of the state of absolute freedom enjoyed by the bird out of the cage. A free bird such as this can fly in the sky as it wishes.

2. How does a reader get a hint of appreciation for the beauty of nature?     [3]

Ans. The way she describes the ‘orange sun rays’ gives the reader an appreciation for the natural beauty of the sky. Moreover, her description of the way the bird ‘dips his wing’ helps the reader to appreciate the bird in his natural habitat, enjoying his freedom.

3. Explain the ‘free bird’ as a metaphor in this poem.                                             [3]

Ans. The free bird enjoys its freedom without any interference. The free bird is compared to the white race retaining freedom and aversion towards black people of America. They have the freedom to pursue their ambition easily. They remain unaware of the crisis and the needs of the oppressed black community.

4. Explain the line ‘orange sun rays’.                                                                            [3]

Ans. The poet says that the bird seems to dip its wings in the orange rays of the sun. Here she refers to the beauty of nature, that nature is full of colours. The way she describes the “orange sun rays” gives the reader an appreciation for the natural beauty of the sky. It alludes to a free, lively and blissful atmosphere where the free bird dwells.

5. How is the image of the bird presented in this stanza?                                            [4]

Ans. The poem presents readers with a contrast between a caged bird and a free bird. In the first stanza Maya Angelou breathes life into her description of a ‘free bird’ by using verbs like ‘leaps’, ‘floats’, ‘dips’. The free bird is a symbol of freedom and happiness and these well-chosen phrases are especially meaningful because they contain joy, freedom, and energy. The free bird enjoys the liberty to go wherever and can claim the sky because there are no other birds to contest with her. The stanza shows us that the free bird is lazy and would rather float with the wind, not having the trouble of making its own path or even needing to use the efforts of its own wings to fly.