The free bird symbolizes the upper class that enjoys every bliss of life, while the “caged bird” stands for the black people. Since every word of the poet conveys deeper and symbolic meaning, Maya Angelou has also used Symbolism in this poem. Similarly, she has used imagery to create a mental picture of the words in her reader’s mind, such as “and the fat worms waiting on a bright dawn lawn” and “But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams.” The first evident device is assonance, the repetition of vowel sounds in the same verse: “and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees.” In addition, the writer has repeated the sounds of /e/ and /o/ to emphasize her point. The poem “Caged Bird” contains several literary as well as poetic devices. They have continued to overcome the dominance of the whites both in the US and elsewhere in the world.Analysis of Literary Elements Used in “Caged Bird” The black people have regained their freedom. The issue of racial discrimination has been abolished. So far, the brighter hope forecast for the trapped bird in the poem has continued to be realized in the world today. It portrays the ugly effects of racism and gives hopes to the black race that has suffered a lot because of the issue. Indeed, " Cage Bird" as a poem depicts the actual racial discrimination that existed between the White and Black races in the US, South Africa and elsewhere. The bird is expected to persevere in hope and never to quit since the future spells freedom and greatness for it. The poet portrays a great future and hope for the trapped bird irrespective of its present condition. The breeze and fat worms in the poem represent hope and opportunity. The poet showed herself as the trapped bird which was caged and barred from having her freedom.Īside from the caged and free birds, there are other metaphors used in the poem. She portrays how the Whites dominate the Black Americans. The poet paints a true picture of racial discrimination that used to be the order of the day in the American nation. The caged bag is said to represent the African American individual who is enslaved while the free bird represents the White American who is completely free.īasically, the poem tries to portray the racial segregation that existed between a true White or Caucasian individual and an African American individual in the past. It talks about two birds one is trapped in a cage while the other flies freely in the sky. It also represents several thoughts, themes and ideas. The poem is written with several metaphors. All the stanzas alternate between the caged bird and the free bird used all over the poem. The sentence structure and vocabulary used in the poem are simple and straight. The 6th stanza is simply a repetition of the 3rd stanza. However, some rhymes are noticed in stanzas 2, 3, 4 and 5. There’s no definite rhyme scheme in the poem. "Caged Bird" is written in 6 stanzas of varying lengths. The poem and the autobiographies have the same message to put across. Maya also had other 5 autobiographies that recalled her early childhood and early adult experiences. The title of the book is " I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Actually, the title of the poem is also part of an autobiography written by the Maya in the same year. The African-American author and poet Maya Angelou came up with this poem titled " Caged Bird" in 1969. The Analysis of Caged Bird is provided below by first giving a brief description on the background followed by the poem structure and its meaning.
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