(Here’s an Audiovisual Lecture on Analyzing Non-African Poetry: Caged Bird By Maya Angelou:https://youtu.be/NA_WrHRfcFU).
POET’S BACKGROUND
Maya Angelou, a Black American poet, was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Maya Angelou personally experienced the grief and dehumanization associated with rape and racism. She died on May 28, 2014.
Knowing her background as an African American helps us understand the poem better. It gives us a clearer picture of the images and symbols she uses and the social issues she raises in the poem: poetry, according to William Wordsworth, is the outpouring of powerful feelings collected in tranquility. Every poet, to a large extent, documents their experiences and expresses their feelings in the very lines of their poems. As an African American civil rights activist, she undoubtedly experienced the racial discrimination and oppression of the blacks by the white in the slavery and post-slavery periods of American history. Her autobiography (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings) documents her experiences as a working-class member of that racist society.
EXAMINING THE STRUCTURE OF THE POEM
The poem (Caged Bird) is made up of six stanzas, and it has thirty-eight lines in all. It is characterized by run-on lines (known as enjambment). This is when the lines of a poem are having a thought that carries over from one line to the next line. The poem contains a refrain: stanza 3 is repeated in stanza 6. A kind of rhyme scheme is noticeable in stanza 4, particularly in lines 2, 4 and 6, which end in the words “trill”, “still” and “hill” respectively. The expression “and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn” is an example of internal rhyme.
READING AND ANALYZING THE TITLE: CAGED BIRD
The words “Caged Bird” are used to create the image of a bird which is confined in a cage or someone whose movement is restricted. Thus, the title immediately creates in our mind the picture of bird that is put in a cage and prevented from flying freely into the sky. “Caged Bird” is a portrayal of the racial discrimination and oppression of the blacks by the white in the slavery and post-slavery periods of American history.
READING AND ANALYZING STANZA 1
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.
This stanza gives us a picture of a free bird that “leaps” “on the back of the wind” “and floats downstream” etc. The tone of this stanza is playful, happy and totally fulfilling. Lines 1-4 describe the bird’s total freedom of movement. Lines 5-7 paint a picture of full assurance of ownership, rights and privileges through the use of personification: “and dips his wing/in the orange sun rays/and dares to claim the sky.” The expressions “dip his wing in the orange sun rays” and “dares to claim the sky” are human characteristics.
The free bird is used as a metaphor to represent the white American communities who had freedom to live and enjoy all the privileges available to citizens of that country, unlike the blacks in that society who were enslaved and oppressed. The poem obviously portrays the obnoxious era of slavery and its aftermath characterized by lingering racial discrimination against the Blacks in the American society.
READING/ANALYZING STANZA 2
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.
Stanza 2 gives us an image of a caged bird, contrary to the image of the free bird we have seen in stanza 1. Here, the bird is trapped in “his narrow cage”, “can seldom see through his bars of rage, his wings clipped, and his feet tied.” The picture painted of this particular bird is that of total restriction of movement, deprivation even of the ability to see beyond his “his bars of rage”. Having been denied the freedom to fly, the only thing this bird can do is to open his throat to sing – obviously to voice his frustrations. In view of the poet’s choice of words like “stalks down his narrow cage”, “seldom see”, “his bars of rage”, “wings clipped”, “feet tied”, the tone of the poem changes from the previous playfulness and happiness to that of bitterness, frustration and helplessness. Lines 1-6 give a sad picture of total restriction of movement and degradation. Line 7 (stanza 2) uses personification (the bird is able to open “his throat to sing”) to draw attention to a high degree of helplessness and frustration that leaves the victim with no other option except to voice his feelings.
The caged bird in stanza 2 is a metaphor for the downtrodden Black American communities during the era of slavery and its aftermath characterized by racial discrimination and oppression. Like the caged bird, the blacks in that racist society were deprived of all citizenship rights and privileges that their white counterparts enjoyed.
READING/ANALYZING STANZA 3
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.
In stanza 3, we’re given a picture of the caged bird expressing his feelings by singing fearfully “of things unknown but longed for still.” The caged bird has not known freedom but it longs for it desperately. In lines 1-4, personification (“the caged bird sings”) is used as a poetic device to convey the theme of freedom as a universal need: a natural need that every human being desires and pursues. The use of personification is continued in lines 5-8: “and his tune is heard/on the distant hill/for the caged bird/sings of freedom.” Here, the caged bird is able to voice his feelings so loudly that his voice is heard in the distant hill. This underscores the fact that you may deprive people of their right to freedom but you cannot stop them from their natural freedom to express their feelings and agitate for freedom.
READING/ANALYZING STANZA 4
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
In line 1 of this stanza, the poet uses personification (“The free bird thinks of another breeze”) to paint the picture of access to abundance and the freedom to explore new opportunities. This is in contrast to the life of deprivation and helplessness typical of the caged bird in the previous stanza. Alliteration is used in line 3 (“worms waiting”), while assonance is evident in “dawn” and “lawn” in the same line 3. From line 1 to 3 of this stanza, we see various expressions like “another breeze”, “trade winds soft through the sighing trees”, and “fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn” are used to depict the various privileges available to the white community unlike the underprivileged blacks in that society. Again, we find another use of personification in line 4 (“he names the sky his own”). This portrays the racist and self-centered mentality of the white community who believe that the entire society and its choice resources belong to them and that the blacks have no right to own the good things of life.
READING/ANALYZING STANZA 5
“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. “
In line 1, a combination of personification (“a caged bird stands…”) and metaphor (“the grave of dreams”) are used to underscore the fact that whatever dreams the black Americans had were totally dead: killed by their oppressors who denied them the right to pursue their dreams. The tone of the poem in this stanza has shifted from that of celebration of freedom to that of helplessness and hopelessness. This is achieved through the poet’s diction or choice of words like “grave of dreams”, “his shadow shouts” on “a nightmare scream”, “his wings are clipped” and “his feet are tied”. The expression “shadow shouts” is an example of alliteration, and it is used to draw attention to the plight of oppressed and subjugated blacks in that racist society. Finally, line 4 continues the personification in which the caged bird has only one alternative available to him: to open “his throat to sing.” Again, this draws attention to agitation as the only weapon available to the marginalized and the downtrodden in a world characterized by man’s inhumanity to man.
READING/ANALYZING 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.
This last stanza of the poem is a refrain; it’s a repetition of stanza 3, where we’re given a picture of the caged bird expressing his feelings by singing fearfully. The caged bird has not known freedom but it longs for it desperately. In lines 1-4, personification (“the caged bird sings”) is used as a poetic device to convey the theme of freedom as a universal need: a natural need that every human being desires and pursues. The use of personification is continued in lines 5-8: “and his tune is heard/on the distant hill/for the caged bird/sings of freedom.” Here, the caged bird is able to voice his feelings so loudly that his voice is heard in the distant hill. This underscores the fact that you may deprive people of their right to freedom but you cannot stop them from their natural freedom to express their feelings and agitate for freedom.
CONCLUSION
On the whole, we can see that the poem uses two birds, the free bird and the caged bird as metaphors to depict the racial discrimination inherent in the American society of the slavery era and its aftermath. The free bird represents the privileged White American community, while the caged bird represents the enslaved, deprived and oppressed Black American community. Symbolism is an evident poetic device in the poem, as the free bird, the sky, the breeze, the trees, fat worms, the dawn bright lawn, etc. are symbols which stand for the White American communities and the vast opportunities and privileges available to them. On the other hand, the caged bird, the narrow cage, the bars of rage, wings clipped, feet tied, things unknown but longed for, grave of dreams, shadow shouts, nightmare scream, etc. are also symbols used to represent the Black American communities and their bitter experiences of enslavement, oppression, deprivation, restrictions, confinement, injustice, unfairness, frustrations, helplessness and hopelessness.
For a more detailed audio-visual analysis of the poem, watch the following video lecture: https://youtu.be/NA_WrHRfcFU
IMPORTANT EBOOKS FOR YOU:
- Good Success in English: A Study Package or Good Success in English: A Study Package for Effective English Learning
- Good Success English Handbook
About the Author
Benjamin Abugu is a university graduate with a flair for content writing. He is an English teacher with over twelve years experience, a published author of many books (both paperback and eBook editions), a blogger and Youtuber.
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