Critical Appreciation of the Poem I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Introduction
The poem ‘IKnow Why the Caged Bird Sings’ by Maya Angelou is arguably one of the most moving and eye opening poems ever wrtitten. Angelou also wrote an antobiography with this same title. It is clear that this title had great significance to Angelou, as it was the title to her entire life story. In her autobiography, she talked about the struggle of being a black author and poet. She often felt that her words were not heard because of the colour of her skin. .She felt that in some ways, she was still experiencing slavery. Although African Americans were free people in Angelou’s time, there were restrictions on them in society, making it so that many black Americans did not free at all.
The poem gives expression to the feelings of these black Americans, rather of all the oppressed people in the world. Obviously, it deals explicitly and implicitly with the problems related to race, gender, slavery and freedom. It refers to two birds : one trapped in cage and the other free, swaying and flying with the wind. The encaged bird stands for a black American and the free bird for a white person. The poem makes it clear that the encaged bird on an enslaved individual may be physically restricted or restrained but can not be stopped from singing and dreaming of freedom. A free bird flying with the wind has complete freedom and chance to fly again at will.
The third stanza has been repeated for emphasis and it imparts a message to the readers that we should be aware and thankful for the freedom we have.
Thought- Content:
The poem begins by speaking of the free bird and how it has the freedom to go wherever, whenever, and can claim the sky because there are no other birds to contest with. The stanza shows us that the free bird is lazy and would rather float on the wind instead of making its own path.
The second stanza introduces the limitations set upon the caged bird and how this affects the bird as the bird is still proud and cries out for freedom.
The third stanza emphasises the caged bird and its plight. It tells of how the caged bird sings for freedom, as if it still has hope for things it does not know of. The caged bird can be heard on the distant hill. The bird is shown to rebel against all that holds it back in an attempt to be freed.
The fourth stanza is about the free bird again, and how the bird although free thinks of another breeze showing that although the bird is free, the bird is not content and is greedy to have even .more freedom, but again it is shown to be lazy in that is unsatisfied with the stream of wind that is on but not enough to do something about it. The stanza then describes how easy things seem to come to free bird, as there are fat worms waiting for it at dawn on the lawn.
The fifth stanza depicts the bird in its cage, the cage that has now become the grave of the bird’s dreams and once again the caged bird sings of freedom.
The final stanza is a repetition of stanza three which serves as an emphasis on the caged bird.
Moral of the Poem :
The poem is ultimately positive because although the caged bird has no freedom, its hope, cannot be dimmed by its ‘bars of rage’ and ‘clipped wings’. Its song is so loud that it is heard on a distant hill, perhaps forcing the free bird to take a notice. This can be compared to slavery in the U.S.A. the caged bird being a slave and the free bird a white man. Importantly, African American slaves often used to sing while working. This had the effect of raising their spirits and maintaining unity, producing a sense of hope. The poem moralises that freedom is birth right of every creature of the universe and no one can be deprived of it. Then it brings to us that hope lies eternal.
Form and Structure of the Poem :
Angelou does not allow meter, rhyme and stanza to control her poetry. She determines her own structure-or lack of it-and uses form and device for her own means; she searches for the sound, the tempo, the rhythm and the rhyme appropriate for each line. ‘Caged Bird’ is an example of unstructured verse. The number of beats per line varies. For example, line first has four beats, line second has six, line third has four and line four has five. The number of lines in each stanza fluctuates as well; stanzas first and second have seven lines each, but stanzas three and four have eight. In addition to her use of the intermittent stanza, Angelou repeats stanza three as stanza five; this repetition is reminiscent of the chorus in a song.
The only other structuring device that Angelou employs in the thirty-eight lines is sporadic rhyme. For instance, only lines nine and eleven in the entire first two stanzas use rhyming words (‘cage’ and ‘rage’); in the fourth stanza only lines thirty and thirty one rhyme (‘breeze’ and ‘trees’). The only other rhyming words that Angelou uses are in the third stanza, which she repeats as stanza five. She rhymes ‘trill’ and ‘still’ with ‘hill’; she also rhymes ‘heard’ and ‘bird’.
The Choice of the Words :
The vocabulary used in the poem is simple and straightforward which highlights the poetic style. The adjectives used in the poem such as free or caged for the birds reflect the social status of the Whites and the African-Americans. The phrases such as ‘orange sun rays’, ‘dares to claim the sky’, display the freedom, gaiety and exuberance of the White race. On the other hand, phrases such as ‘narrow cage’, “bars of rage’, ‘fearful trills’ display the African-Americans’ narrow social space, their anguish and their helplessness.
The Use of Repetition :
Final stanza is the repetition of the stanza three. It emphasises again that though the encaged bird has never experienced freedom, it still sings of it. Its song is heard now far and wide and its longing for freedom and equality cannot be dismissed as a distant voice.
The Use of Imagery and Symbols :
Maya Angelou’s poem ‘Caged Bird’ is certainly full of imagery in every line and every stanza. The very first image we see is that of a ‘free bird’ leaping on the “back of the wind’. Since we can literally see a bird in nature leaping and jumping, or flying against the wind. We can see how this counts as a right image. Other images we see are that of the bird floating ‘downstream’ and dipping its ‘in the orange sun rays’.
Since the poetess is now speaking of a bird in relation to a stream, we get the sense she is speaking of a water-fowl, like a duck. Since we can literally see things floating downstream we know that the phrase ‘floats downstream’ counts as a sight image. In addition, though a bird will not literally dip its wings into the rays of the sun, we know that the sun’s rays reflect on surface of water. Hence, based on the final couple of lines in the first stanza, we can picture the bird literally dipping its wings into the image of the sun reflected on the water and then flying off into the sky. Next auditory imagery is produced when the poet refers to bird’s singing, its fearful trill, its tune, and the trees sighing. The bird’s ‘shadow shouts on a nightmare scream’ is also an auditory image.
The poetess has also used some nature related object as symbols. The sun, the wind and the hills stand for freedom, power and glory respectively. The free bird can enjoy all these things whereas the caged bird is wholly deprived of all these things.
The Use of Irony :
Maya Angelou also uses irony to be cleverer and effective but less direct in conveying her feelings. ‘The caged bird sings with a fearful trill’. This sentence is ironic as the caged bird is the one singing not the free bird as we expect. However, the words ‘fearful’ and ‘trill’ make us realise that actually it is not a happy tune but a desperate cry for freedom. This relief enables us to reach to more depth and appreciate freedom.
The Use of Allusion :
Maya Angelou’s poem ‘Caged Bird’ is based on an earlier poem by an African American author by the name of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dunbar, who lived from 1872-1906, was the son of parents who endured the life of slavery. He became an influential author, not only through his poetry, but through his many literary works, which included poems, novels and essays.
His poem ‘Sympathy’, written in 1899, provided Ms. Angelou with material for her famous poem ‘Caged Bird’ and the title for her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The third stanza of his poem is thought to have been the most inspirational. As the son of slaves, Dunbar knew the restrictions racism put on the lives of oppressed people and this poem expresses the emotions which resided in his soul.
Personal Elements :
Considering Angelou’s personal history and the themes of her autobiographies, the caged bird, more explicitly, is a metaphor for African Americans who experienced racism and discrimination through slavery. Like the caged bird in the poem, African Americans were physically confined or restricted due to slavery and segregation, but they vocally demanded their freedom. In many ways the poem can be considered as the poet’s personal expression.
Maya Angelou can be regarded as the caged bird. The discriminatory forces such as racism, sexism, insecurity, poverty and abuse continued to make the poetess feel inferior. She could not achieve what her white counterparts could, with similar circumstances and opportunities. Like the caged bird she was angry. She could do little, like the caged bird in its narrow cell but she voiced her resentment and longed for freedom. The poetess seemed to be optimistic towards her future. She hoped that the voice of African-Americans would be heard far away.
The Use of Figures of Speech :
The poetess has used the figure of speech metaphor. The two birds serve as metaphors. The free bird stands for the white people who are free from oppression and the caged bird is the metaphor for the poetess Maya Angelou herself and all those African-Americans who are victims of discrimination, prejudices and slavish treatment. The poetess also uses metaphor in the first to compare that the free bird ‘floats downstream / till the current ends”.
The poetess has used the figure of speech personification in the following lines :
- ‘and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees’.
- ‘his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream’.
- ‘the sailing bird rides on the back of the wind’.
The poetess has used the figure of speech alliteration in the following lines :
- The fat worms waiting on dawn bright lawn.
- his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream.
The poetess has used the figure of speech hyperbole in the following lines :
- ‘And dares to claim the sky’.
- ‘And he names the sky his own’.
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