I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The poem " I Know why the Caged Bird Sings" will make you want to read over again to find out what it is truly about. It is referring to a bird being trapped. But showing after much thought and research it is a poem hiding through words. As readers begin the poem, they notice in the first stanza its a promising future for this bird as he "leaps on the back/of the wind and floats downstream" (1,2) As they keep reading different meanings are taking place. With Repetition, the speaker is trying to relay a message to the reader that is far deeper than it initially appears. Repeating the same stanza twice, and the last one with an extra line, is trying to prove something powerful to the speaker.

Maya Angelou shows freedom with great imagery. She compares an animal that has a great life, free "And dares to claim the sky" (5), compared to the bird that feels different and worthless with his "wings clipped and feet tied" (8). She also shows the tone when comparing the caged bird's ".. tune heard on the distant hill" and how he "sings for freedom" (13). From what is said the comparison is already made. This bird in his "narrow cage" (6), is locked up in bars of rage longing and wishing for his hope to be free. While the free bird has this cockiness and wants more and "names the sky his own" (18). By using descriptive feeling of the bird, Maya Angelou is beginning to get the message across to the reader.

The speaker creates this message of conflict that can refer to people in general and their lives. Maya Angelou is creating this poem disguising how she felt through a bird in a caged. She was grown up when African Americans were limited to certain things, simply because of their skin. The white were able to do what they wanted and always want/get more, just like the free bird,"But a Caged Bird stands on the grave of dreams / His shadow shouts a nightmare of screams" (19,20). This distant hill is something that is too far away, simply because the Caged Bird is unable to leave. This speaker wants to tell the reader a different message. She made it so the picture would show what it is like.The last stanza has been repeated twice in the poem, but this time there was an extra line added to show that eventually, in the end, the caged bird will get more. It is just going to take longer.