Caged Bird (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Maya Angelou
- First Published: 1983
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
The Poem
Maya Angelou’s highly romantic “Caged Bird” first appeared in the collection Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing? in 1983. Inspired by Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy,” Angelou contrasts the struggles of a bird attempting to rise above the limitations of adverse surroundings with the flight of a bird that is free. She seeks to create in the reader sentiment toward the plight of the misused, captured creature—a symbol of downtrodden African Americans and their experiences.
The first two stanzas contrast two birds. Lines 1 through 7 describe...
[The entire page is 1642 words long]
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