Caged Bird (1983)
The poem "Caged Bird" by Maya Angelou, first published in 1983 in the collection Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? A celebration of the strength and dignity of Black people. Angelou clearly evokes the agony and anger of one who is oppressed by comparing their misery with the carefree and deliberate indifference of one who is free, using a simple example of two birds, one free and one caged. In the title of her 1969 autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou first used the theme of the caged bird and originally took the illustration from the 1899 poem "Sympathy" by the black writer Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Contents
Poetry
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
(Maya Angelous, 1983)
Summary
The free bird flies around the waves of wind, feeling as if the sky belongs to it. However, in his jail, the caged bird can hardly move. It is disturbing. It clips its wings and binds its feet together. All it can do is sing of the things it needs and doesn't know, fearfully. It sings for its freedom and everyone can hear its music, even those who are far away. All the while, the free bird is concentrating on the wind, the sounds made by the trees, the words he's preparing to eat on the field. The speaker repeats, once again, that the birds sound like they own the sky. As the poet repeats the third stanza in its entirety, the poem ends with the caged bird singing once again.
Author
Maya Angelou was best known for her 1969 novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which made literary history as the first nonfiction bestseller by an African American woman, an American author, actress, screenwriter, dancer, poet and civil rights activist. In 2005 and 2009, Angelou won many honors during her career, including two NAACP Image Awards in the outstanding category of literary work (nonfiction).
Racism Issue
Caged Bird 'has strong themes packed with them. These include racial injustice, captivity/freedom, and happiness/sorrow. Via Angelou's portrayal of the two birds, one free and one caged, these themes are all wrapped together in 'Caged Egg'. For the Black community in America and around the world, the caged bird is an extended metaphor. Angelou refers to the experiences of millions of men, women and children since the dawn of time and the spectrum of coercive methods practiced by those in control, whether physically, psychologically or economically. Black men, women, and children see "through the... bars," while in the sky the free bird whistles.
Reference
- Angelou, Maya. "Caged Bird". Poetry Foundations, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48989/caged-bird. Retrieved January 1 2020.
- Maya Angelou's Biography. February 28 2018. biography.com. Retrieved January 1 2020.
- Caged Bird by Maya Angelou. Retrieved January 1 2020.
- Caged Bird by Maya Angelou. Retrieved January 1 2020.