Caged Bird by Maya Angelou

Caged Bird by Maya Angelou
‘Caged Bird’, as the poem is sometimes referred to, by Maya Angelou, is arguably one of the
most moving and eye-opening poems ever written. Angelou also wrote an autobiography
with a similar title, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It is clear that this title had great
significance to Angelou, as it was the title of 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 color of her skin. She felt that in some ways, she was still
experiencing slavery. Although African American people were free people in Angelou’s
time, there were still many restrictions on them in society, making it so that many black
Americans did not feel free at all.
Summary of Caged Bird

‘Caged Bird’ by Maya Angelou is an incredibly important poem in which the poet describes
the experience of two different birds, one free and one caged.
The free bird flies around the wind currents, feeling as though the sky belongs to him. On the
other hand, the caged bird can barely move in its prison. It’s angry and frustrated. its wings
are clipped and its feet are tied together. All it can do is sing fearfully of the things it wants
and does not know. It sings for its freedom and everyone, even those far distant, can hear its
song.
All the while, the free bird is focused on the breeze, the sounds the trees make, the words in
the ground he’s planning on eating. Once more, the speaker reiterates the fact that the birds
feels as though it owns the sky. The poem concludes with the caged bird singing once more,
as the poet repeats the third stanza in its entirety.

Themes in Caged Bird
‘Caged Bird’ is filled with powerful themes. These include racial oppression,
freedom/captivity, and happiness/sorrow. These themes are all wrapped together in ‘Caged
Bird’ through Angelou’s depiction of the two birds, one free and one caged. The caged bird
is an extended metaphor for the Black community in America and around the world. Angelou
is alluding to the lived experience of millions of men, women, and children since the
beginning of time and the variety of oppressive tactics, whether physical, mental, or
economic employed by those in power. Black men, women, and children see “through…
bars” while the free bird sores in the sky. The bird sings from a place of sadness rather than
joy in order to convey a broader history of sorrow.
Structure and Form of Caged Bird
‘Caged Bird’ by Maya Angelou is a six stanza poem that is separated into stanzas that range
in length. Angelou chose to write the poem in free verse. This means that there is no single
rhyme scheme or metrical pattern that unites all the lines. But, there are some examples of an
iambic meter. This adds to the overall musicality of the poem. Iambs are also generally
referred to as “rising” feet in that the second syllable is stressed. This plays into the content of
the caged bird and the free bird. Additionally, readers should take note of the instances in
which the poet makes use of half-rhyme.
Literary Devices in Caged Bird
Angelou makes use of several literary devices in ‘Caged Bird’. These include but are not
limited to alliteration, enjambment, and repetition. The latter, repetition is seen throughout
the poem but most prominently in the structure of the stanzas and the continual reference to
the “free bird” and “caged bird”. One of the best examples is seen in the sixth stanzas in
which the poet repeats the entire third stanza.
Alliteration is another form of repetition but one that is solely focused on the repetition of
consonant sounds at the beginning of multiple words. For example, “sun” and “sky” at the
end of stanza one and “cage / can” in lines three and four of stanza two.
Enjambment is another important literary device that’s also quite common in contemporary
poetry. It appears when a poet chooses to cut off a sentence or phrase with a line break before
its natural stopping point. For example, the transition between lines one and two of the first
stanza as well as lines three and four of the second stanza.
Analysis of Caged Bird
Stanza One
A free bird leaps

on the back of the wind
(…)
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
In the first stanza, Maya Angelou refers to nature. She describes the way “a free bird leaps on
the back of the wind”. She describes the bird’s flight against the orange sky. The free bird has
the right “to claim the sky”. The way she describes the “orange sun rays” gives the reader an
appreciation for the natural beauty of the sky, and her description of the way the bird “dips
his wing” helps the reader to appreciate the bird in his natural habitat, enjoying his freedom.
Stanza Two
But a bird that stalks

down his narrow cage
(…)
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
This stanza of ‘Caged Bird’ is in stark contrast with the first. By using the word “but” to
begin this stanza, the speaker prepares the reader for this contrast. Then she describes the
“bird that stalks his narrow cage”. The tone is immediately and drastically changed from
peaceful, satisfied, and joyful to one that is dark, unnerving, and even frustrating. She
describes that this caged first “can seldom see through his bars of rage”. While the free bird
gets to enjoy the full sky, the caged bird rarely even gets a glimpse of the sky. She claims that
“his wings are clipped and his feet are tied”. Text from her autobiography reveals that
Angelou often felt this way in life. She felt restricted from enjoying the freedom that should
have been her right as a human being. The speaker then reveals that these are the very reasons
that the bird “opens his throat to sing”.
The author felt this way in her own life. She wrote and sang and danced because it was her
way of expressing her longing for freedom.
Stanza Three
The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill
(…)
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The third stanza reverts back to the free bird, further cementing the difference between the
free bird and the caged bird in the minds of the readers. She writes that a “free bird thinks of
another breeze” that he can enjoy the “sighing trees” and be free to find his own food. The
tone with which she writes the first and third stanzas so sharply contrasts with the second
stanza, that readers can feel the difference. The first and third stanzas give the reader a sense
of ecstasy and thrill, which serve to make the second stanza seem all the more droll and even
oppressive.
Stanza Four
The free bird thinks of another breeze
(…)
and he names the sky his own
The fourth stanza of ‘Caged Bird’ continues the parallel between the free bird and the caged
bird. The first line serves to starkly contrast the last line in the third stanza. It is dark and
daunting. The reality of the life of the caged bird is revealed in this line.
Mentioning of ‘fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn brings around a predatorial/prey
juxtaposition too. It would be the worms that would be scared for their life, losing freedom as
the birds feed upon such prey. However, with a bird entrapped by a cage, the worms are the
ones that have the freedom, compared to the caged bird.
Stanza Five
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
(…)
so he opens his throat to sing.
That bird, “stands on the grave of dreams”. This reveals the author’s feelings about her own
dreams. She has so many dreams that have died because she was never given the freedom to
achieve all that her white counterparts were able to achieve. Discrimination and Racism made
up her cage, and although she sang, she felt her voice was not heard in the wide world, but
only by those nearest her cage. The second line of this stanza is not only dark but even
frightening.
The speaker describes the bird’s cries as “shouts on a nightmare scream”. At this point, the
caged bird is so despondent in his life of captivity that his screams are like that of someone
having a nightmare. The author then repeats these lines:
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied

So he opens his throat to sing.
Reaffirming the idea that the bird opens his mouth to sing because his desire for freedom and
his desire to express himself cannot be contained.
Stanza Six
The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill
(…)
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
This last stanza focuses on the caged bird yet again. The author implies that even though the
caged bird may have never experienced true freedom, deep down that bird still knows that it
was created to be free. Although freedom, to the caged bird, is “fearful” because it is
“unknown”, he still sings “a fearful trill” because he still longed for freedom. Here, the
speaker reveals that his cry for freedom is “heard on the distant hill”. This parallels to the
author and her cry for freedom in the form of equality. She feels that her cries are heard, but
only as soft background noise. She still feels that she is caged and that although she sings, her
cries are heard only as a distant noise.
The last line states, “For the caged bird sings of freedom”. With this, the speaker implies that
although the caged bird may never have experienced freedom, he still sings of it because he
was created for freedom. This is paralleled to the African American struggle in Maya
Angelou’s time. She feels that black Americans wrote and sang and danced and cried out for
the freedom they deserved, but they were only heard as a distant voice. Yet, this would not
stop them from crying out for freedom and equality because they knew they were made for
freedom, and they would not relent until they were given their rights as human beings to
enjoy the freedom they were created to enjoy.

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Caged Bird by Maya Angelou

Summary of Caged Bird

Structure and Form of Caged Bird

Literary Devices in Caged Bird

Analysis of Caged Bird

A free bird leaps

But a bird that stalks

The caged bird sings

and he names the sky his own

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

so he opens his throat to sing.

His wings are clipped and his feet are tied

The caged bird sings

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