I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (Poem)

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou (1969) Analysis

The free bird leaps

on the back of the wind

and floats downstream

till the current ends

and dips his wings

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 fearful trill

of the 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 Angelou is a writer influenced by racial discrimination and her journey through the civil rights movement. She uses the metaphor of birds here where flying is so central to represent the difficulties the black race felt: like caged birds they were separated from the rest; prevented from taking flight and living like everyone else. In 1969 this was the world Maya Angelou lived in and had grown up in. It was a world of segregation and unequal values - of frustration and restriction. 

The first stanza represents the freedom of the white man. The verse depicts the free flight of the bird as he "dips his wings", "leaps on the back of the wind" "and dares to claim the sky". There's an air of carefree arrogance as he "dares" to take, perhaps, what is not his to take. Some would say birds rule the sky - but shouldn't that make all birds rulers? "His wings are clipped and his feet are tied", a repeated line, brings imagery of slavery to the reader.

"The Caged Bird Sings...", the third verse, Angelou returns to at the end of the poem - this highlights her focus - not on the free bird, but on the caged one. It also structurally depicts inequality as the first stanza of six lines grows to the second stanza of seven. The At the time of writing, blues was a musical genre on the rise. Powerful black artists such as Bessie Smith, Aretha Franklin and BB King were popular: bringing the black voice pride. This could be the reason Angelou focuses on the voice of the caged bird, and the power and recognition it brought to the Black community as well as the much wider theme of the heavily publicised civil rights movement. High profile individuals such as Martin Luther King and Rosa Parkes, and protests like the freedom rides brought mainstream awareness to light. "His tune is heard on the distant hill" shows people are starting to take notice. 

Like numerous 20th Century American texts such as "The Great Gatsby" and "A View From the Bridge", Angelou remarks upon the great "American Dream" and how racism and segregation deprives the black community of something America upholds with pride "The caged bird stands on the grave of dreams". "The Bill of Rights" written by the founding fathers of the United States seek to protect individual liberties and freedoms. Her repetition of the word "freedom" is reminiscent of the American Constitution that also used these words to highlight the rights of every American Citizen. The divide shown by the metaphorical "bars of rage" show that it is not physical separation that keeps society segregated but the tainted views of others in their "rage". 

"The free bird thinks of another breeze" shows the white man's disregard for the fate of the caged bird, or the back people. And instead his greed: "trade winds" and "fat worms" that depict the capitalist and often brutal society America, "the land of the free", has turned into are at the forefront of his mind, showing how many people of the time chose to put money and wealth before morality.