Caged bird

Caged bird

The poem caged bird was written by Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou was a poet, author and civil right activist. She was born on April 4, 1928 and died on May 28, 2014. Angelou publish her autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” in 1969.

The poem

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.

Meaning

“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”

Angelou sets up an extended metaphor contrasting the free bird with the caged bird. The free bird could represent either white Americans, who have historically benefited from legal, economic, and social freedoms other races haven’t, or African-Americans once the dream of freedom becomes reality.

The free bird “leaps on the back of the wind,” evoking the idea of jumping for joy or reaching for opportunity–both of which can only be done in complete freedom.

“and dares to claim the sky.”

Angelou uses a “free bird” to symbolize a group of people that has gone from slavery to freedom but still struggles with the oppression of racism: African-Americans. In writing that the bird “dares to claim the sky”, Angelou suggests that African-Americans in the first half of the twentieth century attempted to expand upon or enjoy their freedom in the United States.

In the usage of the word “claim”, Angelou refers to the fact that African Americans at the time were entering a time in which they could strive to own property and achieve success, or aim towards achieving all that is associated with the American Dream.

The “sky” in this case represents the indefiniteness of possibilities that could come from freedom and the infinite possibilities that the American Dream represented.

“But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage”

The “narrow cage” represents racism and social constructs of society that kept African Americans at a lower social status.

Racism literally bars those who fall victim to it into a cage because they cannot act or exist in the eyes of others outside of racist beliefs. Because of this cage, the bird can only “stalks down his narrow cage” and remain confined by racism

“can seldom see through his bars of rage”

The bird, (or in the metaphor, the slave), can’t see through the bars of rage. He hates being trapped in the prison of racism and all he sees is rage from being encased in a world full of hate toward people like him for trivial reasons. He’s surrounded by these people and can’t escape their comments or torment, so he is actually “caged in” that way too.

“his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.”

As the bird is entrapped, his wings “clipped”, and his feet “tied” by racism, he attempts to express himself by singing, the only form of freedom left in a society filled with racism.

Angelou uses singing to represent a form of freedom, self-expression, that the bird struggles to find. Historically, music and singing was literally how African Americans sought freedom.

“The caged bird sings with a fearful trillof things unknown
but longed for still”

Though the caged bird sings and longs for freedom, it’s notes are fearful — weak because it is unsure if it will ever be free.

“for the caged birdsings of freedom.”

Because the caged bird’s singing, its only form of self-expression, is of freedom. Caged and oppressed by racism, African Americans at the time dreamed of a freedom to exist without the judgments and stereotypes of racism and claim the sky. In a larger sense, the bald eagle symbolizes the freedom and strength of the United States, while Angelou’s bird symbolizes a group of people that struggles to gain this same freedom and strength in the United States.

“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”

This free bird can be concerned with “another breeze,” or ideas other than freedom, which allows him to name “the sky his own.” Lacking the constraints of societal racism, whites have historically been free to achieve success and strive toward the American Dream.

“But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams”

The “grave of dreams” referred to here is the loss of hope and the failure in achieving the American Dream, which cannot truly be reached without complete freedom.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is Maya Angelou's autobiography, published on 1969.

the book was criticized by many parents, causing his removal from school reading lists and library shelves. The reason for that is that the book displays depictions of lesbianism, premarital cohabitation, pornography, and violence, also by his use of language, and irreverent depictions of religion. 

"I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" is in the third place on the American Library Association list for the list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 and in sixth place on the ALA's 2000–2009 list.