SYMBOLISM

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
By Maya Angelou

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 bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his feet are tied
his wings are clipped
so he opens his throat to sing.

Sympathy
By Paul Laurence Dunbar

I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
     When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;  
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,  
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
     When the first bird sings and the first bud opens,  
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—
I know what the caged bird feels!

I know why the caged bird beats his wing
     Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;  
For he must fly back to his perch and cling  
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
     And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars  
And they pulse again with a keener sting—
I know why he beats his wing!

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
     When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
     But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,  
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—
I know why the caged bird sings!