“I know why the caged bird sings” Essay

After a childhood full of cruelties, disappointments, and being ransacked at the hands of her mothers boyfriend, Maya Angelou put outd and became the most important civil, human, and Womens Rights Activist. After her rape she was silent for 5 years, and only through the hike of her grandmother did she start to write and act. Her writings won her world panegyric and she was nominated for the National Book Award, a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize. She is indisputably atomic number 53 of the most influential women in history. Her numbers I know why the caged raspberry bush sings shows her grace and skill as a poet, and a humanitarian.I know why the caged shucks sings is a six stanza numbers. The poem has a very(prenominal) traditional structure. The first two stanzas are triplets, followed by a quatrain, then another triplet, and ends with a quatrain. It has a very simple exclusively effective verse line scheme. The triplet stanza has a AAB rhyme, and the quatrain stanzas ha ve a AAAB rhyme. This poem is lyrical and intense. The root words presented in this poem are of a freedom and persist over adversity (Arensberg 273). In stanza one Angelou describes how poultrys in the wild have unbound freedom.She writes leaps on the back of the wind dips his wings in the orange sunrays, (lines 1-3) about the free birds activities. Her words affect the senses, and the indorser feels the freedom the birds experience in flight. She brings nature and the outdoor elements to spiritedness and the audience is right there at play with the birds. Freedom abounds In stark contrast, the next stanza snaps the reader back from their dreamlike state. There are a series of very strong words that create a face of depression, and claustrophobia. Angelou explains the life of a caged bird.narrow cage, bars of rage, and wings clipped. (lines 3-6) These phrases create a sense of taking into custody and imprisonment. This evokes sympathy for the bird, and thoughts about if w e were also imprisoned (Arensberg 280). The reader begins to think what is life unfair and, why that bird? and further, why me? But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams, (line 14) the poem continues and yet the bird remedy sings. Angelou comments The caged bird still sings with a fearful trill of things unknown besides longed for still (lines 17-18) about the bird who displays the only freedom he has at present, his voice.capital of South Dakota Walker, in his 1995 article, comments that the bird still dreams, and he has the determination to overcome and withdraw the best of his situation. There is a single focus for Angelou use of beginning rhyme in this poem. She uses the s sound over and over again his ass shouts on a nightmare scream (line 15). The s sound creates the feeling of wind, the whispering of tree leaves, the bird is scared but he sings because he can. He cannot fight his nature. He will find freedom in any event he can, and for that bird it is his singing .The use of the rhyme scheme in the quatrain fortune of the poem is AAAB. The inflexibility of the first three lines in stanza 3 flaphillshrill create the perfect path to the true theme of this poem. When the reader expects another word to rhyme it doesnt, and the quatrain ends with freedom. The same is true for the tolerate stanza, which is a repeat of the first. Liliane Arensberg explains that the rhyme reminds the reader that there is always hope, there is always the will to survive and the promise at the end of the burrow of light (Arensberg 289) of freedom.I know why the cage bird sings by Maya Angelou is a very popular poem. Many people find excitement in her words, and find solace in the hope and determination that bird has. If he can sing, so can the reader. If he can survive so can you. We cannot always choose our lot in life, but we can make the best of it. We can reflect, find out talents, and piddle those to the world. Maya Angelou presents a very important messag e to the reader in the clay of a very lyrical almost song like poem by using strong imagery of a bird and its cage, the pursuit of freedom as a theme, a strong rhyme scheme, and alliteration.Angelou skill as an author cannot easily be missed and incomplete can her message that we must overcome misfortune and strife to sire what we were always meant to be.Works Cited Angelou, Maya. The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. 1st ed. New York hit-or-miss House, 1994. 101. Arensberg, Liliane K. Death as Metaphor of Self in I whop Why the Caged Bird Sings. College Language Association Journal 20 (1976) 273-91. Walker, capital of South Dakota A. Racial protest, identity, words and form in Maya Angelous I write out Why the Caged Bird Sings. . College Literature 1 Oct 1995. 23 Nov 2005 .