A Fascinating Poem by Maya Angelou

Recently, I came across a collection of poems in one of Maya Angelou’s first autobiography. The name of the poem is “ I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.” I thought I’d share with you the poem and also what I retrieved from reading this lovely 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 suns 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.

This poem speaks about freedom. The free bird symbolizes a person from the white society, and the caged bird symbolizes a person from the black society. Racial segregation has been a problem in the past and still is presently. Maya Angelou’s poem “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is a good representation of this. This poem shares the separation between the colors of people’s skin in everyday life. Those things include racial signs such as water fountains, theaters, and bus stations. Though it is not as bad as it used to be, it still occurs. Angelou’s words speak out to an all African American audience to relate to, understand, and share the feelings of oppression and segregation, and feelings of jealousy toward the white race. Maya Angelou also speaks to an audience of mixed races many of us can identify with her voice. The reader should notice that she is not just talking about a bird; however, the way she wrote it makes it seem that way. The poem represents racial issues through the use of a bird and the reader can relate to it through her use of metaphors throughout when talking about a caged bird and a free one.

Her usage of incorporating metaphors is very fascinating. The poem itself is a metaphor for enslaved African Americans. In the opening lines of the poem, Angelou compares the “wind” to being like a creature that can hold a bird on its back. She also compares it to a “flowing stream of water.” With that being said, the wind may represent the racial issues that spurred back and forth between the white race and the black race in our tradition of history. “Breeze” and “fat worms” can demonstrate that most of the white society cares more about their wealth and very little about the black community’s oppression. This also represents hope and opportunity for the free bird (white race) to name the world as his own. “His wings are clipped and his feet are tired,” represent the advantages that whites have over blacks due to their skin color. The metaphor overall shows that the free bird has that advantage, but the caged bird stands, leaps out on faith, and it came to pass that the caged bird sings of freedom at the end.

A caged bird can be interpreted as the black race being held back from freedom by their own skin color. The free bird is the white race retaining freedom and their aversion toward blacks. Overall, I believe this was a great poem I came across and hope to read more of Angelou’s poems in the future.