I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Monday, June 17, 2013


juxtaposition-‐ the placement of two concepts, descriptions or words side by side or figuratively next to each other.

Hello, I am Sammy. This is a book is a poem by Maya Angelou called “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” It is about two birds: one that is caged and one that is free. The poem compares the two using “juxtaposition”. The free bird flies around in the air and “claims the sky” while the caged bird is stuck behind bars and “stands on the grave of dreams”. This poem is actually an allegory to how African American people were treated in the past, especially in the slave times.

You can take everything else from a person-‐ you can clip their wings and tie their feet-‐ but you cant take their voice. The bird was helpless and could do nothing but long and sing for freedom. His voice was all he got. He doesn’t have freedom-‐ but that doesn’t stop him from singing about him. Though he is locked up-‐ He still has hope. And will keep on singing.

What I did was paint a picture for every stanza of the poem and then I put it together in one book. I painted the free bird red to symbolise that it is really happy and free and the caged bird blue, to represent its sadness. I painted them using watercolors so they feel sort of light and airy.

I hope you enjoy it!

Sammy W


1


The free bird leapson the back of the windand floats downstreamtill the current endsand dips his wingsin the orange sun raysand dares to claim the sky


2


But a bird that stalksdown his narrow cagecan seldom see throughhis bars of ragehis wings are clipped andhis feet are tiedso he opens his throat to sing.


3


The caged bird singswith fearful trillof the things unknownbut longed for stilland is tune is heardon the distant hill for the caged birdsings of freedom


4


The free bird thinks of another breezean the trade winds soft through the sighing treesand the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawnand he names the sky his own.


5


But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreamshis shadow shouts on a nightmare screamhis wings are clipped and his feet are tiedso he opens his throat to sing


7


The caged bird singswith a fearful trillof things unknownbut longed for stilland his tune is heardon the distant hillfor the caged birdsings of freedom



Analyses


“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou is a poem about a bird in a cage and one that is free. She compares both of their lives in her poem. The free bird Clies around in the air and “claims the sky” while the caged bird is stuck behind bars and “stands on the grave of dreams”. This poem is actually an allegory to how African American people were treated in the past, especially in the slave times. Maya Angelou writes about this topic in most of her work. The caged bird symbolizes a black person that is treated unfairly. He is tied up and his “wings are cut”. The “grave of dreams” is his future and dreams that are crushed because of the racism. The free bird however, is a free person who claims the whole sky and Clies around freely. The “fat worms” wait for him-‐ which symbolize opportunity and a future. Of course, the caged bird does not get any. The message of the poem is found in the third and sixth stanza. It shows us that no matter what situation they are in-‐ people long for freedom. You can take everything else from a person-‐ you can clip their wings and tie their feet-‐ but you cant take their voice. The bird was helpless and could do nothing but long and sing for freedom. His voice was all he got. He doesn’t have freedom-‐ but that doesn’t stop him from singing about him. Though he is locked up-‐ He still has hope. And will keep on singing.

She uses different poetic devices, but one that really stands out to me is the juxtaposition in the poem. The poem has an obvious stanza pattern. It goes Free Bird/ Caged Bird/ Singing Caged Bird and then once more in that same pattern-‐ ending with the exact same stanza that we came across in the third stanza like a refrain. The juxtaposition is clear in the poem. Firstly, Angelou describes a free bird. She uses words and ideas like “leaps”, “Cloats” and “orange sun rays” in that Cirst stanza. Next, straight after the Cirst very happy stanza, a much more morose and sad picture is put in front of us. The second stanza features a caged bird and Angelou conveys this by using words like “stalks”, “narrow cage”, and “bars of rage”. Once more, we go through this and see the same thing. The fourth stanza contains things like “breeze” “soft trade winds” and “fat worms on a bright lawn”. She tells us more about the caged bird by saying “the grave of dreams” and “nightmare screams”. There is a stark contrast between these two birds and this juxtaposition makes us realize how different both of the bird’s lives really are. Angelou also uses repetition in the third and sixth stanzas where she actually repeats the whole entire stanza word for word-‐ which gives the poem closure and ties everything together.

Poem Analysis


This was the poem that I had the hardest time with. Not envisioning it, but actually producing them. The cover just simply shows the bird in the cage, with colors coming from it. The colors represent the music-‐ which you will see more of later. The Cirst picture shows the free bird, Clying in the sun. This is our Cirst look at the free bird so I tried to show it, so that it would contrast with the caged bird. I tried to make this picture bright, to show its freedom and happiness. It didn’t really come out how I would have like though. This is the caged bird. I made it blue to represent sadness. I made the background very abstract using lines, which was supposed to look like it is really crowded around the bird, because it has not space to Cly and be free. It also looks a little like bars of a cage as well. I actually am really happy with how this picture came out. I let the bird and hill stay unoutlined, while the music was. This brought attention to the colors in the middle-‐ which represent the song that the bird is singing. The bird is singing his tune to the distant hill. The bird is painted using negative space, which started out as an accident, but I liked how it came out so I just kept it and painted the hill the same way. This picture shows the free bird looking for a worm-‐ which represents opportunity waiting for him. I kept the outlines only on the bird and the worm, to keep the attention on them. This next page is my favorite in the book. It shows the bird stuck in its cage. I used color and line to represent its sadness. I made him look completely desolate in his cage, staring out, wanting freedom. I really like how the lines outlines and Cilled out the whole bird. This last picture, is the picture that ties the ends together. It shows the caged bird stuck inside, while the free bird passes the window, Clying in the air. I used straight, strict lines for the cage of the caged bird and free, wavy lines for the free bird to represent both of their emotions and circumstances.

Painting Analysis




Documents

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings