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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.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
Work Cited -images from google.com -poem from www.afropoets.net
Poem Summarization: This poem is about the longing of something -or even someone- you can't have and how some people take advantage of what they do have, never thinking that there's any other way to live. The one who knows that there's something else has advantages: they know their limits and they use other means to express themselves. The metaphor Maya Angelou used, of birds, means that while some can fly free, they often are self destructive and think they are invincible. Birds, or people who are caged up without freedom know they can't defeat everything, and are more careful. They extend themselves to succeed, maybe not in flying high, but in something more productive or self-preserving to free themselves, even for a moment. While they can be held back by their resentments for the free souls and their tie downs, they are strong and have ways of being heard. I like Angelou's use of birds in this poem because they are instinctual animals and, in my opinion, they are among the most free but most vulnerable to being taken advantage of.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJFmM2gGhqY
