I+Know+Why+the+Caged+Bird+Sings

=//__Maya Angelou:__// = Birth date: April 4, 1928 Death date: May 28, 2014 Birth place: St. Louis, Missouri Birth name: Marguerite Annie Johnson Education: Attended California Labor School, 1942

Author, Poet, Singer, Songwriter, Dancer, Historian, Director, Civil Rights Activist and Teacher  Fluent in six languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and West African Fanti Maya Angelou was a civil rights activist who worked along side Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. She was also an educator who taught at Wake Forest University. She was not only a spokeswoman for Civil Rights, she also became an important roll in the development of raising the standards of living. She was the first female black director and has won numerous awards for her works. This poem represents the racial inequality that has been experienced by African Americans during the time it was written ="Caged Bird"= By: Maya Angelou A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky.
 * Her parents were divorced at the age of 3
 * Lived with her mother in St. Louis
 * She was raped by her mothers boyfriend, which inspired her first autobiography "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings"

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.
 * Element || Textual Examples || Examples/Impact/Effect ||
 * Theme || Survival of the 'Unfittest' 'Reversal of Fortune'. || The struggles of being an African American during this time period. This poem celebrates Angelou's survival in oppression."A fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard" ||
 * Imagery || Personification

Metaphor

Repetition

Rhyme

Imagery

Symbolism || "Shadow shouts on a nightmare scream" Gives the shadow a human quality of screaming

The two birds represent African Americans who have experienced racism and discrimination through Jim Crow laws and slavery in the United States. In the Poem, two birds were being confined within their cages, which can be compared to African Americans.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"> The caged bird sings/with 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. Her use of repetition is used to reinforce the idea that African American's cried out for their freedom even during the worst times.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">The caged bird sings/with 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 words 'still', 'trill', and 'hill'

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">"Dips his wings/In the Orange suns rays"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">The birds in the story represent real humans. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Free Bird: The free and happy people <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Caged Bird: People who are restricted <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Bars of a Cage: Things that keep people from doing what they wish || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">and Mood || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Sorrowful yet Preserving || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">"His wings are clipped and his feet are tied <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">so he opens his throat to sing."
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Meter || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Free Verse || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"> There is rhyming within this poem but not enough to have a specific pattern and the poem also mainly used repetition. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Emotion,Tone

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">The bird within the poem sings not only because he must, but because it is a way to communicate the way that they're feeing. Somewhere out there, there is a bird that is free so this bird is singing to it. The Poem evokes a feeling of sympathy for this bird who cannot be free. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Works Cited <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Editors, Biography.com. "Maya Angelou Biography." Biography, A&E Television <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"> Networks, 5 Feb. 2013, www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"> Accessed 16 Mar. 2017. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Foundation, Poetry, editor. "Maya Angelou." Poetry Foundation, 24 Apr. 2004, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"> www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/maya-angelou. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"> Accessed 2014. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Maya Angelou. Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou. Accessed 12 Mar. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"> 2017. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Organization, Poets, editor. "Maya Angelou Biography." Poets.org, 10 May 2012, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"> www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/maya-angelou.

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