Is the caged bird sings a personification?

Caged Bird by Maya Angelou A “Caged Bird” is a beautifully written poem that uses figurative language to describe the struggles African Americans faced. This poem was written by Maya Angelou (1928-2014), an African American memoirist and poet, who is best known for her autobiographic novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She was a black female writer who revealed her survival of cultural diversity in her writings(DU). Angelou’s “Caged Bird” was a poem published in her first book “Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing?” This is a 6 stanza poem full of metaphors illustrating the differences between African American and Caucasians during the civil rights era. Angelou was almost magical with her use of figurative language in her poems. The figurative language…show more content…
The personification shows how the caged bird 's dreams are crushed because of the difficulty in attaining freedom. The grave is symbolizing death, and if the “caged bird” does not make an effort to free himself by rising above the adversity, then he will surely fail in the success of life. This is a metaphor that Angelou uses to describe things she and likely other black people had to experience from lack of freedom and some of the awful things that she did experience during her childhood. Angelou was a victim of sexual abuse which caused her to become mute. Angelou had to work very hard to overcome this adversity. When Angelou says, “His wings are clipped and his feet are tied. So he opens his throat to sing,” she is expressing the willpower of the people, even though they cannot escape, they can still fight for what they believe in and express their thoughts through words. She was able to do this with her many writings and educational accomplishments. Metaphors throughout her poem, allow the poem to become more descriptive. They also allow the readers to make many comparisons and think deeply about their own connections (Bush).
There are many news account that describes Angelou’s personal journey. There were so many who had an interest in Angelou’s life’s journey and that allowed…show more content…
The cage represents the oppressor that people who are different must face. The things that African Americans faced were racial discrimination, prejudice and hatred. The cage was a visual representation of the obstacles that African Americans faced and it could be easily imagined by the reader. It remained clear that even after Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination that the “cage” was still very much a part of society. Angelou would continue to work tirelessly to get the African American race to continue to fight for equality. The caged bird is symbolizes of a slave, or basically anyone that does not have freedom. The cage itself is symbolic of the caged bird 's oppressor, which in this poem it likely describes the position of the white person that doesn 't care about black people. The free bird is a symbol of a Caucasian person. The” free bird” had opportunities and freedom to obtain the goals they chose to achieve. The” free bird” had a peaceful and fulfilling life. The sky symbolizes the life or future of a free bird. Angelou uses a plethora of literary devices in the forms of symbolism, personification, and metaphors. The poem is a very strong poem because of the literary devices that are used. Once you understand the complexity of the poem and the literary devices it is easy to make sense of how the poem can be compared to actual events in Maya Angelou’s

What are the literary devices / figures of speech used by the poet Maya Angelou in her poem “I know why the caged bird sings”?

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2 Answers

Jayanta Kumar Maity Staff answered 5 years ago

The poet has used a number of poetic devices in the poem “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”.

Metaphor:
The poet uses metaphor (an indirect comparison) when she compares wind to water. The words ‘downstream’ and ‘current’ make us think of the tides in a sea or ocean.

and floats downstream
till the current ends

Again, she uses metaphors in the use of two birds — “free bird” and “caged bird”. The free bird represents the privileged section of the society whereas the caged one signifies the underprivileged. Maya Angelou was an active participant in the African American Freedom Movement. That is why this poem is seen as an autobiographical representation of the condition she and her community was in. The slavery and segregation of the African Americans are compared to the condition of the caged bird and the free bird refers to the freedom enjoyed by the White Americans.

Alliteration:
Alliteration (repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of nearby words) is used in places like —
can seldom see through (repetition of ‘s’ sound)
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
his shadow shouts on a nightmare screams

End Rhyme and Internal Rhyme:
End rhyme is used in the second, fourth and sixth lines of the third stanza — ‘trill’, ‘still’ and ‘hill’.
Internal rhyme is used in the fourth stanza — and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn

Imagery:
Angelou has used vivid imageries. ‘Orange sun rays’, ‘distant hills’, fat worms’ etc are examples of visual imageries while ‘sighing trees’, ‘nightmare scream’ and ‘fearful trill’ are auditory imageries.

Personification:
The poet personifies (applies human characteristics) the two birds when she says —
‘dips his wing’, ‘dares to claim the sky’, ‘name the sky his own’, ‘opens his throat to sing’, ‘sings of freedom’ etc.

Repetition:
The poet has repeated the third stanza later in the poem to emphasize the distressed condition of the downtrodden people.

Moreover, the use of contrast in the form of two birds in completely opposite situation and the use of moods in ‘fearful trill’ ‘nightmare scream’, ‘bright lawn’, ‘grave of dreams’ etc. also form literary devices.

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Ezekiel answered 2 years ago

Consonance: consonance means repetitive sounds produced by consonant within a sentence or phrase. In the line ‘But a bird that stalks down‘ |b| sounds have been repeated and in the same way, |d| sound is repeated in ‘trade wind‘.

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