The Theme in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou The poem “Caged Bird” by famous author Maya Angelou, comes from a time where she faced racism and segregation as an African American in the Civil Rights era and s all African Americans faced. The title of the poem automatically gives a recent thought of a bird being trapped, which relates to how African Americans felt. This poem is a metaphor that contrasts a free bird and a caged bird which demonstrates the differences between African Americans and white people back in her time. Angelou had a rough childhood growing up and this poem reflects on that. The tone and the attitude portrayed helps realize and understand what it was like for her. The two very most important words are freedom and caged in this poem. The idea of the poem as a whole is segregation, racism and how Maya defied those two issues through “Caged Bird.”

In the first paragraph Maya braces life into her statement of the free bird by using verbs like leaps, floats, and dips. The “free bird” is a symbol of freedom and these chosen verbs are meaningful because they contain pride and joy. This shows us how Maya feels about freedom as well. In the second and third paragraphs, she goes to describe the caged bird by using words like bars of rage, grave, fearful, and shadow. These dark words are references to isolation. 

This approach of contrast that she uses throughout the poem is powerful to focus on the comfort of freedom and how the poet achieves a better understanding of the ease of freedom by comparing it with something worse. Maya also uses irony to be clever but less straight forward in bringing her feelings. The caged bird sings with a fearful vibration. This sentence is ironic as the caged bird is the one singing not the free bird as we expect. However, the words “fearful” and “trill” makes us realize that is a desperate cry for freedom. This relief enables us to reach to more depth and appreciate freedom. Another tool Maya uses to highlight the beauty of freedom is by repetition. 

The fact that the third paragraph is repeated at the end is for attention because it reflects the two birds that are different. For the caged bird sings of freedom is the last line of the poem and it delivers a very important message for the reader the caged bird wants to be like the free bird. In conclusion, this tells us that we should be aware and thankful for the freedom we have. 

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