Summary
In the first stanza, the speaker describes a bird taking flight and gliding on a wind current. The bird revels in its freedom, feeling the warmth of sun rays on its wings as it flaps them. The speaker describes the free bird's flight as "dar[ing] to claim the sky."
The second stanza introduces a comparison of the free bird to a caged bird. Imprisoned, the caged bird stalks his cage and feels rage over having clipped wings and tied feet. The flight-limiting cage, wing clipping, and tied feet prompt the bird to sing.
In the third stanza, the speaker says the caged bird sings a song infused with a fear of the things the bird does not know but longs for nonetheless. The caged bird's tune reaches a distant hill because it is a song yearning for freedom.
Stanza four returns to the free bird, who contemplates the arrival of another strong wind and thinks about the fat worms which await him on lawns in the morning. He claims the sky as his own.
The fifth stanza shifts back to the caged bird, whose perch is "the grave of dreams" and whose "shadow shouts on a nightmare scream." Because his wings are clipped and his feet tied, he opens his throat to sing.
The sixth and final stanza is a word-for-word repeat of the third stanza. The caged bird sings a song that is fearful of the things the bird does not know but for which it longs. The speaker concludes the poem by repeating that the song reaches a distant hill because "the caged bird sings of freedom."
Analysis
Through juxtaposing the symbolic experiences of two birds—one free and one caged—Maya Angelou explores themes of freedom, oppression, and resilience. The result is an allegory for the comparative experiences of white Americans who take their freedom and privilege for granted and Black Americans who face systemic racial and economic oppression, and yet because of this oppression, have a deeper and truer knowledge of what freedom is.
In terms of form, “Caged Bird” comprises six stanzas of free verse. The poem also uses an inconsistent rhyme scheme that combines occasional end rhymes, slant rhymes, and internal rhymes. Angelou establishes rhythm in the first line through the use of iambs, which creates a stress pattern of a short syllable followed by a long syllable: e.g. a FREE bird LEAPS.
However, as the poem is written in free verse, Angelou often breaks with the iambic rhythm to subvert the listener’s expectation of how the line will sound. For example, the third stanza begins with what would be four lines of iambic dimeter were it not for the introduction of a fifth syllable in the second line (“with a fearful trill”). The effect of breaking the rhythm—making it slightly off-balance—is that Angelou captures in her language the “fearful trill” being described.
Angelou also uses enjambment—the continuation of a clause or sentence over multiple lines—to enhance the images she describes. The first stanza, in which the free bird takes flight and drifts on the wind, is a single sentence extended over seven lines. The effect of Angelou’s lineation is to make the language itself seem to float along the same wind current on which the free bird glides. Interestingly, Angelou also uses enjambment in the second stanza, but puts the device to different effect: rather than enhancing a sense of freedom, enjambment in the second stanza emphasizes the caged bird’s claustrophobia and desperation.
Another device Angelou uses to great effect in “Caged Bird” is repetition in various forms. The omniscient speaker shifts between the perspectives of the free bird and the caged bird, a repetition that establishes the juxtaposition between the two birds’ experiences and invites the reader to compare them. Repetition also occurs on the line level: The last three lines of the second stanza (“his wings are clipped and / his feet are tied / so he opens his throat to sing”) repeat exactly as the last two lines of the fifth stanza.
More significantly, the third stanza is repeated word-for-word in the final stanza. With her repetition, Angelou draws the reader’s attention to the image of the bird singing his song of freedom. The effect is to underscore how the caged bird, because he lacks the variety freedom offers, continues to sing as his only recourse for expressing the longing his confinement engenders. In this way, the repetition highlights both the monotony of the bird’s existence and his sustained resilience in the face of that monotony.
“Caged Bird” also uses repetition in the sense that its premise is a repetition of the basic conceptual idea of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s 1899 poem “Sympathy,” in which the speaker sympathizes with a caged bird who beats its wings against its cage and sings. Angelou used the line “I know why the caged bird sings!” for the title of her 1969 autobiography, and returned to the premise of a poetic speaker sympathizing with a caged bird in “Caged Bird.” Angelou’s poem is in conversation with Dunbar’s symbolic verse about the bondage of slavery to suggest that even from her post-Civil Rights Movement vantage, the legacy of white supremacy in the United States continues to negatively impact the Black community.
Like Dunbar’s speaker, Angelou’s speaker sympathizes with the oppressed caged bird. Angelou’s speaker also attributes an attitude of entitlement and obliviousness to the free bird, who “dares to claim the sky” and “names the sky his own.” The free bird is akin to privileged white Americans who benefit from the inequality built into the foundation of U.S. governance and the U.S. economy. By contrast, the caged bird is akin to Black Americans who, despite being born into structures that limit their freedom and oppress them, sustain a spiritual resilience that transcends their material conditions.
