Here’s a full analysis of the poem ‘Caged Bird’ by Maya Angelou, tailored towards GCSE/IGCSE students but also suitable for those studying Angelou at a higher level.
Includes:
STORY / SUMMARY
SPEAKER / VOICE
ATTITUDES
LANGUAGE FEATURES
STRUCTURE / FORM
CONTEXT
THEMES
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Caged Bird
“The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind..”
Maya Angelou
(Full poem unable to be reproduced due to copyright)
VOCABULARY
Downstream — down the river
Seldom — not very often
Wings are clipped — it is common to “clip” the feathers of a pet bird, to cut them back so they don’t
work; this stops the bird from flying away but many people see it as cruel and a restriction on their
freedom
Trade winds — the winds that blow east to west along either side of the equator - these are called
“trade winds” because they help ships carrying cargo to travel smoothly from one side of the world to
the other
Trill — a musical sound that a bird makes, in this case it is a “fearful trill”, a warning
, STORY / SUMMARY
The lyric poem makes a comparison between two types of birds: birds that
are free, and birds that are caged.
Stanza 1: When a bird is free it claims the sky by flying.
Stanza 2: When a caged bird is unable to fly because his wings are clipped
and his legs are tied, he sings a song.
Stanza 3: The caged bird trills for his sound to be heard from afar — and
sings of freedom.
Stanza 4: A free bird thinks of nice breezes and times where the fat worms
are ready to be eaten, and he calls the sky his own.
Stanza 5: A caged bird is tied and clipped, he has a “nightmare scream” that
shows his suffering.
Stanza 6: The caged bird trills for his sound to be heard from afar — stanza
3 and stanza 6 are the same, they are a refrain that repeats and underscores
the ideas of the poem, the main idea being that a caged bird sings of
freedom.
SPEAKER / VOICE
The poem is written in the third person, likely the poet herself is speaking.
However, the voice is not personal, it’s objectively telling a story and
describing a situation — the general situation of free and caged birds. This
is an analogy for the general situation of free and oppressed people in the
world.
LANGUAGE FEATURES
• Repetition — the state of the “caged bird” is repeatedly juxtaposed with the “free bird” so that
the reader is encouraged to compare the similarities and differences between the two. We imagine
that these birds are identical in breed and type, the only difference being that one is free, happy, and
able to do what it wants whereas the other is oppressed and can only find happiness in singing and
thinking of freedom.
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