Comparing Sympathy And Caged Bird

Improved Essays
When ones hope is taken away it serves as a conflict and it makes one feel as if they are worthless.In “Sympathy” Paul Laurence Dunbar talks about a bird that is isolated in a cage from its habitat and makes an effort in trying to escape the cage. In “Caged Bird” Maya Angelou compares a free bird to a caged bird and their how different their lives can be when in two different scenarios. In both of these poems the birds are alike in many ways and also very different. In “Sympathy” and “Caged Bird” both of the birds have the same desire of escaping the cage but their physical approach of doing so is what sets them apart. The two birds both sing with out joy because of the situation is very convoluted. In “Sympathy” the bird sings in pain and …show more content…
When comparing the two birds it the author tell us how two things that are alike can be in two very different situations. “The free bird leaps/ on the back of the wind” (Angelou 1-2). “But a bird that stalks/down his narrow cage” (Angelou 8-9). As the authors use juxtaposition to compare the two birds it makes the reader realize how strong the desire of the bird who is isolated is. A free bird is a bird who is open to all opportunities and very careen, while a caged bird is isolated because one thing is in its way and in this case it is the cage. Not only is the bird isolated from the open sky but it is tied down and its wings are clipped preventing it from moving. “His wings are clipped and/ his feet are tied”(Angelou 17-18). Compared to the bird in “Sympathy” this bird is not capable of making or doing any physical actions. Even if the bird were to be let out of the cage it still would be trapped because it would not be able to fly, one of a birds main abilities. Since the birds isn't capable of moving it uses its voice, hoping to be heard in the distant hill. The two birds were isolated from the world and both also used there voices to be heard, but however one of them was restricted from moving in the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Raven Reader Response The distinction between imagination and real life in literature is sometimes hard to identify. The authors of these types of works make imagination seem so realistic that the audience begins to believe the character's imagination. In the poem, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, an imaginary bird, or perceived to be an imaginary bird, flies into the narrator's home late in the night signaling to him that death was on its way. The bird in this poem may seem real but there are many signs that it is not.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Birds are seen in day to day life; always flying some place high above the area humans prefer to reside. They have always been a source of wonder, something many would gawk at as they soared when humankind still only dreamed of this. Though flying is now a dream achieved, birds still serve as quite a magnificent sight- which is exactly what the two authors, Audubon and Dillard, portray in their works. These two authors definitely have different styles of writing, but both do indeed tend to use similar strategies to convey these feelings.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst, the story demonstrates the motif of the bird’s death, the short story communicates the Narrator as regret by showing the death of innocence, for example, in the beginning of the story, the narrator states “if an oriole sings in the elm, it’s songs seem to die in the leaves, a silvery dust”. The brother feels responsible for what happened to Doodle, which he should. The brother expected too much from Doodle, the family had to be fragile with him a but when the brother’s body is ignited with regret as the Narrator states “Doodle!” I screamed above the pounding storm, and threw my body to the earth above his.…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Maya Angelou’s use of imagery explaining how Bailey has turned out gives you a better understanding. The diction she uses throughout the novel helps us readers better understand the seriousness of certain situations and also the anger, rage, and hurt in other situations. Maya Angelou conveyed the mood of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sing in a very superior, well thought out, and detailed way. Although this was what she has actually been through in her real life, she makes a enjoyable story out of it and tells it in a interesting way. Not only do you just read the novel and learn Maya’s story, but you actually walk away with something that you know now but you didn’t know…

    • 1535 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Whenever one is startled, or caught off-guard, the innate human response is to either flee or fight. Most human brains are wired to run from danger. This runs parallel to when humans are faced with a problem or a difficult situation. Many individuals would rather run away from problems than work at resolving them. The novel “Things That Fly” by Douglas Coupland conveys the themes of Escape as well as The Human Condition in his short story by utilizing the symbols of Superman, the narrator’s messy apartment, and birds’ ability to fly.…

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Borgwardt, Elizabeth. " FDR 's Four Freedoms As A Human Rights Instrument. " OAH Magazine Of History 22.2 (2008): 8.Advanced Placement Source. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.…

    • 1198 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many Americans believe that the Kent State incident in 1970 was the turning point during the Vietnam War. Anti-war protest towards the beginning of the war began as non-violent protest but slowly became violent. The Kent State incident was a protest gone violent to bring back American troops from Vietnam. No one knows exactly why the guardsmen shot some believe it was a sniper some guardsmen claim to have heard other guardsmen shoot so they shot too. In the article titled (PUT IN FOOTNOTE)“THE MAY 4 SHOOTING AT KENT STATE UNIVERSITY:…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They only had a canary that would sing in the same way Minnie Wright did back when she was young. Her neighbor Mrs. Hale stated “if there’d been years and years of nothing then a bird to sing to you, it would be awful—still, after the bird was still” (992). For example, this quote illustrates that her life changed after her bird was killed because it was the most important thing in her life since she didn’t have any children to look after. Her bird was…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Climate Change Solnit

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Her comparisons of bright lively sparrows to charred mounds of flesh strives to bring the audience closer to the topic. The vivid imagery within the hypothetical situation lets the audience get empathize with the bird, only to kill it off, leaving the readers shocked. This…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chueh-Hsin: An Analysis

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Chueh-hsin, the oldest brother and the lead in this novel, interacted with the family of elders in a very respectful way. Hos respect for traditions of his culture kept him bound and unable to express who he really was, or wanted to be. His life was full of destruction until the end because of his passiveness. The younger brother as usual is the one that defy s all odds and demands through his rebellion that he be set free. There were times when he would be quiet to not stir things up anymore that they were.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his short poem “To Waken an Old Lady,” William Carlos Williams writes about the disturbing subject of old age by representing old age through a series of actions that are typical of birds. Furthermore, the narrator 's use of figurative language and poetic structure contributes to the horrifying idea that death is bound to happen. Essentially, the speaker makes an attempt to show that the difficulties of old age shouldn’t leave a person feeling hopeless for life. The poem begins with the metaphor “old age is/ a flight of small/ cheeping birds” which puts forth the idea that old age can be illustrated through birds (lines 1-3).…

    • 1013 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jacques Prévert 's poem, "to portray a bird" gives unrealistic instructions on the steps to create a painting of a bird. Prévert lived from 1900 to 1977 and this poem was written in 1946 which is part of the "Words" collection. The poem is a version of poetry, written in free verse with six stanzas that contain different lengths of words. The poem uses simple language and most verbs are written in the infinitive. The poem places emphasis on the subject of the painting rather than how to create the painting.…

    • 1442 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The civil rights movement was a time in history that made an impact on the people of America. It was an era when society was trying to make the segregation between black and whites , disappear. Maya Angelou grew up during this time period and went through the stress of having people discriminate on her because of her skin color. The civil rights movement made a personal influence on Maya Angelou’s poetry, as revealed in her poems , “ I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, and ,” Still I Rise”. Growing up during the 1930’s was difficult for Maya Angelou because it was a time of discrimination and separation.…

    • 1114 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his poem “Sympathy”, Dunbar writes, “I know what the caged bird feels” (ll. 1, 7). He uses the caged bird to symbolize the oppressed black minority. A bird, by nature, wants to be free and in its natural habitat, a bird can go wherever it pleases. However, a caged bird can not go far; he is restricted to where he can go. During the time the two poems were written, blacks were restricted as to where they could and could not go, too.…

    • 1403 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Maya Angelou’s poem “Caged Bird”, we straightway as the readers can tell from the title “Caged Bird” that the poem involves boundaries forced upon the bird inside due to the cage it’s in. Throughout the poem the bird in the cage is compared to a bird with freedom, this in depth symbolizes the struggles African Americans had during the era of white superiority. The free bird represents a person who is living a fortunate life and is free to do as he or she wishes, while on the other the caged bird signifies someone who has limits and cannot do anything. Maya Angelou also comes from a background of racial prejudices and discrimination so this is what she tries to convey throughout the poem. There are many themes explored in this poem such as the misfortune and survival of the unfittest.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays