I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou Holly Hunting, Alyssa Luna, and Brandon Phillips

Maya Angelou She was born on April 4th, 1928 Maya is known as “America’s most visible black female autobiographer” by scholar Joanne M. She has been awarded over 30 honorary degrees and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The poem, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, was written in 1969. The poem was written to explain the longing for freedom every slave during earlier times, referring to the captured bird. During 1969, events occurred that are well known. One of them being Neil Armstrong succeeding in becoming The First Man On The Moon.

Summary In the poem, the author is explaining that slavery has a very unhopeful view on life. All they can really do is sing for their dreams of freedom which, in most cases, rarely comes true. Also, it is explained that they can’t really go anywhere. Their lives are so controlled they feel like they are in a cage. The main idea is to point out how badly they were treated and how terrible their lives were.

RELEVANCE The poem is so important to our history because it explains how awful slavery was. It has survived our times for so long because it really gave people a point of view from the slaves views, it really helped people to understand how depressing and scary it really it. Of course, our times no longer have as many slaves as there once was, but it is still a crucial time in our history.

LITERARY DEVICES Metaphor: “Can seldom see through his bars of rage.” Personification: “An the trade winds soft through the sighing trees.” Hyperbole: “His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream.” Imagery: “The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.”