BY : KAYLA COOK

Biographical information  She was born in ST. Louis, MO in 1928  She started getting into the different arts when she was in high school were her first job was a singer while still in school but when she was in her last year she was offered a scholarship to study dance and drama. Years later she appeared in several plays such as “ calypso heat wave “ in 1957 after this play she released her first album called “ miss calypso“. After she was done with stage plays her friends convinced her to right about her experiences in life. Her efforts paid of when her memoir I know why the caged bird sings was published in 1969 which became her most famous pieces of work. She also was nominated for the politer prize for her poem “ Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Die ” in 1971.

Organization/Structure/Form  6 stanzas  36 lines  ballad poem  The end rhyme and stressed syllables at the end of the line gives the poem a rhythm and beat. Also the repetition of stanza 3 in the poem make the lines sound like the chorus of a song so that the meaning of the poem stays in your head. And the longer lines in the poem slow down the tempo to draw more attention to it.  She organizes the poem in stanzas where there is a lot of end rhyme so that it brings the poem to life.

A free bird leaps the on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped And his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. Literary elements Imagery- helps me picture what is happening or what is felt. In this part of the stanza the speaker is showing the anger and frustration of the bird as it is trapped behind the cage bars. Imagery-This phrase is showing how the free bird is free and has no worries or hardships to deal with it can just float calmly downstream

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom. The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on dawn bright lawn And he names the sky is own Literary elements Metaphor- used as a comparison between the caged bird and the free bird It also shows a comparison between breeze and freedom and also fat worms as being opportunity End rhyme/internal rhyme-helps me by bringing the poem to life

Imagery  “The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown” (the speaker is saying that the bird even though he is chained he will still sing a song of freedom which is something it has never known”  “ A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the currents ends and dips his wing in the orange sunrays and dares to claim the sky.” (The speaker is saying that the bird is living life free and calm with no worries)  “But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing” (This phrase means that the bird is standing on his dreams of being free because his feet are tied and his wings are clipped so he cant fly so he just sings about it instead)

Literal meaning  Through out the poem she uses metaphors to compare different things so you get the real meaning of that word or phrase. Like when she compares a caged bird to a free bird she is telling you the different advantages that the free bird gets when she says “the free bird thinks of another breeze” and when she says “the fat worms waiting on the dawn bright lawn” she is really saying that the worms are like the different opportunities in life waiting for you if your free. But when she says “but the caged bird stands on the grave of dreams” she is really saying that the bird sees that it cannot achieve any dreams because it is in chains which could be anything in life that holds you down so the bird just sings a song of freedom.

Theme  The theme of this poem is that freedom is something we should all have because with out freedom we would be like caged bird trapped because we are being held down by something which could be anything that troubles us in life that might stop us from living or achieving ours dreams.

Figurative meaning  The figurative meaning behind this poem is that we should not let anything hold us down or stop us from achieving our dreams because no matter what happens there is something you can always do. In the poem she is comparing two birds a free bird and a caged bird and through out the poem she explains how the free bird is flying all around with no worries because when she says “the free bird thinks of another breeze and trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn "she is saying that the free bird does not think about singing or freedom because he already has it but when she says “ but a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet tied so he open his throat to sing "she is saying that the dreams he is standing on are his dreams of flying and being free which he cant do because his wings are clipped and his feet are tied and he is scared to try so he sings a song of freedom to let them know that he can still do something and that even though he cant do what comes naturally which is flying. And that is why the caged bird sings.

Authors purpose/speaker  The speaker of poem is a person that is around not afraid to speak up for the caged bird.  She wrote this poem to give a deeper meaning of her life because I know why the caged bird sings is a book about her life and to tell people not to give up even if u have been torn down.

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