The poem in this post may be familiar to most through Maya Angelou’s use of the repeating phrase as the title of her 1969 autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It speaks to the power of Dunbar’s work that Angelou sensed the connection with this 1899 poem. The concept of freedom was more tangible for Dunbar than most. His parents were slaves who were only freed after the Civil War. But this is a poem that transcends his background and addresses the oppression of all types.
Dunbar’s wife, Alice, also a poet and future member of the Harlem Renaissance, said Dunbar was inspired to write this while working unhappily at the Library of Congress. He said the library’s iron shelves reminded him of a bird cage and working in the sweltering summer heat of the building made him long to be outside.
Reading it with this wider perspective does not dilute its power, but it does offer a different view of it.
Sympathy
By Paul Laurence Dunbar
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals –
I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats his wing
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting –
I know why he beats his wing!
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, –
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings –
I know why the caged bird sings!
In the first stanza, we get a gentle introduction to the topic as we hear of the bucolic scene viewed by the writer. But in the second stanza Dunbar delivers the blows with the blood “red on the cruel bars” and “a pain still throbs in the old, old scars.” The imagery is searing and he forces us to grapple with the idea that is not a new desire, but an old one that has left scars. This is a bird that either refuses to give up or simply cannot give up.
In the final stanza, we learn that bird song is not one of “joy or glee” but a prayer that “upward to Heaven he flings.” The word “fling” carries so much meaning in this context. When we “fling” something we throw it hard and carelessly, often on impulse. The prayer of Dunbar’s bird is a prayer of anger and bitterness.
So, yes, it is a poem on freedom, whether it be from the library stacks or more importantly, from the oppression of others. Dunbar’s poem shows how oppression can be bloody and cruel, whether metaphorically or physically, and the one seeking freedom does so with bitterness and anger. There is no polite call out to God from Dunbar, but a prayer of anger hurled at God. Oppression does not create pacifists.
On the analysis side, Dunbar uses three stanzas with a ABAABCC rhyme scheme. The lines are written tetrameter (four feet) except for the last line of each stanza which is a trimeter. Form serves a purpose and here it helps create a musical reading, reflecting the bird’s song. In addition, form is a canvas and Dunbar fills his canvas with strong alliteration (“beats his bars”). He uses rhyme and rhythm that readers of his time will be familiar with, but he uses it with content they would not expect. He has written a lyric poem as the bird stands in for Dunbar’s thoughts.
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Ramblings About Poems 