How does Maya Angelou portray white
supremacy in the poem Caged Bird? In
what style the poem was written?
Answers
Answer:
Maya Angelou’s poem ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ describes the state of two birds, where one is free and ‘floats’ and ‘dares to claim the sky’, while the other is caged in his ‘bars of rage’. The first and the fourth stanza shows the delight of the free bird experiencing freedom, whereas the rest of the stanzas concentrate on the plight of the caged bird. Angelou puts greater emphasis on the lamentable state of the caged bird, and contrasts this with that of the free bird.
Angelou, with the metaphor of birds, represents the inequality of justice seen in the society of her time which differentiates between the African-American community and its White American counterpart. Angelou was a representative of the African-American community and actively participated in the Civil Rights Movement. So, In many ways the poem ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ can be considered as the poet’s personal expression.
In the poem she essentially indicates to the privileges that the White Americans enjoyed through the portrayal of the free bird. The free bird “dares to claim the sky” and even “names the sky his own”. This signifies how the White people could do whatever they wished to. They even made rules according to their will and devoid the tribal people of their basic rights, as indicated by the portrayal of the caged bird. Maya Angelou has thus successfully depicted this white supremacy in her poem.
hope it helps you
Answer:
This poem definitely has no structure, unless you consider "unstructured" a structure. The number of syllables in each line are not consistent, it tries to rhyme sometimes but not every stanza, there is repetition of the word "freedom". . Stanza 3 is repeated at the end.