What is the relationship between the speaker and the bird in the poem sympathy?
Answers
The poem Sympathy, written by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Paul is expressing to the readers all of the difficult problems he has encountered in his lifetime. He is relating his life to a bird that is trapped in a cage, while everything around or outside of the cage is growing and living. Dunbar uses the illustration of being trapped in a cage to not being able to find a job that well suits him without someone making fun of his race. He is expressing how life is like he is "stuck in a cage" and how he can't get out no matter what he does or says.
This poem is talking about how a bird is locked up in his cage and he can't get out. It's almost like how humans get put in jail and they can't get out. It's also saying how beautiful it is outside with the sun shining bright on the hills made of springing grass, and how much this locked up bird is missing out on. This poem is also talking about how winter is turning to spring by seeing the flowers and trees budding and how the stream is running smoothly in the quiet day. This bird is all cooped up in its cage while everything outside is sprouting and free. As much force and strength this bird has in trying to get out, it's hurting itself by flapping its wings so hard on the bars. You can see how desperately this bird wants to get out by how much blood it's putting on the bars of the cage. The good times this bird had while it was free had now turned into scars. These scars get older and older, which remind this bird of all the good times it had in the wild. Since this bird had been trying to get out before and be free, his wings are hurt and bruised, but still this mighty bird is trying to get out. Because of this pain, he is singing a tune. But this singing is not because he is happy or sad. He is doing this because he is sending a plea to Heaven to have mercy on him.
Dunbar uses many metaphors in his poem, Sympathy. First, he compares a bird that is trapped in a cage to slavery and then he uses the bird to show the pain of no freedom. The song the bird sings represents that he wants freedom
The stanza highlights how desperate and forlorn the bird really is. It also shows how the people desperately want to be set free from slavery. The bird isn't singing a song or prayer of joy or glee, but he is singing a prayer to Heaven. In the lines, "I know what the caged bird feels…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", the author is expressing how he comprehends what it feels like to have freedom. This poem as a whole, is talking about how a ton of other people are trapped in "cages" because of something that went on, which prevents them from experiencing the situations outside of their "cages".
Answer:
Why does the speaker identify with the bird?(
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