Poetry Analysis of Maya Angelou's Caged Bird Essay Sample

Writing is an art. An art that cannot be eloquently and creatively accomplished by simply smashing sentences together. It requires techniques, thought, and well written descriptions. The poem “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou is a great example of this. The poem is about two lives. One of glory and freedom, and another of discomfort and confinement; these lives being portrayed through the living conditions of birds. 

We begin the poem by meeting the free bird, shown to be living its best life and doing as it pleases. It seems as if life couldn’t be any better. These two statements are proven throughout the poem. In the first stanza, the bird is described to be flying through the breeze and up towards the sun. And the fourth stanza reads, “A free bird thinks of another breeze, and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees, and fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn, and he names the sky his own.” That excerpt truly supports the reoccurring fact of how free the creature is, allowing it to strive. It could change its path and thoughts with no trouble. 

On the contrary, the caged bird suffers a different reality, one in constant captivity. In the second stanza we get to hear the caged bird’s perspective, and we learn that his is a little less elegant. A cage traps him, along with the curse of clipped wings and tied feet, leaving the only thing left to do is sing.  A better look into this is stanza three, “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.” As the poem progresses, we continue to hear from the caged bird’s perspective. The poem ends with the last few lines expressing the dying hope the caged bird holds on to, the distant wish of freedom.

This theme could be suggesting a superiority and minority situation. Like a superiority, the caged bird is able to live by its free will and experience the world through a brighter light. Whereas the caged bird is trapped and neglected, a minority. This thought is extensively supported by the ending stanza. “…of things unknown but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.” The “things unknown” are the “bizarre” and “crazy” ideas the bird is portrayed to have. And using the description of the distant hill could be a metaphor for being considered an outcast, as if being considered totally different. All of these connections relate back to the main statement I made, as well as the theme. Maya’s articulate and precise metaphorical work and descriptions greatly contribute to the poem. Although this degraded bird is dismissed by the free bird, he knows that maybe one day, if he continues, his voice might just be heard. Thus saving him from his living nightmare.