This is a poem about the
plight of captivity (and oppression) expressed as an emotional reality. The poem uses theof a
physical cage as its principal vehicle to examine the nature of captivity as specific and
negative way of relating to the world.
Contrasting freedom and captivity,
the poem draws a comparison between a free bird that is able to not only fly freely in the sky
but also to think freely.
This specific element of its freedom allows the
bird to be audacious as it
[...] dares to claim the
sky.
A caged bird is presented in stark relief against
this emotional, imaginative and physical freedom. In a refrain repeated twice in the poem the
caged bird is described with the phrase,
his wings are
clipped and his feet are tiedso he opens his throat to
sing.Significantly, the
poem's structure mimics that of a song, using a /refrain the follows the above repeated phrase
and appears twice in the poem.
The caged bird singswith a fearful
trillof things unknownbut longed for
stilland his tune is heardon the distant
hillfor the caged birdsings of
freedom.In formatting the
poem as a song, the poet implicitly suggests that she is a caged bird and this poem is her song.
Thus, the poem's meaning relates to (1) an awareness of what it means to be free in terms of
internal life and emotional liberty and (2) a sense that the constrictions of captivity are also
emotional.The emotional constrictions of the
caged bird's situation are made clear in the line
his bars of rage
which identifies the bars as being made of an emotion,
rage.One conclusion to draw as to the meaning
of the poem comes from addressing the idea that freedom and captivity are not purely physical
states. Captivity is an emotional state and so can be produced by situations of oppression. Thus
captivity -- being caged -- becomes a metaphor for a perceived or fully felt state of mind
wherein an individual feels unable to determine his own path.
But a caged bird stands on
the grave of dreamshis shadow shouts on a nightmare
screamThe song ultimately
becomes a statement of yearning that stems from loss. What has been lost is not easily stated
because it is, in large part, a way of relating to the world. Yet in phrases like "grave of
dreams" the poem suggests that what has been lost can be described as a power to hope,
dream or believe in a positive future. A positive, assertive or affirmative relationship with
the world has been taken from the caged bird.
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