38 pages • 1 hour read
Maya AngelouCaged Bird
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1983A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Background
Historical Context
From a historical perspective, this poem aligns itself with the long history of Black people struggling for equality and justice in America. The image of the caged bird singing comes from Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dunbar was one of the first Black poets to rise to prominence in America. Dunbar was born a few years after the end of the Civil War, and his poetry encapsulates many aspects of the Black experience in America during the second half of the 19th century. Critics often consider Dunbar to be one of the first prominent Black poetic voices in America, and they considered him a profound inspiration for many Black writers throughout the 20th century.
Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy” uses the caged bird metaphor to speak about the experiences of people who feel confined. Though Dunbar didn’t necessarily write the poem with slavery in mind, many of its interpretations focus on the Black experience in America during the time of slavery.
Angelou considered “Caged Bird” a continuation of Dunbar’s poem. With that in mind, it is logical to trace the poem’s historical context to the history of Black art in America. Additionally, Angelou used the metaphor of the caged bird often, and it was always in reference to the experiences of the oppressed, particularly Black Americans.
Authorial Context
While “Caged Bird” is a poem, it also serves as an extension of Angelou’s major literary form, the autobiography.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings set Angelou’s career in motion. The book is a narrative autobiography that captures the emotional strife and trauma she experienced as she was growing up as a Black woman in America. Critics have often praised Angelou’s writing for its personal nature and its ability to communicate the author’s deepest feelings in a poetic way. While Angelou worked in various social movements and wrote about them, writing was more of a personal pursuit for her. Writing gave her opportunity to deal with complex emotions and experiences, and as a result of this, her writing is intensely personal.
Therefore, it is difficult to look at anything Angelou wrote and detach it from her own life. It’s possible to look at the poem as a comment on many aspects of Angelou’s life, including her response to being raped as a child, her discovery of writing and poetry, or her experiences as a Black woman in America.
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By Maya Angelou
