Sympathy And The Caged Bird Comparison

During the 1900’s there were many people affected by the Jim crow laws mainly African Americans. In the poems “Sympathy” and “The Caged Bird” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Maya Angelou, the authors do a great job expressing their feelings about Jim crow laws by using an image of a caged bird. These poems are a very popular because they relate to the Jim crow laws, the authors, Paul Dunbar, and Maya Angelou create such meaningful themes describing the feelings of being trapped that it gives strength in knowing why we keep moving forward.
Both the poems “Sympathy” and “Caged Bird” use a bird as their central image. This caused there to be similarities such as them being trapped and the feelings of them being trapped. The authors try to use the
Paul Dunbar and Maya Angelou use pain to describe the feelings of the birds. Dunbar states that the bird is trapped and is trying to except by hitting its wing against the bars, the pain increases every time due to old scars received from repeatedly hitting itself against the bars. “I know why the caged bird beats his wing/ Till its blood is red own the cruel bars;/And pain still throbs in the old, old scars/And they pulse again with a keener sting” (Dunbar 8-12). The bird has already gone through this miserable pain but it can’t stand to be trapped, he wants to fly back to his perch. This can be related to the author because the author also wants to feel the joy of being equal, he writes that the bird doesn’t stop just because it’s in pain, he would keep hurting himself to have a chance to be free, never being discouraged from trying. Maya Angelou's poem “Caged Bird” is different when compared to Dunbar's sympathy, because she uses sadder and more gruesome details to express her fighting spirit to be free. “Can seldom see through/ his bars of rage/ His wings are clipped and/ his feet are tied/ So he opens his throat to sing” (Angelou 10-14). The author makes you feel no hope, the bird is tied has no wings and is caged, so even if it escaped it wouldn’t be able to fly off and be free. The author shows us to never give up and always
When we read “Sympathy” we learn that you see, this is a poem that's about more than a caged bird. It's a poem about the lack of freedom. The author Paul Dunbar creates an image that helps you relate and compare your lives too, we learn to never take advantage of the freedom we have, because there was always a sacrifice involved to obtain it. “When he beats his bars and he would be free;/ It is not a carol of joy or glee,/ But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,/ But a plea, that upward to heaven he flings” (Dunbar 17-19). This is one of the biggest parts of the poem, probably the biggest, because the author states why the bird is singing which is the main part of the poem. The bird wants to be free; it’s crying out for help and relief from its despair. Maya Angelou’s poem is similar to Dunbar's as both of the birds are singing. Despite its fear, the caged bird continues to sing of freedom. “The caged bird sings/ with fearful trill/ of things unknown/ but longed for still” (Angelou 30-33) Maya changes the reason of why the bird sings, the bird wants to feel something it's never felt, which is freedom. Even though both poems share the want for freedom, Paul Dunbar's “Sympathy” allows you to better relate to feeling trapped, Maya Angelou's poem expresses no hope when it talks about pain