Angelou begins the poem immediately with the contrast between the title ‘Caged Bird’ and
the first line, ‘a free bird leaps’ to hook the reader. The free bird ‘leaps’ and ‘floats’ until ‘the
current ends’ which conveys how easy-going the bird’s life is. ‘The current ends’ is also a
metaphor for the unrestricted life as can fly anywhere and as long as he likes which shows
the theme of freedom. Another metaphor, ‘dips his wings’ shows that the free bird can
explore the world openly in the ‘orange sun’s rays’. ‘Orange sun’s rays’ is a vivid imagery
that is used to symbolise life and hope; this indicates that the free bird will always receive
support and have a relaxed life. Furthermore, the imagery presented allows the reader to
feel the beauty of nature which indicates that the free bird’s life will always be beautiful and
at ease; Angelou shows the theme of freedom and happiness. Angelou portrays the free bird
as having endless opportunities, supported by ‘fat worms’ and the use of enjambment, ‘and’.
Angelou uses juxtaposition in the second stanza to highlight the major differences between
the two birds. ‘But’ is a conjunction that indicates a complete turn of idea; it acts as a
transition between stanza 1 and stanza 2, thus, causing the reader to slow down the reading
pace. The poet wants the reader to focus to understand when listening to the caged bird's
story. ‘Bird that stalks his narrow cage’ causes a change in the tone from a calming and
peaceful tone to a dark and disheartening tone. Furthermore, Angelou uses metaphor, such
as ‘bars of rage’ to describe the caged bird as also emotionally caged by its own anger as he
is ‘clipped’ and ‘tied’. These adjectives describe the caged bird's physical situation which
shows that he does not have the natural birth right--to fly. Moreover, the caged bird and free
bird are used as an extended metaphor to represent the non-oppressed side and their
privileges and the Black community that faces discriminations, who also do not have the
human rights they should. This portrays the injustice because the free bird has freedom
while the caged bird doesn’t despite both being birds; this reflects on the situation the Black
community faced-- they weren’t treated fairly
Despite that the caged bird still ‘sings’ despite the ‘unknown’. This conveys that the caged
bird’s longing for freedom despite the uncertainty of the future. Although the bird can't use
any other parts as it has been 'tied' and 'clipped’, it shows its perseverance through its
‘fearful trill’. Furthermore, despite the effort, the caged bird’s singing was only heard ‘on the
distant hill’, showing that although the plight is heard, it is only treated as a distant noise.
This reflects on the helplessness and sorrow the Black community faced. An imagery,
‘shadow shouts on a nightmare scream’ indicates that the bird may be discouraged
sometimes, thus, compares his singing to a scream of someone who has a nightmare. Also,
Angelou uses bleak language, such as ‘grave dreams’, to show that racism thwarts the
dreams of the Black community, thus, creates empathy.
The poem is written in free verse, with six stanzas, each varying in lines, to represent the
theme of freedom and free bird. However, there are also rhyming, ‘trill’, ‘still’, and ‘hill’ to
create ‘bonds’ which indicates the caged bird being trapped. Also, Angelou uses iambic
meter throughout the poem, such as ‘a free bird leaps’ to ‘on the back of the wind’. This adds
musical features to the poem which correlates with the caged bird ‘singing’ to show its
hopefulness. Angelou uses repetition of the third stanza to show the determination of the
caged bird and does not give up. The caged bird will still sing in hopes of freedom and this
once again, presents the Black community’s situation where they were always hopeful
despite the oppression against them, showing their strong will.