“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” was written by Maya Angelou and has the same title as her autobiography. As a result, it is clear that this title had great meaning for Angelou. Angelou is a black American who grew up in the South during the civil rights movement in the 20th century, and is expressing her feelings about the discrimination she has faced throughout her life. This poem is known for its deep meaning of longing for freedom, as well as its vivid use of language and stanza structure. Angelou wrote this poem in 1969, which almost marks the end of the civil rights movement (1954-1968). As we all know, the civil rights movement worked to end discrimination against African Americans. Before the American Civil War, most blacks were slaves, especially in the South. After the Civil War, although black Americans had freedom, only whites had the right to vote, and in some places citizenship was even limited to whites only. The poem illustrates the differences between African Americans and whites during the civil rights era and shows the depth of feeling of living unjustly. While many African Americans were free around the time Angelou published this poem, we can know from this poem that African Americans did not yet feel free. Because of the color of her skin, she often felt that no one would hear her voice, and she felt that she was somehow still experiencing slavery. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay This poem has seven stanzas in total. In the first and second stanzas, the author refers to nature and describes the birds' fight against the orange sky, which shows the reader's appreciation for the bird in the natural habitat. The third and fourth stanzas describe a caged bird next to the free bird that can barely see the sky. The author uses the word “but” to begin the third stanza, which changes the tone of the poem from satisfied and joyful to dark and frustrating. Angelou uses the metaphor of a bird struggling to escape its cage in these two stanzas, as a major symbol throughout her poem. The caged bird represents Angelou's restriction resulting from discrimination. In the fifth stanza, the author returns to the free bird and describes further differences between it and the caged bird. He writes that the free bird enjoys "the soft trade winds among the sighing trees." The List of Often Banned Books Everyone Should Read The next stanza was again about the real life of the caged bird. It reveals the author's feelings about her dream of ending discrimination in the United States and gaining legal recognition for all African Americans. The author once again uses the metaphor of her cage constituted by discrimination and racism. Although he sang, he felt that his voice was not heard in the wide world, but only by those closest to his cage. The last stanza continues to focus on the caged bird. “The caged bird sings with a fearful trill; of things unknown but still desired." This is the only repeated stanza in this poem, which is the same as the fourth, which means it is very important and significant in this poem. This implies that even though the caged bird has never experienced freedom, it continues to “sing a fearful trill” because it was created for freedom. In the first three stanzas, there are only two lines of rhyme, which are "cage" and "rage" at the beginning of the second stanza. The fourth stanza repeats the "-ill" sound in its first three lines, which is also an onomatopoeia.