Transcript Sympathy By Paul Laurence Dunbar

Sympathy
By Paul Laurence Dunbar
Haley Greenfield
Paul Laurence Dunbar
•Born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio
•The son of ex-slaves
•First African-American to gain national
eminence as a poet
•Although he lived to be only 33 years old,
Dunbar was prolific, writing short stories,
novels, librettos, plays, songs and essays as
well as the poetry for which he became well
known
•Popular with black and white readers of his
day
•His style encompasses two distinct voices 
the standard English of the classical poet and
the evocative dialect of the turn-of-thecentury black community in America
Important Facts:
• published in 1899, after the Civil War
• Racism in society
• Jim Crow Laws, segregation, unequal
practices
Sympathy
I know what the caged bird feels.
Ah me, when the sun is bright on the upland slopes,
when the wind blows soft through the springing
grass
and the river floats like a sheet of glass,
when the first bird sings and the first bud ops,
and the faint perfume from its chalice steals.
I know what the caged bird feels.
I know why the caged bird beats his wing
till its blood is red on the cruel bars,
for he must fly back to his perch and cling
when he fain would be on the bow aswing.
And the blood still throbs in the old, old scars
and they pulse again with a keener sting.
I know why he beats his wing.
I know why the caged bird sings.
Ah, me, when its wings are bruised and its bosom
sore.
It beats its bars and would be free.
It's not a carol of joy or glee,
but a prayer that it sends from its heart's deep core,
a plea that upward to heaven it flings.
I know why the caged bird sings.
What is the subject?
• Focus of the poem is how the African
American identifies and relates to the
frustrations and pain that a caged bird
experiences
• (published in 1899, after the Civil War)
First Stanza
I know what the caged bird feels.
Ah me, when the sun is bright on
the upland slopes,
when the wind blows soft through
the springing grass
and the river floats like a sheet of
glass,
when the first bird sings and the
first bud ops,
and the faint perfume from its
chalice steals.
I know what the caged bird feels.
• “I know what the caged bird feels.”
 Illustrates the comparison of a caged bird to
an African American and shows how he
identifies with the subject
• The rest of the first stanza
• various elements of nature: the bright sun, the
shimmering river, the gentle breeze
 Visual imagery
 The bird's struggle for freedom
 These symbols of freedom increase the bird's
desire to be free just as the river which flows
without restraint
• “the first bird sings”
 Auditory imagery- adds to the caged bird's
desire to be free.
 Birds singing announces that spring has
arrived, birds are outside, free to soar
wherever they choose
 “faint perfume”
olfactory imagery- further stimulating its urge to
be free
“I know why the caged bird beats his
wing”
I know why the caged bird beats his  Further identifying himself with the subject
wing
 He knows why the blacks in slavery
till its blood is red on the cruel bars,
struggled
for he must fly back to his perch and • “blood red on the cruel bars”
cling
 Visual imagery- easy to imagine the bird
when he fain would be on the bow
beating its wings until they bleed . His
aswing.
beating against the bars inflicts more pain
And the blood still throbs in the old,
on "old, old scars"
old scars
 Personification
and they pulse again with a keener
• “for he must fly back to his perch and
sting.
cling
I know why he beats his wing.
when he fain would be on the bow
aswing”
 The bird would rather be free than locked
up in his cage
• “I know why”
 Repetition- to express the intensity of his
feelings and to add a musical touch to the
poem
Second Stanza
•
Third Stanza
• “caged bird”
 Metaphor for all creatures that so intensely
fight for just a taste of freedom
 The caged bird fights for freedom just as
hard as any person would
I know why the caged bird sings.
Ah, me, when its wings are bruised
and its bosom sore.
It beats its bars and would be free.
It's not a carol of joy or glee,
•
but a prayer that it sends from its
heart's deep core,

a plea that upward to heaven it flings. 
I know why the caged bird sings.
•
“It beats its bars and would be free”
Alliteration
He beats his wings against the cage which
is society holding him in by racism. The
only way he would be free if society forgets
the differences and establishes a
community that accepts adversity
“It's not a carol of joy or glee, but a
prayer that he sends from his heart's
deep core”
 Sings not out of joy, but to express the
severe trauma it is facing
Why be Sympathetic?
• Why not instead rescue the caged bird
from its depression and conflictions?
• Why must one watch and stand by while
the caged bird suffers and dies slowly from
all the weight of its troubles?
Overall Message
• He wrote it to ask us why we have stood by
and watched as African Americans have been
the caged bird constantly beating its wings
against the cage and crying out, not singing,
for their freedom
• Tear the cages apart and bend the bars
because everyone deserves to be free