Bishop Cameron Essays - American Literature,

Bishop Cameron J. Pauley Freshman Honors, Period 2 December 11, 2017 The Caged One Represents Many By Bishop Cameron Freedom does not mean equality. Just because a slave was recently freed from slavery, that does not mean he or she are free from racism, being physically imprisoned by one is the same, if not worse, than being mentally imprisoned by all. And the person who was imprisoned by all was Paul Laurence Dunbar, the author of the poem "Sympathy." Sympathy was a poem that expressed the effect that racism has had on Dunbar, and any African-American at the time. The poem is about a caged bird. The bird is representing African-Americans, how the racism around him makes them feel imprisoned. Racism was so apparent at the time of this poem being published the [There are two literary devices that help develop the overall theme, title, and the poem itself. There are many literary devices found in the poem. The two literary devices of persona and metaphor will mostly make up the entire poem and the overall title of "Sympathy." The title of "Sympathy" was made for the readers of the poem, who were mostly white, to feel bad for the bird, who represented all of the African-Americans at the time. Dunbar clearly used metaphor on the fact of the bird representing black people. The entire poem is a metaphor. Dunbar wrote this poem and represented all blacks at the time with the bird, which he always knew how it felt. Also, in the first and last line of every stanza. Dunbar always knew how African-Americans felt and, in this case, the bird, using "I know". "I know what the caged bird feels!" (7) "I know why the caged bird sings" (21), and he knows because he is one of the people who are being represented by the bird. The African-Americans at the time are post-slavery, mostly in the South as well. And Dunbar, being a black person himself, knows the discrimination of blacks everywhere. He knows the struggle of being treated lesser just because of his skin color. But that is not the only place a metaphor is s een. In the second stanza, the bird "beats his wing till it's blood is red on the cruel bars;" (8-9). "And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars"(12). He beat his wing on the bars, but in the twelfth line, he said "old scars", as if the bird done this before. This could be referencing the fighting that African-Americans are facing for the equality that they are facing. How they fight and fight but without any progress. And at the time, America was not as nearly diverse as it is today, it was mostly blacks and whites, and whites would not be fighting for anything at the time. And a white person would probably not be writing about the the struggles of white or black people. Persona in "Sympathy" is apparent in all of the stanzas and could be depicted in multiple ways. The author continued to use the pronoun "I" many times throughout the poem, and he seemed so confident that he knew how the caged bird felt. Even in the first stanza, he described the scene perfectly, always seemed to "...know what the caged bird feels" (1-2), as if he was the caged bird, even in the second stanza, explaining a pain that "...still throbs in the old, old scars" (5) "And they pulse again with a keener sting-"(13), he was the one fighting and getting scared, and still kept fighting, he was fighting, he was the one who "...beats his wing Till it's blood is red on the cruel bars;" (8-9). But that's not the only place persona is significant to the theme portrayed, in the third stanza, the author explained a specific act only a few individuals would do, the bird would sing, but "It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his deep heart's core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings"(18-20), he is praying, this is hinted at by the use of the word heaven, and it being capitalized, like it is a place you