Sympathy By Paul Laurence Dunbar

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SympathyBy Paul Laurence Dunbar

• Haley Greenfield

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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-the-century
  black community in America

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Important Facts

• published in 1899, after the Civil War
• Racism in society
• Jim Crow Laws, segregation, unequal practices

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• 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.

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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)

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• 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

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.
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• I know why the caged bird beats his wing
• Further identifying himself with the subject
• He knows why the blacks in slavery struggled
• blood red on the cruel bars
• Visual imagery- easy to imagine the bird beating
  its wings until they bleed . His beating against
  the bars inflicts more pain on "old, old scars"
• Personification
• for he must fly back to his perch and cling
  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 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.
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• 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
• 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

Third Stanza 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.
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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?

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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