March 11, 2014
Period 4
Poetry communicates a lot of things, it can communicate anger towards something or being happy. Tone sets up how you view the words written by the author. “Sympathy” is about a caged bird and its feeling toward being trapped. “Caged Bird” is about a bird who is trapped but tired up and the only option is to sing. The tone that is presented in “Sympathy” is more of a hopeful wishful tone however in “Caged Bird” the tone is an angry, bitter, and jealous. In “Sympathy” the verses of 8-14 and 15-21, create a tone of hopefulness and determination. The poets description of the pain that the bird goes through trying to escape shows that he was to be out of the that cage and isn’t going to take being put in a cage without trying to get out. It also shows the determination that the bird has to keep trying to escape. It creates a feeling of hope the bird has. The poet is telling the reader about what the bird goes through when trying to escape the cage. “I know why the caged bird beats his wing till its blood red on the cruel bars/ and a pain still throbs in the old, old scars and they pulse again with a keener sting.” (8-9, 12-13). The bird is beating its wing to get out of the cage. The bird is trying its hardest to get out but since he tried it before every time he does it he is reminded of the pain he goes through every time.