Critical Analysis: Sympathy

The poem Sympathy presents the same rhyme scheme in the three stanzas it is composed of. The text is plethoric of imagery and rhythm, which grants it characteristics that are similar to the ones songs have. The title, Sympathy, references the point of view that the speaker has about the situation presented.

At first, the world that the bird is not able to be part of is depicted through beautiful imagery: “When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, // And the river flows like a stream of glass…” This effect is projected through the use of alliteration. And as it can be appreciated, via the repetition of the “s” sound, onomatopoeia constructs the sound that the wind would reproduce as it whirls through the grasslands. It shows an external beauty and tranquility which the caged bird longs for, and it feels segregated from.

After understanding his desire, the will that the caged bird owns is presented full of obstinacy and persistence, and it achieves this effect on the reader through the use of a sympathetic, comprehensive tone. We can appreciate this in the following lines: “…the caged bird beats his wing // Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; // For he must fly to his perch and cling…” Sensory images predominate to portray the experience the bird goes through, these build up the tone and contribute to the purpose of the poem. This last lines use pathos to cause the reader to identify with the fowl.

The intention of the text exposes symbolic characteristics that could be connected with the context the poem was written in. “I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, // When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,- // When he beats his bars and he would be free…” If we connect the fact that the author was an Afro-American poet and writer from the late 19^th and 20^th century to the poem, we can recognize an allegory when the will and intentions of the caged bird are discussed. It could be linked to the Afro-American situation of that time, the way in which they were oppressed and they sang songs as prayers and a symbol of strength.  


Sources:

University of Dayton. (2003) The Life of Paul Laurence Dunbar . Retrieved from: http://www.dunbarsite.org/biopld.asp