Treasure Trove I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Stanza-5 Poem by Mary Angelou Workbook ICSE English Solutions. Workbook Exercise Question and Answer of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Mary Angelou. Visit official website CISCE for detail information about ICSE Board Class- 9/10 English.
Treasure Trove I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Stanza-5 Poem by Mary Angelou
| Board | ICSE |
| Class | 9th / 10th |
| Subject | English |
| Book Name | Treasure Trove |
| Chapter | I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings |
| Lines | (Stanza-5) |
| Topic | Workbook Question and Answer |
| Session | 2022-23 |
Treasure Trove I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Stanza-5 Poem by Mary Angelou
Question 1 :– Read the following extract from the poem ‘ I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings ’ by Mary Angelou and answer the questions that follow:
The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.
Answer :
Reference : These lines are taken from the poem, ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ written by Mary Angelou.
Context: The theme of the poem is the suffering of African- Americans and the contrast of slavery versus freedom. Maya Angelou’s 1983 poem “Caged Bird” compares the plight of a caged bird to the flight of a free bird. Many readers have interpreted Angelou’s poem as an extended metaphor with the caged bird representing the historical struggles of African Americans.
Explanation:
This Fifth stanza focuses that even though the caged bird may have never experienced true freedom, deep down that bird still knows that it was created to be free. Although freedom, to the caged bird, is “fearful” because it is “unknown”, he still sings “a fearful trill” because he still longs for freedom.
Here, the speaker reveals that his cry for freedom is “heard on the distant hill”. The last line states, “For the caged bird sings of freedom”. With this, the speaker implies that although the caged bird may never have experienced freedom, he still sings of it because he was created for freedom.
This is paralleled to the African American struggle in Maya Angelou’s time. She feels that black Americans wrote and sang and danced and cried out for the freedom they deserved, but they were only heard as a distant voice. Yet, this would not stop them from crying out for freedom and equality because they knew they were made for freedom, and they would not relent until they were given their rights as human beings to enjoy the freedom they were created to enjoy.
Question 2 : What parallel can be drawn to the poet’s feelings and that of the caged bird?
Answer : The line “For the caged bird sings of freedom” parallels to the author and her cry for freedom in the form of equality. She feels that her cries are heard, but only as a soft background noise. She still feels that she is caged and that although she sings, her cries are heard only as a distant noise. And because of being discriminated she is restricted and cannot realize many of her dreams.
Question 3: Explain, ‘stands on the grave of dreams / his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream’.
Answer: The grave of dreams can refer to a person who has given up on his dreams. The shadow, rather than the bird itself, shouts, revealing a sense of powerlessness, for who would hear the shout of a shadow? This contrasts with the free bird described in the previous stanza who boldly “names the sky his own.” The caged bird’s “nightmare scream” gives an otherworldly sense that, again, the cry will not be heard. The words “shadow” and “nightmare” evoke a dark outlook, where only the bird’s shadow or nightmares may escape the confines of the cage.
–: End of Treasure Trove I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Stanza-5 Poem by Mary Angelou :–
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