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The Joyful Privilege of Freedom

In the two stanzas that discuss the experience of the free bird, the speaker describes freedom as a joyful privilege. This privilege relates, first and foremost, to the free bird’s freedom of movement. The speaker emphasizes the joy of sailing through the air in the poem’s opening stanza (lines 1–7):

A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

This stanza speaks powerfully to the joys of freedom, expressed through the free bird’s experience of flight. For one thing, the verbs in the stanza all indicate dynamic activity. The free bird leaps, floats, dips, and dares—all words that convey the bird’s freedom of movement and his agency to make decisions about where he goes. Whereas the verbs communicate the feeling of freedom, the sunset imagery in the final lines emphasizes the visual splendor that accompanies the joyful physicality of flight. By the end of the stanza, the free bird feels so in control of his own body and experience that he develops a broader feeling of ownership. Not only does the free bird enjoy a feeling of self-possession, but he also “dares to claim the sky.” The second stanza that concerns the free bird echoes these same themes, ultimately celebrating how he enjoys the privilege of “nam[ing] the sky his own” (line 26).

The Oppressive Unfreedom of Constraint

Whereas the free bird enjoys the privileges that come with freedom, the caged bird suffers under oppressive conditions of constraint that deprive it of freedom. After describing the free bird’s joyful flight, the speaker turns to the caged bird and offers a starkly contrasting vision (lines 8–14):

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

Unlike the freedom of movement enjoyed by the free bird, the caged bird suffers in confinement. The most obvious constraint is “his narrow cage.” However, the caged bird’s body has also been brutally altered to prevent flight: “his wings are clipped and / his feet are tied.” In this way, the caged bird’s body itself becomes a prison. So intense are his feelings of anger and helplessness that the caged bird’s very psyche is locked in with “bars of rage.” This psychic constraint is the most profound form of imprisonment the caged bird suffers, since it affects his capacity even to imagine freedom. In his leisure, the free bird “thinks of another breeze” as well as “the trade winds” and “fat worms” (lines 23–25). By contrast, the caged bird “stands on the grave of dreams” (line 27). Severely hampered even in his imagination, the caged bird can do little more than sing “with a fearful trill / of things unknown” (lines 16–17 and 32–33).

Art as a Resource for Resilience

The caged bird’s imprisonment has curtailed his freedom, causing both physical and emotional harm. Yet despite the injustice of his situation, the caged bird retains the capacity for self-expression. Thus, even with clipped wings and bound feet, “he opens his throat to sing” (line 14). The speaker places special emphasis on the caged bird’s song by repeating the stanza-long refrain that describes it (lines 15–22 and 31–38):

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.

Despite the physical and metaphorical “bars” that curtail his freedom, the caged bird nonetheless remains able to sing “of things unknown / but longed for still.” In doing so, the caged bird holds on to the small shred of hope that remains. And significantly, though his body may be held captive, his voice carries far beyond the confines of his cage. The caged bird’s song “of freedom” may therefore be “heard / on the distant hill.” In this way, Angelou suggests that even under oppressive conditions, art can serve as a resource for resilience. Self-expression can soothe the pain of the oppressed and keep their hope alive. And not only that: it can also serve as a mode of communication with those “on the distant hill” who might be sympathetic and therefore able to help.

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