It has the freedom to move about wherever it desires. The bird is shown in a state of great tranquility. It dips its wing in the sea of orange sunlight. It hovers over a stream of wind and floats downwards to where the current of the stream ends and the wind is calm. The opening lines show a bird leaping ‘on the back of the wind’ demonstrating the freedom it experience to move about and glide freely through the air. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Explanation Stanza 1 Angelou, with the metaphor of birds, represents the inequality of justice seen in the society of her time which differentiates between the African-American community and its White American counterpart.Still he sings in a fearful voice and he sings of freedom. The free bird enjoys the open sky and floats on the back of the wind while the caged bird’s wings are clipped and feet are tied.Maya Angelou creates contrasting images of how a free bird and a caged bird live their lives.Superbly told, with the poet's gift for language and observation, and charged with the unforgetable emotion of remembered anguish and love - this remarkable autobiography by an equally remarkable black girl from Arkansas captures, indelibly, a world of which most Americans are shamefully ignorant. There, the formative phase of her life (as well as this book) comes to a close with the painful discovery of the true nature of her father, the emergence of a hard-won independence and - perhaps most important - a baby, born out of wedlock, loved and kept. Eventually, Maya and Bailey followed their mother to California. Thereafter Maya refused to speak, except to the person closest to her, Bailey. Louis and the Most Beautiful Mother in the World ended in tragedy - rape. But as the awful, unfathomable mystery of prejudice intruded, so did the unexpected joy of a surprise visit by Daddy, the sinful joy of going to Church, the disappointments of a Depression Christmas.Ī visit to St. But then came the intruders - first in the form of taunting poorwhite children who were bested only by the grandmother's dignity. The Store was a microcosm of life: its orderly pattern was a comfort, even among the meanest frustrations.

White people were more than strangers - they were from another planet. Their early world revolved around this remarkable woman and the Store she ran for the black community. As little children they were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas.

She was born Marguerite, but her brother Bailey nicknamed her Maya ('mine').

I know why the caged bird sings cover