Sympathy+(Block+34)

=S= Rhyme Scheme: ABAABCC Oganic Form Capitalization: First letter of each line Punctuation: no periods, uses alot of exclamation points language- Diction of African American. -ex. Alas!, ah me, =C= Author: Paul Laurence Dunbar Text: poem, 3 stanzas 7 lines each Historical: During the time of slavery =L= Alliteration: None Repetition: "I know why the caged bird sings!" Assonance: "When h__e__ b__e__ats his bars and h__e__ would b__e__ fr__ee__" Parallelism: I know Paradox: None =I= Sight: sees caged bird Sound:"I know why the bird sings, ah me" Smell:"And the Faint perfume from its chalice steals" Taste: None Touch: None =F= Personification: caged bird is given human characteristics in the fact that it wants to be free Symbolism: The caged bird symbolizes lack of freedom Simile: "The river flows like a stream of glass" Metaphor: none =T= tone: Understanding Topic: Knowing how the Caged bird felt Angle: Coming from a slaves point of view and how he feels the sympathy of being free

=SUMMARY:= I believe that Dunbar is trying to explain how freedom is the greatest right you have and he feels that without that freedom you will go crazy and do anything to get the freedom. He mainly uses the Caged bird to explain slavery. He is saying how he understands what the caged bird feels because African Americans feel "caged in" due to the discrimination that they face and are not allowed the freedoms they deserve. The title "Sympathy" is showing how Dunbar feels as if people can have sympathy for a caged bird because it is restricted from recieving true happiness and freedom but not for African Americans who have the same problem. Paul Dunbar's background- http://www.dunbersite.org/ Comments on the poem - http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/dunbar/sympathy.htm