Lawrence Dunbar Sympathy

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Sympathy: a feeling of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune. In “Sympathy” by Paul Lawrence Dunbar historical background, symbolism, and repetition represent the extent the author goes to in order to exhibit the importance of this poem. This poem is about a bird that has been trapped in a cage during its entire life. Without freedom all of the rights you are supposed to be given are taken away. Unable to be set free this bird is a reference to racism and the unfairness African Americans suffered through during this time period. This is important to Dunbar because growing up he experienced some of these hardships. In the first place, with several examples of historical background this poem was published in 1899. The civil war had …show more content…

The bird represents African Americans and the cage portrays the Jim Crowe Laws. The Jim Crow Laws were laws that began enforcing racial segregation in the south that continued to be enforced until 1965. In most poems birds are made to represent innocence and freedom. The bird is trapped without freedom, violated, with all rights taken away. The "old, old scars" (1046) are used to give the reader a visual of the birds suffering. In lines 8-9 the bird hits his wing against the bars of the cage until "its blood is red on the cruel bars” (1046). You get an idea of the bird 's struggle for freedom because of the violence and suffering it endures in the cage. The bird eventually scarred himself because he was flapping his wings so much in order to try and escape. In the lines 18-20 the author says the bird 's song isn 't "a carol of joy or glee” (1046). Instead, this song is filled with trouble, suffrage, and misery. The bird wants to leave the cage its’ been trapped in, so he sings with hope that he will eventually be set free. The bird singing illustrates the African Americans voice. While African Americans continued to try to speak out they were shut down and …show more content…

He uses repetition in order to demonstrate how he feels about the bird being trapped in the cage all its life. In the first stanza the author repeats the words "I know what the caged bird feels" (1046) twice, at the beginning and the end of the stanza. Dunbar shows that he understands how the caged bird feel by suggesting the bird feels trapped. "I know why the caged bird beats his wing" (1046) and "I know why he beats his wing!" (1046) are repeated in the second stanza. Once again, the author shows the importance of repetition in order to show the lack of freedom the bird

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