“I know why the caged bird sings” or “Caged Bird” is a poem about social disparity and injustice. Maya Angelou uses the metaphor of birds to represent her contemporary society wherein discrimination was widely prevalent. The African-American community was marginalised by the White Americans. She juxtaposes between the bird in captivity and the free bird soaring and claiming the sky. The free bird is free to do whatever it wants and soars in the free sky while the caged bird can only imagine doing so.

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.

The free bird soars the sky with the wind on its back to help it along and floats downstream till the current ends. This shows that it can traverse any amount of distance without any restriction. It is free to dip his sings in the orange rays of the sun and claim that the sky is his own.

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.

In contrast, the caged bird lies helpless, ignored and desperate. He stalks down his narrow cage which suggests that in contrast to the bountiful endless sky, the caged bird is suffocating for lack of space. The clear disparity and duality of freedom are explicit in the first two stanzas. The caged bird can hardly and seldom see through the bars of his cage. There isn’t much to see when one is caged and the lack of freedom fills him with rage at the injustice. The bars of rage can also be a metaphor of the social discrimination where the Afro-Americans were treated with contempt and disgust and they moulded the cage with hatred in their hearts and rage. The caged bird’s wings are clipped and his feet are tied, suggestive of the inhumanity and actions which go against nature. Bereft of flight and the ability to walk, the caged bird is only left with the option to sing.

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.

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The caged bird is even afraid to sing. The lack of freedom and fear of punishment has left it scarred and it sings feebly and fearfully of things unknown. The bird sings of the things that he wanted to see but was unable to. The song and the tune of the caged bird are heard at a distance on the hill. The song manages to traverse and travel to the distant hill because the bird cries and sings of freedom that he was being unable to attain.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own

The free bird thinks of another breeze, another place where it could visit. The free bird thinks of the trade winds blowing through the trees and the fat worms that it could enjoy on a dawn bright lawn. The free birds name the sky his own as he is free to do whatever it wants and thus thinks of himself as the master of the sky.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams  
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream  
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied  
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird, however, doesn’t have the freedom to think of the “trade winds” and the worms on a “dawn bright lawn” because his dreams have been snatched away. The bird has been caged, his power of flight has been snatched away and his feet have been tied. The bird is a prisoner and thus his dreams are good as dead in a grave. Through the repetition of the line, “his wings are clipped and his feet are tied” in the fourth stanza, Maya Angelou stresses the lack of freedom of the caged bird. Maya Angelou through the metaphor of the caged bird tells us that the Afro-Americans didn’t have much of a choice than to be mere prisoners in the hands of the cruel discriminatory White Americans.

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.

The refrain (3rd and 6th stanza) highlights the bird’s determination to keep singing despite the adverse circumstances. This poem can be a representation of the poet’s own cry and expression of freedom. Maya Angelou can well be regarded as the caged bird in the poem. Through the use of the metaphor, the poem compares caged birds to the African Americans fighting for equality during the civil rights movement.