Literature

Maya Angelou and the caged bird

Maya Angelou’s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings—a text that is closely connected to her 1983 poem “Caged Bird,” in which she uses symbolic imagery to explore themes of freedom and oppression.

“… 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.”