Advertisements
Advertisements
Question
Read the following extract from Maya Angelou's poem, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' and answer the questions that follow:
|
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams |
- How does Angelou describe the state of the free bird in the opening lines of the poem? [3]
- Give a brief description of the caged bird's physical and mental condition. [3]
- Explain the phrase, 'grave of dreams' in your own words.
What does the caged bird sing about? [3] - The 'free bird' and the 'caged bird' in the poem represent different groups of people. Name them.
Name any one group of people that you would call 'caged birds' in today's world. [3] - What does the title of the poem, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings', tell us about Maya Angelou's life?
Mention two ways in which the world of the caged bird differs from that of the free bird. [4]
Advertisements
Solution
- Maya Angelou employs dynamic verbs like "leaps", "floats", and "dips" to express the boundless vitality and unrestrained happiness of the free bird. In the poem's opening, the free bird is portrayed effortlessly gliding through the sky, unrestricted by any limitations. It can leap and dance on the wind, gracefully drift downstream, and dip its wings into the warm sun's rays. The free bird takes delight in nature's beauty, enjoying all that it offers. Angelou's use of vivid verbs underscores the stark difference between the free bird and the caged bird, emphasizing the caged bird's restricted movements and deprivation of the same freedom and joy.
- In Maya Angelou's poem "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," the caged bird is both physically and mentally constrained. Confined within a cage, its wings are clipped and its feet are tied, rendering it incapable of flying or moving freely. The restricted space and limited mobility adversely affect the bird's psychological well-being, leading to feelings of frustration and despair. The caged bird is denied access to the splendours of nature, unable even to catch a glimpse of the sky. This state of the bird serves as a symbol of oppression and injustice, shedding light on the challenges faced by African Americans amid segregation and racism.
- The caged bird's reality is a desolate and distressing nightmare, serving as a potent symbol of injustice and the deprivation of freedom. With its wings clipped and aspirations crushed, its life is characterized by confinement and sorrowful suppression. The tone of the caged bird is mournful, echoing a cry from a shattered and haunted dream. Its dreams and hopes are portrayed as a "graveyard of dreams," underscoring the irrevocable and hopeless nature of its predicament. The caged bird's existence is characterized by perpetual frustration and despair, ensnared in a world of restricted possibilities and unfulfilled potential.
- The free bird and the caged bird represent two different groups of people. The free birds are the white Americans, and the caged birds are the African Black Americans. Indigenous people whose freedom is brutally curtailed can be called caged birds in today's world.
- Maya Angelou's poem reveals the shattered dreams of Black Americans due to discrimination, hindering their ability to compete with whites. Drawing a parallel between the free bird's expansive sky and the caged bird's restrictions, Angelou contrasts their natures. While the free bird soars proudly, the caged bird, tied and determined, screams for freedom, symbolizing the struggle of African Americans. Whites who hold power over them restrict their freedom of speech, choice, and aspirations. Angelou's poem serves as a symbolic reflection on the degrading struggle of Black authors yearning for freedom, drawn from her own traumatic childhood experiences.
APPEARS IN
RELATED QUESTIONS
Expressions used to show fear
Can you find the expressions in the story that tell you that the author was frightened?
Read the story and complete the following sentences.
1. I was turned ______.
2. I sat there holding ______.
3. In the light of the lamp I sat there like ______.
Working in groups of four, create your own mystery story. You may use the following chart to plan your story.
| Title of 'Solve-it Story' | |
| Main Character | |
| Secondary character | |
| Setting (where and when) | |
| Problem | |
| Main events | |
| Climax | |
| Solution |
"My father lived at Blenheim then,
Yon little stream hard by;
They burnt his dwelling to the ground,
And he was forced to fly;
So with his wife and child he fled,
Nor had he where to rest his head.
"With fire and sword the country round
Was wasted far and wide,
And many a childing mother then,
And new-born baby died;
But things like that, you know, must be
At every famous victory;
Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.
Explain with reference to context.
Of the seven hundred villages dotting the map of India, in which the majority of India’s five hundred million live, flourish and die, Kritam was probably the tiniest, indicated on the district survey map by a microscopic dot, the map being meant more for the revenue official out to collect tax than for the guidance of the motorist, who in any case could not hope to reach it since it sprawled far from the highway at the end of a rough track furrowed up by the iron-hooped wheels of bullock carts. But its size did not prevent its giving itself the grandiose name Kritam, which meant in Tamil coronet or crown on the brow of the subcontinent. The village consisted of fewer than thirty houses, only one of them built from brick and cement and painted a brilliant yellow and blue all over with
gorgeous carvings of gods and gargoyles on its balustrade, it was known as the Big House. The other houses, distributed in four streets, were generally of bamboo thatch, straw, mud and other unspecified material. Muni’s was the last house in the fourth street, beyond which stretched the fields. In his prosperous days Muni had owned a flock of sheep and goats and sallied forth every morning driving the flock to the highway a couple of miles away.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Describe Muni’s prosperous days.
He flungs himself down in a corner to recoup from the fatigue of his visit to the shop. His wife said, “You are getting no sauce today, nor anything else. I can’t find anything to give you to eat. Fast till the evening, it’ll do you good. Take the goats and be gone now,” she cried and added, “Don’t come back before the sun is down.”
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
What lie did Muni tell the shopkeeper?
The horse was nearly life-size, moulded out of clay, baked, burnt, and brightly coloured, and reared its head proudly, prancing its forelegs in the air and flourishing its tail in a loop; beside the horse stood a warrior with scythelike mustachios, bulging eyes, and aquiline nose. The old image-makers believed in indicating a man of strength by bulging out his eyes and sharpening his moustache tips, and also decorated the man’s chest with beads which looked today like blobs of mud through the ravages of sun and wind and rain (when it came), but Muni would insist that he had known the beads to sparkle like the nine gems at one time in his life.
Read the extract given below and answer the question that follow.
Why had the image makers given the warrior bulging eyes and aquiline nose?
Why was it necessary to train Kari to he good?
What was the effect on Mr Gessler of the author’s remark about a certain pair of boots?
Why did the author order so many pairs of boots? Did he really need them?
In Act III Scene ii of the play, The Tempest, upon hearing the music of Ariel, Stephanis says that the island will prove to be a “brave kingdom” to him because ______.
