Tykiera Manning

June 20, 2017

Dr. Wallulis
Cola 398
Text that Matters: An interpretation of Paul Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy”

Discovering a text that matters in one’s life can be influential in their development as an

individual. It demonstrates how a person can gain understanding and appreciation for a literary

work, which exhibits the concept of “fusion of horizons”. A text that matters allows the reader to

comprehend each part in a work and exercise the art of interpretation. This allows someone to

express understanding through experience and express the connection one has with the text.

Fittingly, Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “Sympathy”, is a text that matters in my life. The poem

will continue to matter in my life due to the connection I have with it and Maya Angelou’s novel

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Paul Laurence Dunbar was an American poet, novelist, and playwright of the late 19th

and early 20th centuries who died on February 9, 1906. Dunbar became one the first influential

African-American poets to earn national distinction and acceptance. Born on June 27, 1872 in

Dayton, Ohio to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War,

Dunbar began to write stories and verse. In its entirety, Dunbar's literary body of work has been

acclaimed as an impressive representation of black life in turn-of-the-century America, but I will

be focusing on “Sympathy”.

“Sympathy” is a lyric poem about a caged bird who is seeking to live life outside his cage

due to the beautiful landscape it sees during the Springtime. In the first and last line of each

stanza Dunbar states that he knows what the caged bird feels, why he beats his wings, and why
the caged bird sings. The second stanza mentions the bird clanging his wings against the bars

until old scars bleed, which suggests that the bird has done this many times before. The final

stanza is about the bird singing, not of "joy or glee" but of prayer. The bird is asking God to let

him leave his cage to enjoy the beauties of the outside world. Dunbar states he knows why the

bird acts this way and even suggests that he does the same thing. Paul Dunbar wrote this poem to

symbolize his oppression as an African American male.

This poem is a metaphor for how Paul Laurence Dunbar feels about his life experiences.

Dunbar felt trapped inside a cage, longing to get out and take pleasure in the other areas of life

the same way Caucasians could. However, no matter how hard he tried and prayed, it wasn't

feasible. Nevertheless, he continued to try knowing his fate, which leads me to Maya Angelou’s I

Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Maya Angelou is an African American poet who often relates her work to the Civil

Rights Movement and the freedom of people. She also was highly influenced by Paul Laurence

Dunbar, which inspired her to title her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This

autobiography written in 1969 is about the early years of Maya Angelou and illustrates how her

strength and love for literature helped her overcome racism and trauma. She is making the poem

more personal and creating a connection with the caged bird, as Dunbar himself did by

referencing lines of the poem from "Sympathy". Angelou's memoir maintains underlying themes

of racial inequality. In her preface, she states her longing to be a white girl growing up. Every

part of her life was affected by the differences in race in her small town in Stamps, Arkansas.

Angelou's ultimate struggle throughout her early life was dealing with lack of equality because

of her race.
 The connection these two texts have allowed me to examine my own life and what I have

experience as it relates to being an African American female living in the United States. I have

experience racism, fear, and powerlessness throughout my life especially in the public

educational system. I realized that the public educational system I was under didn’t want to see

an African American student as valedictorian over the typical educated Caucasian student. On a

social standpoint, I have been placed into two educational stereotypes that were not justifiable

for my life. Being a teenager in public school, I have been told by some of my peers that I think I

am "white" because I am educated, while others say it's rare to find an educated young lady like

myself, which is a subtle way of saying "we" wouldn't expect this kind of behavior from an

African American student. As a result, I felt like a caged bird surround by a beautiful world, but

with ugly obstacles in the way.

In conclusion, minority groups today continue to fight for the freedom and equal rights

among different racial and social classes. Maya Angelou and Paul Dunbar expressed their

struggle as African Americans in the United states and I could relate from my experiences of

oppression. Although each text was written years apart, they both shared a common theme of

what many minorities hope to find at some point in their life, freedom. However, I continue to

overcome my struggles through self-affirmation. In relations to Dunbar’s title “Sympathy”, I do

not feel sympathy for myself. I have sympathy for the individuals who try to keep an educated

black woman caged, because a wise mind is undefeated.

 Works Cited

Alliec419. “Allie’s Lives and Times Blog: ‘Caged Bird’ ‘Sympathy’ and Connection to ‘I Know

Why the Caged Bird Sings.’” Allie’s Lives and Times Blog. N.p., 19 June 2011. Web.

Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Random House, 1969. Print.

“Biography | Paul Laurence Dunbar | Special Collection & Archives | Wright State University

Libraries.” N.p., n.d. Web. 20 June 2017.

Foundation, Poetry. “Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar.” text/html. Poetry Foundation. N.p.,

19 June 2017. Web. 20 June 2017.

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Wikipedia 16 June 2017. Wikipedia. Web.