Word Choice and Extended Metaphor in a Poem by Maya Angelou Answers

attitudeconnotationextended metaphorfigurative meaning

Read the passage from “The Caged Bird.”But a bird that stalksdown his narrow cage

acceptancejealousypeacefulnessdesperation

Read the passage from “The Caged Bird.”A free bird leapson the back of the windand floats downstreamtill the current endsand dips his wingin the orange sun raysand dares to claim the sky.

Read the passage from “The Caged Bird.”The caged bird singswith a fearful trillof things unknownbut longed for still

Read the passage from "The Caged Bird.”But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreamshis shadow shouts on a nightmare screamhis wings are clipped and his feet are tiedso he opens his throat to sing.Read the passage from Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 29.”When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast state,And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Read the passage from “The Caged Bird.”But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreamshis shadow shouts on a nightmare screamhis wings are clipped and his feet are tiedso he opens his throat to sing.

Read the excerpt from Walt Whitman’s poem “I Sit and Look Out” that Clara is using in her analysis of “The Caged Bird.”I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame; I hear the secret convulsive sobs . . .

What are the connotative meanings of sighing, as used in the poem? Choose two answers.

Read the passage from “The Caged Bird.”The free bird thinks of another breezeand the trade winds soft through the sighing treesand the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawnand he names the sky his own.