Sympathy.

 I know what the caged bird feels, alas!

    When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;   

When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,   

And the river flows like a stream of glass;

    When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,   

And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—

I know what the caged bird feels!

I know why the caged bird beats his wing

    Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;   

For he must fly back to his perch and cling   

When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;

    And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars   

And they pulse again with a keener sting—

I know why he beats his wing!

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

    When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—

When he beats his bars and he would be free;

It is not a carol of joy or glee,

    But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,   

But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—

I know why the caged bird sings!

This poem was written by Paul Laurence Dunbar. The Toen of the first stanza is more like A B A A B C and for the second stanza it is more like A B A A B C C and for the last stanza, it is like A B A A B C C.

In this poem, I found about three poetic devices. The poem was organized with three stanzas and seven lines in each stanza. The meaning of this poem is about how miserable a bird can get in a cage. and I think the author also wants you to think about the bird in the cage.