emma+and+shelby

 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 srpinging 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!

Sympathy by dunbar is about slavery and how it is unfair and inhumane. He wrote this because he is a former slave. He wrote this to show what slavery is like and how it is the same as being a caged bird. Where you have no freedom and how you want to get out because you know you should be free.A bird and a slave should be free and are meant to be free.

j