Analysis of Sympathy Elements by Paul Laurence Dunba
It is safe to say that the greatest kind of poetry makes the reader feel something, whether those feelings are good or bad. If written properly, a poem can empathetically convey a poet’s emotions onto its readers through the poem’s form, theme, and content. While reading “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar, one cannot help but feel the longing, the pain, and the loneliness that the speaker and caged bird so clearly express. In this poem, the speaker vividly describes the forlorn actions and poignant emotions of a caged bird, while relating them to his own feelings, and professing that he understands why the caged bird feels this way. Dunbar effectively used many compelling elements in the form of this poem. Initially, upon reading a poem, the title is the first detail to catch a reader’s eye. In this instance, only one word is used as the title; “sympathy”. Interestingly, this word does not appear again in any of the stanzas. Instead, the speaker actively bares the sympathetic feelings that he has toward a caged bird to his audience, prominently exhibiting the significance of the title through his emotions.
Moreover, the meter and rhyme scheme enhance the magnetism of the poem. Dunbar chose to write using iambic elements, by means of stressed and unstressed beats and in a rhyme scheme of ABAABCC. This poem is constructed with three stanzas that each contain seven lines, all following this same rhythm and rhyme scheme. Interestingly, Dunbar also opted to create indentions on certain lines, which allows the reader to pay closer attention to his meanings by creating a visual break in the stanzas. In addition, Dunbar creates several other breaks in the stanzas by way of punctuation, using a mixture of semi-colons, periods, commas, and exclamation points to keep the rhythm of his poem and perhaps to also draw attention to specific lines. By meticulously crafting the form of this poem, Dunbar effectively produced a captivatingly structured work. In addition to the fascinating form of this poem, the theme plays an important role in further drawing in the reader. Grippingly, the speaker’s identity remains somewhat mysterious throughout the poem.
Although the speaker articulates in first-person, the reader is not given many clues regarding his background or character, other than the speaker’s proclaimed relation to a caged bird. From these details, the reader may infer that the speaker is confined in some way and longs for freedom more than anything else. Clearly, through the speaker’s usage of daunting language, he is melancholic about his circumstances. Furthermore, these background details also serve to illustrate the overall theme of the poem. To summarize, this work’s theme is a narrative of the thoughts and emotions of a restrained person who correlates his situation to an anguished bird that is imprisoned in a cage. The speaker’s purpose in telling this narrative is to show the reader the true pain associated with the inability to gain freedom. Additionally, the setting of this poem is somewhat complex. The reader is not told the exact circumstances of the speaker’s setting, but instead the immediate setting of the bird, along with the ideal setting that it longs for. As the speaker explains, the bird dreams of living in nature with a lush and peaceful setting but instead is unwillingly being held in a cage surrounded by “cruel bars” (9). Together, Dunbar uses these details to weave an interesting and insightful narrative.
As in all art, poetry tends to put meaning into the things that are left unsaid. In this way, Dunbar efficiently created very deep meanings through simple language by using several literary devices to build the content of this poem. First and foremost, the sole purpose of telling the chronicle of the caged bird is to depict the speaker’s own struggle for freedom. In this metaphor, the speaker is portrayed by the bird, the flourishing landscape represents freedom, and the bleak cage symbolizes the speaker’s own imprisonment. Along with the central metaphor of this poem, the amount of imagery used is astounding. Dunbar was able to create a vision through the usage of words such as “bright”, “soft”, “red”, and “throbs”, to name a few. Within the first stanza, Dunbar also includes the simile “And the river flows like a stream of glass” (4) to further describe this ideal setting. Additionally, repetition plays a major role in the poetic telling of this narrative. Initially, the poem begins with “I know what the caged bird feels, alas!” (1) and this sentiment is repeated at the beginning and end of each stanza in some way. This strategic repetition forces the reader to acknowledge how strongly the narrator relates to the caged bird, further defining the premise of the poem.
The interweaving of all these literary devices produces the complex tone of this poetic work. In the beginning of this poem, the tone is light and optimistic but there is a distinct change in mood beginning in line 8. The tone then develops even more darkly when the speaker states “And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars / And they pulse again with a keener sting” (12-13). This drastic turn deepens the poem’s meaning and draws the reader in further. Ultimately, the speaker closes by explaining the morbid reason that a caged bird sings, describing it as a prayer that he may perish in peace. Through reading this poem, one cannot avoid feeling the longing, the pain, and the loneliness that the speaker and caged bird so distinctly convey. Without a doubt, Dunbar’s effectiveness in displaying his message was a result of the composition of the poem’s form, theme, and content. It is clear in this poem, the speaker intensely portrays the hopeless actions and tender emotions of a caged bird, while relating them to his own feelings, and professing that he understands why it feels this way. Successfully, “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar encourages its readers to empathetically feel the harsh realities that the speaker is facing.
