Dunbar writes a poem with vivid and descriptive language throughout. Dunbar uses this to emphasize his point that someone tied up in bondage and chains figuratively is not fortunate enough to enjoy the finer things in life. Sadly, "springing grass", a flowing river, and budding flowers are things that unoppressed people might take for granted (For a slave or someone struggling to get on their feet post slavery, could not take the time to enjoy life's pleasures in which Dunbar symbolically uses nature.) Dunbar uses language that reaches out, striking a personal chord with the reader. Grass, river, or flowers may be objects we enjoy, but underprivileged people, not necessarily minorities, cannot enjoy because of social or economic circumstances. Underprivilege

In the second stanza, Dunbar refers to the emotional and physical abuse that imprisonment and enslavement evokes both in the caged bird and the African American. He begins this stanza with, "I know why the caged bird beats his wing." (Line 8) Meaning, Dunbar understands why the caged bird fights both physically and emotionally to be set free. The remaining portions of the second stanza portray the self-inflicted and non self-inflicted physical wounds of the caged bird to the African American. The self-inflicted wounds come from the battle for freedom. Dunbar describes "why the caged bird beats his wing till its blood is red on the cruel bars" because "he must fly back to his perch and cling when he fain would be on the bough a-swing." (Lines 8-11) The African Americans experienced this same kind of pain from fighting for their freedom. Lynching, or being put to death by hanging or burning without legal sanction, were the prominent choices of deadly torture in the 1800's and early 1900's. Lynching or beating occurred when a slave tried to escape or disobey his/her white master. It seems that Dunbar is metaphorically referring to this in his second stanza.

I interpret Paul Laurence Dunbar's "Sympathy" as his way of expressing the suppressed life of African Americans during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He eloquently compares an innocent creature's lifestyle to the lifestyle of the African Americans. The language chosen for this poem evokes compassion, sympathy, and understanding in the reader. In reality, African Americans were denied the right to life, just like the caged bird. This in turn allows the reader to empathize with the lives of sla

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Approximate Word count = 1122
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)