Sympathy
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy” was published in 1899 in his poetry collection “Lyrics of the Hearthside”. Dunbar wrote the poem while working in unpleasant conditions at the US Library of Congress. The poem is often considered to be about the struggle of African-Americans.
Paul Laurence Dunbar was born on 27 June 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, US, and he died on 9 February 1906 in Dayton, Ohio, US, at the age of 33.A poet, novelist, and short story writer, Dunbar was born to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the US Civil War. He began writing stories and verse when he was a child and published his first poems at the age of 16. Dunbar became one of the first African-American writers to establish an international reputation. He is considered the first important African-American sonnet writer.
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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!