Excerpt from: sympathy
paul laurence dunbar

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, 5
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 10
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, 15
when his wing is bruised and his bosom
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-- 20
i know why the caged bird sings!

which statement cites direct evidence from the passage to support its meaning most effectively?
a) dunbar claims that the bird is not in a real cage at all and is actually "free."
b) paul dunbar's poem expresses great sadness and longing for finding romantic love.
c) paul dunbar uses the metaphor of a bird that is in a cage to describe how others feel.
d) dunbar identifies strongly with a trapped animal: "i know what the caged bird feels, alas! ".

D)Dunbar identifies strongly with a trapped animal: "I know what the caged bird feels, alas!".

The correct answer is D) Dunbar identifies strongly with a trapped animal: "I know what the caged bird feels, alas!". "Sympathy" was written by Paul Laurence Dunbar. The poem is a metaphor for what it means to be a black male during the 1800s. Paul through this lyric poem highlight the suffering of the oppressed by prejudice and unfair laws with the use of the analogy of caged bird.

1)a

2 b

3 d

4 d or b

explanation:

english novelist and poet, the eldest of the three brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of english literature.

she enlisted in school at roe head in january 1831, aged 14 years. she left the year after to teach her sisters, emily and anne, at home, returning in 1835 as a governess. in 1839 she undertook the role as governess for the sidgwick family, but left after a few months to return to haworth where the sisters opened a school, but failed to attract pupils. instead they turned to writing and they each first published in 1846 under the pseudonyms of currer, ellis and acton bell. her first novel the professor was rejected by publishers, her second novel jane eyre was published in 1847. the sisters admitted to their bell pseudonyms in 1848, and by the following year were celebrated in london literary circles.

brontë experienced the early deaths of all her siblings. she became pregnant shortly after her marriage in june 1854 but died on 31 march 1855, almost certainly from hyperemesis gravidarum, a complication of pregnancy which causes excessive nausea and vomiting.

explanation: