i know why the caged bird sings crash course

What is I know why the caged bird sings about?

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a 1969 autobiography about the early years of American writer and poet Maya Angelou.

How is caged bird a blues autobiography?

Hagen also characterize Caged Bird as a "blues genre autobiography" because it uses elements of blues music. These elements include the act of testimony when speaking of one's life and struggles, ironic understatement, and the use of natural metaphors, rhythms, and intonations.

Is caged bird a bildungsroman?

As such, Caged Bird has been called a Bildungsroman or coming-of-age story; critic Mary Jane Lupton compares it to other Bildungsromans like George Eliot 's novel The Mill on the Floss.

When did Maya Angelou write I know why the caged bird sings?

Maya Angelou wrote her first of seven autobiographies in 1969, entitled "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." In the book, Angelou recounts her experiences with racism and the many other challenges she faced from the age of three up to the age of seventeen.

Perspective and Narrator

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings uses a first-person point of view from both the childhood and adult perspectives of Maya Angelou.

About the Title

The title, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, comes from the last line of the poem "Sympathy" by African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. The caged bird in the poem beats its wings against its cage bars and pleas to be set free from imprisonment.

Summary

This study guide and infographic for Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings offer summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.

Themes

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