Caged bird Central Idea and Tone.

 Caged Bird Central Idea and Tone 

Group members: 

Focus: Critical Questions for Understanding Poet’s Purpose -Caged Bird by Maya Angelou - poem

LI: identify and critique the author’s intention for writing; identify symbols and inferences in writing; 

SC: identify tone; diction; poetic devices; describe impact or intended effect. 

1. Identify the speaker of the poem. 

Malachi:Someone who speaks of freedom.

Hone :A person who is trying to break free 

2. What is the speaker’s tone? 

Malachi:Mostly negative with some positive

3. What vocabulary is used (diction), which reveals the speaker’s tone? 

Pita: seldom, bars of rage, grave of dreams, fearful trill.

4. What is the connotation, implied or true meaning of each word ? 

5. What stanzas are repeated? 

Malachi: the 3rd and 6th paragraph

6. Why are they repeated? 

Pita: they are repeated to see how the bird feels when he’s being locked up and free to go.

7. Identify FOUR symbols from the poem which are used to stand for bigger ideas than their literal meaning? 

Malachi: Grave of dreams: means that your dreams are dead and there is no hope for you.

Malachi: The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still:means that he doesn’t know what it is but he still wants it.    

8. What is the central idea of a poem? 

Pita: The story was about a bird that is trapped in a cage and also a free bird. 

I also think that this was a story about the man who assaulted Maya Angelo. I think that she wrote the poem caged bird because of that man who attacked her.

9. State central idea in one sentence. 

Hone: The central idea of this poem highlights the differences of being free and being trapped by the circumstances of one’s situation  

Last question: Based on what we know about Angelou’s life, what are the possible connections between Angelou’s life and her poem “Caged Bird”? 

Pita: Maya Angelou wrote this caged bird because she got assaulted when she was 8 years old and the man who assaulted her was found and sentenced by the judge. 

Malachi:That Maya Angelou is the caged bird and that man that was pita talking about he only got one day of jail for some reason but he got killed or murder after he was released from jail.When he got killed Maya went mute.

Hone:

Malachi: I wished that the caged bird would be free.