I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

1. What does the caged bird represent?

• African Americans

• a bird in a cage... dah!

• White Americans

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2. What does the free bird represent?

• freedom

• the freedom the white man enjoys

• a bird in the fields.. silly !

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3. What is this poem mainly about?

• love and happiness

• the pains and struggles of African Americans

• the importance of music and singing

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4. The poem alternates between describing the free bird and the caged bird. This structure emphasizes

• how similar freedom and slavery are

• the contrast of being free and being confined

• why birds should be free

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5. Which line of the poem shows that the caged bird has never been free?

• “his wings are clipped and / his feet are tied / so he opens his throat to sing.” (lines 12–14)

• “his tune is heard / on the distant hill / for the caged bird / sings for freedom.” (lines 19–22)

• “The caged bird sings / with a fearful trill / of things unknown / but longed for still” (lines 31–34)

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6. What does the caged bird’s singing reveal about him?

• he is using the only way of resistance left for him

• he loves singing

• he is better at singing than the free bird

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7. Read these lines from the poem.

But a bird that stalks

down his narrow cage

can seldom see through

his bars of rage

What do these lines reveal about the caged bird?

• the caged bird is satisfied with his condition

• the caged bird is angry at his condition

• the caged bird has problems flying

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8. In stanza 2, the only rhyming words are ____________ and _________.

• stalks and through

• sing and tied

• rage and cage

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9. What do the rhyming words rage and cage in stanza 2 emphasize?

• the anger that can accompany a lack of freedom

• the sadness that can accompany a lack of freedom

• that it is possible to feel free even in a cage

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10. The content of stanza 3 is repeated in stanza 6. This repetition reveals that the bird

• has resigned himself to a captive life.

• is now content, understanding that life in the cage is safer.

• has never known freedom, but understands what it is and hopes for it.

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