Read the poem and answer the questions that follow:
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
Choose the correct alternatives from the options given below:
(a) The caged bird is different from the free bird because
(i) it does not have any wings to fly (ii) its tail has been clipped
(iii) it cannot fly in the sky (iv) it can sing
(b) The caged bird’s song expresses
(i)his desire for unknown things (ii) his desire for freedom
(iii) his nightmares (iv) all the above
Answer the following questions briefly in your own:
(c) What does the phrase ‘claims the sky’ in the first stanza tell us about this bird?
(d) What do the ‘bars of rage’ tell us about the condition of the bird in the second stanza?
(e) Though the bird in the second stanza is in captivity he has not lost his spirit. Pick out a line from this stanza that tells us this.
(f) In the third and fourth stanza, the condition of the free bird and the caged bird have been highlighted. Pick out any one contrasting image from these lines.
(g) Explain the phrase ‘grave of dreams.
(h) Why has the caged bird’s long been called a ‘fearful trill’?
Find words from the passage which mean the same as each of the following:
(i)the opposite of upstream (stanza 1)
(j) cut (stanza 2)
ANSWERS:-
(a) (iii)
(b) (iv)
(c) That it has the whole sky to fly in/it is free(anyone)
(d) It is angry at the loss of its freedom
(d) The line that tells us this is `his wings are clipped and/his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing’
(f) free bird thinks of the next breeze that it will ride on/it thinks of the fat worms that it will eat/it has the whole sky to fly in (anyone)
(g) The caged bird has had to bury all his dreams/ the caged bird has no hope left
(h) The song expresses his fears at having lost his freedom
(i) downstream
(j) clipped
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