In the first stanza, the “caged bird” (line 1) is contrasted by his surroundings, or the imagery of the outside. The “sun is bright” (2), “the wind stirs soft through the springing grass” (3), these lines contribute to the euphonic …show more content…
The bird “beats its wing” (8,14), while staining the “cruel bars”(9) with his blood. Dunbar gives a clear picture of the bird’s current situation versus his past. He would rather “be on the bough of a-swing”(11) than “fly back to his perch and cling”(10). The exact rhymes at the end of both lines give the poem a lyrical feel, while still maintaining its seriousness. The contrast is very evident between the first stanza’s peaceful imagery of nature, and the second stanza depicts the bird’s horrific state. Moreover, the bird’s “pain still throbs” (12), while the “old scars / pulse again with a keener sting” (12-13). The “old scars” can connote to those memories of freedom he will never get back to, or represent all those times he has beat his wings with the same