The poem Caged Bird by Maya Angelou happens to be the first poem listed as the set poem for Cambridge O Level Literature in English 2010 syllabus for 2020 and 2021, Paper 1. This poem can be found in Songs of Ourselves Volume 1, Part 3.
The world that we breathe in today has had many contrasting firsts: the world has constitutionally bid adieu to apartheid , yet has chosen leaders who would like to build ‘ huge ‘ ‘walls’. We have had gross injustice meted out to people lower in the power hierarchy and yet, there are ubiquitous campaigns like # metoo that would hold no bar to name the corrupted tools of power.
Hence, a teacher of Caged Bird in this day and age does not have to talk about merely the social pressures on the African-Americans and the Civil Rights Movement of 1966: the canvas and the ‘sky ‘ for the discussion and several simultaneous interpretations is unimaginably expansive.
I hope this student worksheet will help identify the language features of this fantastic poem by Maya Angelou. This worksheet has been designed to trace the poem from the first impression right through the form and structure while leading to the post reflective thematic analysis. The exam style questions in the end could be tackled as in-class or home assignments to prepare for the assessment.