Class 11 Alternative English Unit 8 English Medium Caged Bird Question Answer As Per New Syllabus to each Chapter is provided in the list of SCERT, NCERT, AHSEC Class 11 Alternative English Chapter 8 Question Answer/Class Alternative English Chapter 8 Question Answer are given so that you can easily search through the different Chapters and select the needs Notes of AHSEC Class 11 Alternative English Chapter 8 Question Answer English Medium. covers all the exercise questions in NCERT, SCERT.
Class 11 Alternative English Chapter 8 Caged Bird
Class 11 Alternative English Unit 8 Caged Bird Question Answer | Guide for Class 11th Alternative English Chapter 3 English Medium Also Same NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Alternative English In this post we will explain to you what to try If you are a Student of English Medium then it will be very helpfull for you. NCERT/SCERT,AHSEC Class 11 Alternative English Chapter 8.
Unit 8 Caged Bird
I. Answer these questions in one or two words.
1. Where was the poet born?
Ans: The poet was born in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
2. What does the word ‘clipped’ mean in the poem?
Ans: In Angelou’s poem, she uses the word “clipped” as a metaphor for the systemic forms of oppression.
3. What does the caged bird do inside the cage?
Ans: The caged bird sings the song of freedom with a fearful voice in the cage.
4. Where does the free bird dip its wings?
Ans: The poet says that the bird seems to dip its wings in the orange rays of the sun. Here she refers to beauty of nature, that nature is full of colours.
5. What does the free bird think of?
Ans: The free bird thinks of another breeze, the trade winds through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a bright lawn at the dawn.
II. Answer these questions in a few words.
1. What does the free bird do downstream?
Ans: The free bird readily takes the flight with passing winds and floats downstream till the end of the currents and then again flies high in the sky into the beautiful orange rays of sun and even claims the sky of his own.
2. What is a trade wind?
Ans: Trade winds symbolize the freedom of movement, the free will of the free bird to go anywhere it pleases unlike the caged bird who is restricted behind the bars of its cage.
3. Why does the caged bird sing ‘a fearful trill’?
Ans: Maya Angelou uses irony to be cleverer and effective but less direct in conveying her feelings. ‘The caged bir sings with a fearful trill’. This sentence is ironic as the caged bird is the one singing not the free bird as we expect. However, the words ‘fearful’ and ‘trill’ makes us realize that actually it is not a happy tune but in a fear and trembling tone. The bird is unknown of many strange things but still sings the songs of freedom in quave which enables the readers to reach to more depth and appreciate freedom.
4. What kind of song does the caged bird sing?
Ans: The caged bird is singing a song of unknown things which he longs for. Freedom is the subject matter of his song. He is singing this song to express his feelings and emotions, to stay motivated and also to inspire others. The caged bird is singing of freedom.
5. What does the phrase ‘grave of dreams’ mean?
Ans: This means its dreams are dead and the cage is the grave of its dreams.
III. Answer these questions briefly.
1. What does the free bird symbolize?
Ans: In Maya Angelou’s poem juxtaposition is provided of a free bird’s life with that of a caged bird. The free bird symbolizes people who live in this world unencumbered by prejudice of any type whether it is racial, socioeconomic, or psychological. The free bird has the opportunity to move through life soaking in its abundance. The people, who are afforded this freedom, forge through life making their own decisions and choices. “The sky is the limit” for those who are free; those who do not face oppression. Without worrying about restrictions, the free bird is able to experience life as an enjoyable adventure. The people represented by the free bird are able to think of the mundane things in life, instead of battling for survival.
2. What does the caged bird symbolize?
Ans: The caged bird in the poem represents the people in society who are deprived of freedom and liberty. Just like the bird in the cage is unable to move as his wings are clipped and feet are tied, people deprived of freedom are not able to progress and grow.
3. Describe the helplessness of the caged bird?
Ans: The caged bird cannot fly freely in the sky. Its vision of freedom is not there as it has to remain behind the bars of the cage. On seeing its pitiable state and the life of a captive, it is filled with rage. Hence it is furious but at the same time is helpless.
IV. Answer these questions in detail.
1. What is the theme of the poem’ Caged Bird’?
Ans: The main themes in “Caged Bird” are freedom and confinement, artistic expression as resistance, and civil rights.
(a) Freedom and confinement: As its title indicates, “Caged Bird” is concerned with both imprisonment and the innate urge for freedom.
(b) Artistic expression as resistance: Despite being confined, the caged bird’s song is able to extend far past his physical conditions, thus serving as an apt metaphor for artistic expression even under oppression.
(c) Civil rights: “Caged Bird” can be fruitfully read as a poem that expresses the ongoing need for equality, particularly for Black Americans.
2. Compare and contrast the condition of the caged bird and the free bird.
Ans: Maya Angelou’s poem ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ describes the state of two birds, where one is free and ‘floats’ and ‘dares to claim the sky’, while the other is caged in his ‘bars of rage’. The first and the fourth stanzas show the delight of the free bird experiencing freedom, whereas the rest of the stanzas concentrate on the plight of the caged bird. Angelou puts greater emphasis on the lamentable state of the caged bird, and contrasts this with that of the free bird.
As the poet depicts in the poem, the free bird floats on the back of the wind, dips his wings in the orange sun rays and claims the sky as his own. He thinks of another breeze through the trees and dreams of good eatables like fat worms waiting on bright lawn. He lives in a colourful, bright and dreamy world.
On the other hand, the caged bird walks sadly inside his narrow cage and tries hard to see through the bars of his cage. His wings are clipped and feet are tied. He lets out his ‘nightmare scream’ to express his agony, anger and fear. Sometimes, the caged bird opens his throat to sing. He sings of freedom and hope.
Additional Question & Answer
1. What is the caged bird poem about?
Ans: The poem describes the opposing experiences between two birds: one bird is able to live in nature as it pleases, while a different caged bird suffers in captivity. The latter bird sings both to cope with its circumstances and to express its own longing for freedom.
2. What does the caged bird symbolize?
Ans: The bird represents freedom or desire to be free, while the cage symbolizes confinement or oppression.
3. What is the message of Maya Angelou’s poem caged bird?
Ans: The predominant theme of the poem is freedom. The first line depicts this by introducing “the free bird.” And the opposite theme is “slavery.” A caged bird in captivity “sings of freedom.” The caged bird was created for freedom as a free bird. Nonetheless, it is in an unnatural situation, trapped in a cage.
4. What type of poem is caged bird?
Ans: ‘Caged Bird’ by Maya Angelou is a six-stanza poem that is separated into stanzas that range in length. Angelou chose to write the poem in free verse. This means that there is no single rhyme scheme or metrical pattern that unites all the lines. But, there are some examples of an iambic meter.
5. How is freedom ironic in Caged Bird?
Ans: This sentence is ironic as the caged bird is the one singing not the free bird as we expect. However, the words ‘fearful’ and ‘trill’ makes us realize that actually it is not a happy tune but a desperate cry for freedom. This relief enables us to reach to more depth and appreciate freedom.
6. What is the main conflict in the poem caged bird?
Ans: In Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the major conflicts are: man versus self, man versus society, and man versus man. Man versus self is a battle a major character faces within their own personality. Man versus society is a struggle against the norms of the community.
7. Why was the caged bird blinded?
Ans: It is blinded by that “rage” and understands that there is no escape from its bars of incarceration. The bird cannot visualize what the free bird can because it is caged with pent up anger.
8. Discuss the theme of the poem.
Ans: The poem describes a “caged bird”-a bird that is trapped in a “narrow cage” with limited mobility, only able to sing about the freedom has never had and cannot attain. This caged bird is an extended metaphor for the Black community’s past and ongoing experience of racism in the United States in particular, and can also be read as portraying the experience of any oppressed group. The metaphor captures the overwhelming agony and cruelty of the oppression of marginalized communities by relating it to the emotional suffering of the caged bird.
The poem uses the metaphor of the bird to capture not just the way that oppression imposes overt physical limitations on the oppressed, but also the way that those limitations emotionally and psychologically impact the oppressed. For instance, in lines 10-11 the poem states that the caged bird “can seldom see through his bars,” which seems at first as if the poem is going to explain how being in the cage limits the bird’s line of sight. But instead, the poem further describes the bars as being “bars of rage”-the bird is imprisoned and certainly the physical bars of the cage limit its line of sight, but the bird can “seldom see” because these conditions make the bird blind with rage. By fusing the limits imposed by the cage with the emotional impact those limits inspire, the poem makes clear that the environment and the anger can’t be separated from one another. The oppression of the cage doesn’t just keep the bird captive; the captivity changes the bird, and in so doing robs the bird of its very self.
As an extended metaphor used to convey the pain of the oppression faced by Black people throughout (and before) the history of the United States, aspects of the poem can be read as directly related to that particular experience. For instance, the caged bird’s song can be seen as an allusion to Black spirituals. As abolitionist Frederick Douglass once said, “Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy.” Additionally, Angelou’s image of the “caged bird” is one borrowed from a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar, “Sympathy,” which states, “I know why the caged bird sings, ah me / it is not a carol of joy or glee” What both Dunbar and Douglass are saying is that the oppressed sing not because they are happy, but because they are unhappy. The cause of the caged bird’s song explicitly mirrors Douglass and Dunbar’s insights: though the song is full of the hope of freedom, the fact that the caged bird can only hope of freedom makes clear that it lacks that freedom. The song may be full of hope, but it is born from a place of deep pain, and the hope can be seen as primarily an attempt to cope with an intolerable situation.
The poem’s point about the bird’s song springing from sadness is critically important, because, historically, many defenders of slavery and other forms of oppression argued that the song and dance that was a part of Black American culture indicated that Black people were in fact joyful and content with their situation. The idea that such music might be an expression of cultural or emotional pain was ignored (in large part because ignoring it meant that those who benefitted from such oppression could also justify the oppression as not being oppressive at all).
“Caged Bird” actively and explicitly disputes the notion that the musical expression of an oppressed group is a sign of contentment. It is instead an assertion that the opposite is true. In making such an assertion, the poem refuses to bend to the convenient and racist interpretation of African-American song by white oppressors and instead asserts that the anguish forced on Black communities by white oppression must be acknowledged.
9. Discuss about the freedom and captivity shown in the poem.
Ans: The poem “Caged Bird” compares and contrasts the experience of a free bird with that of a bird held in captivity. While part of this contrast is meant to convey the injustice forced upon the captive bird, the comparison also allows the poem to explore how a free being thinks and acts, and to argue that freedom is a natural state for living beings. As an extended metaphor for the historical oppression of Black people in the United States, the idea that freedom is a human’s natural state of existence further demonstrates the cruelty and injustice of racism. The caged bird’s longing for freedom also demonstrates the Black community’s resilience against this oppression.
The poem’s first key insight about freedom pertains to what a free being is allowed to think about. Putting that more concretely: because the free bird is, well, free, it never has to think about its own freedom. Instead, the free bird spends its time living, and doing what it wants. When the free bird, thinks, it is only of “another breeze” or “fat worms.” Thus, for the free bird, freedom is natural, subconscious. The free bird never has to think about freedom. It simply is free.
It is also worth noting the ways in which freedom gives the free bird a sense of entitlement: the speaker notes in line 7 that the free bird “dares to claim the sky,” as its own, and repeats this sentiment later in line 26. Despite all the freedom the bird already has, it continues to seek more from the world-it sees its freedom as naturally implying that it should “own” the world. It is difficult not to see this insight as referring more broadly to the way that free people, such as slaveholders in the American pre-Civil War South, saw their own freedom-and the lack of freedom of the Black people they owned-as indicating that their ownership of their slaves was how things should be. They saw their freedom, rather than a privilege or a natural right, as a signal that they should own everything else.
The caged bird, on the other hand, because it lacks freedom, spends all of its time thinking and singing about freedom. Much like breathing, freedom is experienced as something that is only thought of when it is no longer there. When one can breathe freely, there is no need to think about it-however, when one can’t breathe, of course, it becomes the only thing one can think of. In this way, the poem makes clear the emotional and even intellectual exhaustion that comes from a lack of freedom, the way it creates a prison not just for a physical body but also for the mind.
The caged bird, unlike the free bird, is completely immobilized-not only is the bird held captive in a cage, but its wings are clipped and its feet tied; thus, even if the bird were to escape his cage, he would still be unable to move or fly. The total immobilization of the caged bird is likely representative of the layers of discrimination a marginalized person can face, from overt and official policies of slavery and discrimination, to racially-motivated violence, to being written out of history or culture. The caged bird, being tied and clipped, seems to represent the ways oppression not only imprisons individuals and communities, but also how it seeks to limit them in ways that can then be used to justify their imprisonment: for instance, a bird with clipped wings and bound feet couldn’t possibly survive outside a cage, so the person who put it there can then justify keeping the bird in the cage to keep it safe. The imprisonment of the bird becomes self-perpetuating, and conveniently (for the one keeping the bird caged) self-justifying. In a similar vein, the immobilization of the bird could also be read as demonstrating just how overwhelming and cruel oppression can be. A bird that is already caged does not need to also have its wings clipped or its feet tied-in this poem, the bird is subjected to all three. The poem, then, serves as a nuanced and damning portrait of all forms of racism and discrimination, and in particular of the racism and oppression perpetrated by the United States against Black people.
10. Discuss freedom as a universal and natural right.
Ans: Even as “Caged Bird” explores the behavior of the free and the captive, it also makes clear that the desire for freedom is an organic, universal impulse that cannot be bound or destroyed. The poem states that the caged bird sings “of things unknown/but longed for still.” The speaker then clarifies: “the caged bird / sings of freedom.” Because freedom is a thing “unknown” to the caged bird, the implication is that the caged bird was not taken from his natural environment, but rather was likely born in his cage and has never known anything else. The caged bird has never known freedom but still understands what freedom is, and yearns for it. That the understanding of freedom, seems to be universal suggests that freedom is the natural state of living things.
Given that the caged bird in the poem is an extended metaphor for the historic struggle of the Black community under historical and ongoing racist oppression, the idea that freedom is a biological impulse argues against the inhumane cruelty of oppression. The metaphor also demonstrates the resilience of the black community. Because of the omnipresence of racism throughout the United States history, the poem implies, Black people-like the caged bird-have never experienced truc freedom, at least not in the same way that those who are not forced to endure systemic oppression do. That they nonetheless continue longing for this “thing unknown” illustrates that, despite the hopelessness that the metaphor of the caged bird conveys, the Black community’s desire for freedom, and determination to achieve it, remains.
The repetition of the entire third stanza which also appears, word for word, as the poem’s sixth stanza-further demonstrates the resilience of the black community. In the third stanza, the speaker tells the reader that the caged bird “sings with a fearful trill/ of things unknown/but longed for still / and his tune is heard / on the distant hill” which demonstrates that, despite the hopelessness of the situation, the bird continues to sing loudly enough that he is heard from far away, inspiring others. The repetition of the stanza as the sixth and final stanza of the poem conveys that the caged bird does not simply give up, but rather will continue to sing for freedom- thus, this repetition seems to suggest that even as Black Americans endure its intolerable circumstances, it will continue to yearn and work for freedom.
11. What does the cage symbolized? Explain.
Ans: The cage-which is described as “narrow”-holds the bird captive, preventing it from living and moving freely. This cage comes to define the bird and strip it of its identity, indicated by the fact that the bird is referred to as the “caged bird” for the majority of the poem.
As a symbol, the cage is meant to evoke the cultural and historical oppression of Black Americans and their suffering as a result of that oppression-thus, the cage could be seen as representing the literal and legal enslavement of Africans in the United States, which ended in 1865. The cage could also be a representation of the less overt, but still oppressive legal and cultural limitations (such as racial segregation, voter suppression, etc.) imposed on Black people following the end of slavery and into the current day.
The cage can also be seen as a representation of the emotional limitations that Black people have self-imposed out of fear of legal or social retribution. The fact that the cage has come to define the bird’s identity (thus making it a caged bird, rather than simply a bird) perhaps represents how race-based oppression reduces people to their race, rather than being fully realized human beings. In turn, this can represent how a marginalized group can come to feel defined by their oppression-how oppression not just limits those who are oppressed, but changes them against their will.
12. What does the free and caged birds symbolize?
Ans: The birds in “Caged Bird” can be seen as symbolizing two different racial groups. The caged bird, which has been forced to live its entire life in captivity, can be seen as representing Black Americans, who suffer from racist oppression. The cage holding the caged bird can be seen as symbolizing the bird’s oppression, whether in the form of slavery, race-based segregation after the end of slavery, or the more subtle but still pervasive and pernicious forms of oppression that continue to oppress Black communities today. The “bars of rage” through which the bird can’t see capture the way that oppression faced by Black people is not just physical, but also emotional and psychological. The caged bird’s song recalls Black spirituals and musical traditions, which often focused on a freedom denied to those who were singing them. In all, the caged bird portrays a Black community that has been terrorized by oppression, but that nonetheless continues to year and work for freedom.
The free bird symbolizes the white community, which has oppressed Black people. In particular the way that the free bird assumes that its freedom gives it the right to “claim the sky” seems to capture the way that the white community has and often continues to see the oppression of Black people not as a crime, but rather as a sign of white superiority.
13. What does the music symbolizes?
Ans: Throughout the poem, there are several mentions of the caged bird’s song, which the speaker describes as being “of freedom.” Along with the musical quality that is achieved through the meter and sense of rhyme throughout “Caged Bird,” the caged bird’s song is also a symbolic representation of Black culture, emotions, and resilience.
The song, which is described as being sung with a “fearful trill” about “things unknown, but longed for still” is likely an allusion to Black spirituals, which were sung by those enslaved in the United States prior to the Civil War. Historians consider many of these spirituals-many of which are songs that express Christian values, and the desire to be “freed from sin” a coded way for the enslaved to express and cope with their suffering under slavery. Thus, the mention of the caged bird’s “song” is likely a nod towards the historic suffering of Black people under oppression, as well as a demonstration of a cultural coping method. By extension, the caged bird’s “song” could be seen as a representation of profound pain.
The caged bird’s song could also be interpreted more metaphorically, perhaps representing an outcry from Black people against their oppression rather than a literal song.
14. What is the form of the poem?
Ans: “Caged Bird” does not follow any specific form. Although it does use features of formal poetry, such as meter and rhyme, these features do not follow any rigid or distinct pattern. Instead, the poem is written in free verse.
The poem contains five stanzas. These stanzas vary in the number of lines they contain, and the length of those lines. The third and sixth stanzas match word-for-word, which puts extra emphasis on those stanzas.
15. Who is the speaker of the poem?
Ans: There is no distinct speaker of this poem; instead, the speaker acts more like a third-person omniscient narrator, able to shift between the perspectives of the caged and free bird.
While the speaker is anonymous and unidentified, the reader could reasonably assume that the speaker, perhaps, empathizes with the caged bird, and perhaps even see themselves as being like a caged bird-hence, their focus on expressing the caged bird’s circumstances.
It is reasonable to assume that Maya Angelou-the author of the poem-is the speaker of the poem, given that her work often touches on similar themes and she even wrote a memoir with a very similar title (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings). That said, in the poem Angelou is not trying to represent her experiences specifically but rather the more general experiences of the Black American community to which she belongs. Given that fact, it is worthwhile to note that there isn’t much reason to argue about whether Angelou is the speaker, as the answer either way doesn’t yield much more insight into the poem.
16. What is the setting of the poem?
Ans: The setting of “Caged Bird” shifts between the perspectives of the two birds. When the speaker describes the free bird, the setting is generally outside among the wind, trees, and sun. Beyond those general details, the poem offers no specific location in terms of a setting. This is by design. The lack of specificity helps to make clear that the free bird can go anywhere, can be anywhere that it is free.
When the speaker describes the caged bird, the setting shifts to the cage. In these stanzas, there is not much else described beyond the cage. This conveys a sense of claustrophobia and sameness, which is the caged bird’s entire experience-nothing but the cage.
17. What is the historical context of the poem?
Ans: Maya Angelou’s work regularly features references to the long-standing oppression of Black Americans. From the early colonial days until 1865, slavery subjected Black Americans to unimaginable physical, emotional, and psychological cruelty. After the abolition of slavery, the oppression of Black communities continued with the institution of racial segregation, racial violence, and more.
As a civil rights activist, Angelou was also deeply affected by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.’s respective assassinations, which likely informed the complicated sense of hope, determination, and resilience that infuses much of Angelou’s work.
Notes of AHSEC Class 11 AHSEC Class 11 Alternative English Unit 8 | English Medium Class 11 Alternative English Notes In this post we will explain to you Class 11 Alternative English Chapter 8 Question Answer | AHSEC Class 11 Alternative English Question Answer Unit 8 If you are a Student of English Medium then it will be very helpfull for you.
Note- If you find any mistakes in this CHAPTER, please let us know or correct them yourself. Thank you.