... one thrashing against the cage, but the bars are perhaps people who are unwilling to listen to his story, his colleagues, to the story of his parents, his ancestors. That's why the "pain still throbs" (12) but "they pulse again with a keener string – I know why he beats his wing!& ... quot; (13-14) Dunbar never gives up, because his parents never gave up, and neither did theirs, as far back as the Atlantic ship forced them over here to be slaves. That's why Dunbar "[knows] why the the caged bird sings" (15) even while in ... hoped, and hoped, and hoped. Paul Dunbar embodies these emoti...

• Word Count: 1871
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate