It is his most anthologized poem after he wrote "We Wear Masks" because of the lines, "I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, When he beats his bars and he would be free." (Laryea 108). Within these two poems he is able to bring people closer to the heart of primitive human nature in his race than anyone ever before (Laryea 109).
The poem "Sympathy" is a poem of Negro man telling how he feels when he is freed from slavery. I think Dunbar wrote this poem to tell others and to be an example to others of a slave being trapped into doing work just because of his race. The most famous line "I know what the caged bird feels", tells us what the poem is basically about, that Dunbar knows how it feels to be imprisoned and not be able to so as you please. He also says that when everyone else in the world is free and he and the other Negro slaves can not enjoy the world around them he knows how they feel. He uses irony to try and explain the feelings of pain and sorrow, as in the line " And pain still throbs in the old, old scars and they pulse again with a keener sting". I think this line shows exactly the way he feels towards his past and present life. He is saying the past memories still haunt him in the present time and those memories will never fade. .
He felt his talents were being imprisoned after writing "Sympathy" because many people demanded him as a symbol of a true slave to them and not a spokesperson of the Negro people (Turner 131). His reputation suffered from those who interpreted his poems the wrong way and upset them because of the way he felt about slaves and their dignity. He has fallen out of racial views that seem rude today, but he is still recognized as a skilled writer of southern black poetry. His race was nothing but lyrical (Howells 127). His reputation suffered from those who failed to reveal the significant changes is his subject matter and attitude; therefore, he felt he was being punished because of his works (Howells 128).