An Analysis Of Sympathy, By Paul Laurence Dunbar

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In “Sympathy”, by Paul Laurence Dunbar, a man can see the reflection of the subjugation he feels as he views a bird, trapped in a cage. In this lyric poem, filled with agony, grief, and painful emotion, a reader can receive a glimpse into the eyes and mind of someone who has been oppressed. This poem is designed to create a tone that gives the reader insight into and lets the reader feel the pain of the bird and the man who can sympathize with him.
The poem starts by a description of a wonderful place. The images of a bright sun, and “wind stir[ing] through the springing grass”, and how the river flows, all show the design of a care-free, jubilant life in this peaceful place, that is just outside the bird’s reach. The speaker uses a simile to compare the river to a “stream of glass”, as the river was likely glistening perfectly in the bright sunlight. With the opening of the “first bud”, man indicates that spring is about to begin and that the bird sees life outside. The speaker uses a metaphor to …show more content…

The poem uses alliteration in lines 3 and 5 to create a sense of serenity in the landscape is being described. The end rhyme seems to add stress to the feelings presented. The main rhyme scheme is a-b-a-a-b-c-c. The rhyme scheme in this poem helps with the meter. The meter of the poem is an iambic pentameter, which, when in beat with the words the speaker so cleverly chose, adds to the urgency of the bird that is trying to escape his cage. The use of punctuation on the last sentence of each stanza gives the feeling that the speaker is screaming this to emphasize how he feels with the bird. The grammar of the poem is present tense, making it as if the reader could see the bird, in his struggle, right before the reader’s eyes. This pulls strings in the reader and makes them feel guilty for watching the bird and not doing anything to help

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