Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Worksheet: Songs of Ourselves, Volume 1, Part 3 Cambridge O' Level (2010) and IGCSE (0486), 2017-19
Worksheet: Songs of Ourselves, Volume 1, Part 3 Cambridge O' Level (2010) and IGCSE (0486), 2017-19
Pre-reading:
What do the metaphors of cage and bird represent? Do they appear as antithesis of each other? If
listed together, what connotation does it bring?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
As a citizen of the world of today, how much do you think you are free? What does freedom mean to
you?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
While Reading:
First Impression:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Second Reading:
Rhyme Scheme:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Form:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Reading for Meaning:
Annotation:
S.No. Words Literal Meaning Connotation/Effect
1. 1Leaps, floats, dips, dares
2. current
3. cage
2
.
4. 3bars of rage
5. wings
3 are clipped
.
6. 4
fearful trill
7. 5
distant hill
.
Reading for Analysis
Who are the speaker and his persona? Can you discern a point of view here?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Stanza 1
Notice the use and effect of action verbs.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Notice the use and effect of the line starters.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How do the two elements of nature affect the movement of the bird?‘
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
At the end of the first stanza, what is the tone established by the narrator?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Stanza 2
What contrast does the opening line present? What are the other contrasting elements in
this stanza ?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Notice the use of active verbs as opposed to the passive verbs in this stanza. How much of
the control can the caged bird have on his life?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How has the cause of this consequence, ‘so he opens his throat to sing’ been presented? Is it
paradoxical?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Notice the different effect of the alliteration of 'dip' and 'dare' in stanza one and 'bird' and 'bar'
in stanza two.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Notice the different effect of the assonance of 'wing' and 'clip' in stanza two and 'wing' and 'dip'
in stanza one.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Stanza 3
How does the mood develop in the third stanza?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The stanza opens with the continuation of the action verb ‘ sings’. However, how has this
action been presented here? What is the irony here?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
List the choices which have been denied to the caged bird .
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Stanza 4
Notice the change in the length of lines and use of long vowels here. What effect do they
render to the tone?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Instead of singing freely and merrily, the free bird has been presented as dreaming. There
are other images of lucrative life beyond the horizon. Discuss.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How do the opportunities that were inaccessible for the caged bird, open their arms for the
free bird?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Compare the final line of stanza 4 with the final line of stanza 1. What has changed?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Stanza 5
Like stanza 4, the lines are longer than the first three stanzas and use the long vowel
sounds. However, how do these vowels contrast with those used in the previous stanza?
[ Hint: grave, dreams, shadow, shouts, screams, nightmare, tied]
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Notice the effect of repetition of “his wings are clipped and his feet are tied/ so he opens his
throat to sing.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Stanza 6
Stanza 6 is a repetition of stanza 3. How does this repetition affect the theme ? Does it bring any
change in the tone? What might be the significance of the final word of poem as a contrast to
the title of the poem?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
How far do you see the extended metaphor of the caged bird manifested in the world of today?
Do you identify racism, sexism, ethnicity and sexual orientation (or any other paradigms) to be
barriers in one’s quest for life?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
1. Consider the ways in which Caged Bird presents ideas about social injustice and lack of liberty
2. Explore the ways in which Maya Angelou uses the caged bird’s metaphor to present her ideas.
3. Explore the ways in which the poet has used language and other poetic devices to present ideas in ...
(apply this question to any of the poems)