The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
In this passage, the speaker of "Caged Bird" uses auditory imagery to describe the caged bird's song as having a "fearful trill." The speaker attributes fear to the bird's trill—a sustained warbling sound—because the speaker imagines the bird is frightened of the world beyond its cage. But despite the fact that the freedom the bird craves is by its nature composed of "things unknown," the bird longs for that freedom nonetheless. The passage is significant because it highlights the paradox of the caged bird longing for something it fears and has never known. The bird's longing is explained in that the bird, as an animal that has evolved to fly freely through the sky, feels a natural inclination in its soul to be free. In terms of meter, Angelou uses iambic dimeter, which she breaks in the second line ("with a fearful trill") by adding a fifth syllable. The effect of suddenly accelerating the established rhythm is that the meter emphasizes the "fearful trill" being described.
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The continuation of the third stanza—the entirety of which is repeated as the sixth stanza—draws out the description of the caged bird's song. By using enjambment to continue a single sentence over eight lines, Angelou models in her language the way the bird's song stretches as far as "the distant hill." The passage is significant because the freedom attributed to the bird's song contrasts with the fear the speaker earlier ascribes to it. With this contrast, Angelou shows how the bird's song can be a song of lament and longing while simultaneously being a song that expresses the freedom in the bird's soul. Even though the bird is confined by his material circumstances, his song transcends the space to which his body is confined.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own
Returning to the free bird's perspective, the speaker juxtaposes the caged bird singing his song of freedom with the free bird's untroubled thoughts of breezes to glide on and juicy worms that await him on lawns. Immersed in his plentiful world, the free bird "names the sky his own," a line that reveals the speaker's attribution of entitlement to the free bird. The line is significant because it speaks to the free bird's unconscious entitlement to his privilege as a being whose desires are not restrained. The passage contributes to the allegorical interpretation that the free bird represents white Americans who feel entitled to the privileges that the U.S. economy and government have granted them.
