Freedom
Beginning with the opening stanza, in which the speaker uses imagery to describe the free bird's unrestrained access to the wind, sun, and sky, "Caged Bird" foregrounds freedom as its most dominant theme. As the poem progresses, Angelou contrasts the free bird's access to freedom with the caged bird's song of freedom, which expresses his lament for his confinement and his longing to live free. By juxtaposing the two birds' perspectives, Angelou shows how the free bird feels an inherent entitlement to his freedom; meanwhile, the caged bird understands the true value of freedom because it is something he has never known but that his spirit yearns for nonetheless. In this way, Angelou presents a paradox in which the caged bird is a better authority on freedom than the bird who is already immersed in freedom, in the same way that an insomniac has a particular understanding of the value of sleep. In an allegorical reading of the poem, the free bird's sense of ownership over the world he freely moves through represents the unconscious privilege of white Americans who benefit from an economy and government that assigns greater value to their lives.
Oppression
In "Caged Bird," Angelou uses the theme of oppression as a foil to the theme of freedom. In contrast to the free bird who soars on currents of wind, the titular caged bird is imprisoned in his cage with clipped wings and tied feet; the caged bird is so frustrated with his situation that he often cannot see through his "bars of rage." But because of the oppressive circumstances that limit his natural inclination to take flight, the caged bird resorts to singing a song of freedom. The song travels far, transcending the airspace through which the bird would like to fly. In this way, the bird's song is both a consequence and overcoming of his oppression. While he is not free to fly, his soul expresses the freedom he yearns for. In an allegorical reading of the poem, the oppressive circumstances the caged bird lives in represent the systemic oppression of Black Americans.
Resilience
Encapsulated in the song of freedom the caged bird repeats, resilience is another of the poem's major themes. The speaker's description of the caged bird's song as a song of freedom is a paradox: although the bird only knows its cage and "sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still," the speaker recognizes that the bird's song is freedom is another form. While the bird cannot physically leave his cage, his voice travels through the same airspace that the free bird's body soars. Interpreting the bird's song as an expression of his longing for a freedom he has never known but his soul craves nonetheless, Angelou emphasizes the beauty of the caged bird's resilience in spite of the conditions that confine him. In an allegorical reading of the poem, the caged bird's capacity to recover from difficulties represents the resilience of Black Americans whose spirits remain steadfast despite oppressive material conditions.
