Rabindranath Tagore is a myriad minded man and a relentless spokesperson of humanity. His poetic genius surpasses the barriers of space and time. He has given Indo Anglican poetry a new dimension- 'prose-poem' making a solid technical achievement in his powerful manipulation of free verse form and poetic prose. Rabindranath Tagore's poem, ' Upagupta ' is the translated work of his bengali poem named 'Avisara' ( অভিসার ) . Upagupta leads ascetic life renouncing the luxury and hedonistic pleasure and travels from one town to another. He is one of the disciples of Lord Buddha. The poem opens with the description of a day of August with ' murky sky ' which made the people to stay indoors , turning out the lamps. In this rainy night, Upagupta sleeps in the dust near the city wall of Mathura. Suddenly his sleep is disturbed by the feet of a lustrous city woman . He does no...
Being a poet and civil right activist, Maya Angelou was a well known spokesman for black people and her works are regarded as a defence of black culture . Her poem, ' I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings ' is a satellite poem that revolves round the first book of the same name of her series of seven Autobiographies. There are celebration of black motherhood; a critique of racism; the importance of family; and the quest for independence, personal dignity, and self-definition.
ᴍᴀʏᴀ ᴀɴɢᴇʟᴏᴜ
The bird in the cage symbolises the Afro-American and the song of the bird represents the the voice of their freedom. A free bird can enjoy its freedom flying in the air or dipping its wings in the orange ray of the Sun and can claim its supremacy over the whole world or sky. The pathetic condition of the Caged Bird is described in the second stanza. Its freedom is taken away, is chained, and feathers are clipped. As a natural reaction against the present situation , it sings with profound fear which fills the valley and touches the distant hills. It's mournful cry longing for liberty resonates the ambience.
The Free Bird can dream of a beautiful morning with 'fat worms ' in its breakfast and also can enjoy the blowing trade wind through the forest making soft warbling sounds. While the dream of freedom of the encaged bird flickers and withers. It stands on burial of dreams where its ' shadow shouts on a nightmare screams '.
According to the Holy Bible, men and women are created by God and there is no division of races. Unfortunately, in the New World , the Black people were treated as the ' sub class citizen ' - a kind of slaves. Their Liberty, Rights of Equality, etc were not given by the State. Being a part and spokesperson of the Black people, Maya Angelou has raised her voice for Equality, Freedom in her autobiographical poem,' I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings ' based on the first book of her volume of seven autobiographies .
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