The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: Angelou, Maya. "Caged Bird." The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (Random House, 1994).

Note that parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the lines of the poem from which the quotations are taken.

"Caged Bird" is a 1983 poem by Maya Angelou composed in six stanzas of varying lengths. It has much in common with the author's 1969 autobiographical work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and many might consider it the poetic version of the longer memoir. One may read the poem simply as a commentary on the difference between freedom and captivity, but within the context of Angelou's memoir, the more subtle themes of how freedom relates to gender, race, and trauma come into play. It is therefore a poem that can be read independently of its predecessor work, but that ultimately derives from the same thematic interests that Angelou explores in her longer work.

The poem alternates between describing the action of a free bird and a caged bird, with the first stanza beginning with the free bird and its unfettered activity in nature. The second stanza then pivots to imagery of a bird in its cage while the third stanza—which also becomes the refrain for the poem—describes the singing of the caged bird. Stanza four returns to the free bird and its travels through the sky, while stanza five switches back to the caged bird and repeats some lines from stanza two. The sixth and final stanza is a repetition of stanza three, once again detailing the song of the caged bird. The poem therefore shows little movement or progression as it ends in approximately the same place it began, with no variation in the refrain from stanza three to stanza six.