Top Highlights

• But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams (…) so he opens his throat to sing.
• That bird “stands on the grave of dreams.” This reveals the author’s feelings about her own dreams. She has so many dreams that have died because she was never given the freedom to achieve all that her white counterparts could. Discrimination and racism made up her cage, and although she sang, she felt her voice was not heard in the wide world but ...
• The speaker describes the bird’s cries as “shouts on a nightmare scream.” At this point, the caged bird is so despondent in his life of captivity that his screams are like that of someone having a nightmare. The author then repeats these lines: His wings are clipped and his feet are tied So he opens his throat to sing.
• Reaffirming the idea that the bird opens his mouth to sing because his desire for freedom and his desire to express himself cannot be contained.

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