Numbers two and three will be the most useful in determining the reliability of this source.
<span>a. middle-aged woman who speaks a strange language </span>
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing
Paraphrased:
A caged bird's dreams are dead, killed by its captivity. It is tied down and restricted and so cannot do much else. It shouts a maniacal scream (for help? in anguish?). Since it is physically limited, all it can do is use its voice to sing.
Death
In the poem the speaker says, "The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
" At the very beginning of the poem the speaker personifies Death. When she says, "Because I could not stop for Death - He kindly stopped for me". This idea that Death stops for the speaker, personifies Death and makes him a character in the poem. This means that "Ourselves" refers to the speaker and Death.
Some people have argued that since Death is personified, so is Immortality and therefore Immortality is also riding in the Carriage with the speaker and Death. However, this is not a widely accepted interpretation.
