Question

Choose one stanza from Maya Angelou's "Caged Bird" and paraphrase it. Include both the original stanza and your paraphrase.

Answer 1

"Caged Bird" 3rd stanza:

The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of thing unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom

My paraphrasing of this stanza: the caged bird is afraid of the things he does not know because he is trapped, but he would like to know them because that would mean that he would be free to go. He can only use his voice, and sings of freedom and things that not everyone likes to hear. But since his voice is all he has, he sings demanding freedom and his voice cannot be caged, so it reaches everywhere.

Answer 2

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.