For dunbar,a caged bird might mean a hope for freedom that might never come. it might mean this because he was a man full of potential, but he couldn’t do anything because he was an african american.
for angelou, a caged bird might mean a want for a better life. this is because when angelou wrote the poem, she was facing extreme discrimination. on one specific occasion, she was harassed by her school teacher.
dunbar can be related to a caged bird because he was an african american living in segregated america. it was so hard for him to get a job that the only one he could manage to find was elevato attendant.
