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DIALECTIC READING OF FREEDOM AND
IMPRISONMENT IN MAYA ANGELOU‟S POEM I KNOW
WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS
Mohamad Ikhwan Rosyidi
English Department
State University of Semarang
[email protected]
Abstract
The aim of this study is to describe the dialectic reading of freedom and, in opposite, an
imprisonment as hypogram in Maya Angelou‘s Poem I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
The method applied for reading this poem will be semiotic approach which is developed
by Riffaterre (1984). The result of this study will be the semiotic reading which describes
the heuristic reading of this poem by defining dictionary meaning of words, phrases,
clauses in the poem and hermeneutic reading by defining the matrix, model, and potential
hypogram that reflected on the dialectic of freedom and imprisonment by Black people in
America.
Keywords: dialectic reading, freedom, imprisonment, semiotic, Black people
Introduction
Every human in this world is born in his/her destined place, family, and appearance. They
cannot deny that. However, there are many people concerning on the way to differentiate
them based on skin colour, race, and gender. Rothenberg (5) claimed that race and gender
differences have been portrayed as unbridgeable and immutable. Men and women have been
portrayed as polar opposites with innately different abilities and capacities. Race difference
has been portrayed similarly. White-skinned people of European origin have viewed
themselves as innately superior in intelligence and ability to people with darker skin or
different physical characteristics. As both the South Carolina Slave Code of 1712 and the
Dred Scott Decision in Part VI make clear, ―Negroes‘ were believed to be members of a
different and lesser race. Their enslavement, like the genocide carried out against Native
Americans, was justified based on the assumed difference. Fanon (Ascroft, et.al.,1995:324)
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writes that ―Mama, see the Negro! I‘m frightened! Frightened! Frightened! Now they were
beginning to be afraid of me. Seeing this phenomenon, there are many authors, poets, and
dramatist write literary works reflecting on it.
One of poets write about this difference is Maya Angelou. She wrote her first poem entitled I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This poem speaks about different activities and treatment
had by free bird and caged bird. Angelou used bird as camouflage of race differentiation.
However she used bird, she described the bird using pronoun he. It means that bird is a
representation of human. Then, she also described two different birds dialectically. She
compared those two things, activities, and reasons concurrently. She asked readers to follow
her feeling of differentiation in discourse debate. Because of them, I chose this poem to be
analyzed. The aim of this study is to describe the dialectic reading of freedom and, in
opposite, an imprisonment as hypogram in Maya Angelou‘s Poem I Know Why the Caged
Bird Sings
Based on the background above, I try to elaborate some theoretical framework to analyze this
poem. They are Poetry, Dialectics, and Semiotics of Poetry. Poetry is the language of
imagination, and imagination is the key to fulfillment. Human‘s experience of life is largely
determined by the ways in which they imagine their world (Polonsky, 1998). It is a created
artifact, a structure that develops from the human imagination, and that is expressed
rhythmically in words (Roberts and Jacobs, 2003:451). Poetry is made for improving human
as a person, increasing human‘s chances for success in the world, or even making human
more literate (Polonsky, 1998:3).
Dialectics is derived from Greek. It is an art of discourse. It is logical disputation; the
investigation of truth by discussion, especially as exercised by Socrates in Plato‘s Dialogues
(fourth century BC), a process of question and answer which gradually eliminates error and
moves towards the truth (Gray, 1984:64). Dialectics originally referred to the process of
revealing the truth by argument or debate, especially when this involved revealing
contradiction in one‘s opponent‘s arguments. More recently, the term has been used to
describe (1) a philosophical outlook which considers all things to exist in dynamic
relationships and to be possessed of internal tensions and contradictions, and (2) a method of
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investigating reality which stresses the dynamic interconnections of things in the world and of
their internal tensions and contradictions (Hawthorn, 1994:41).
The literary phenomenon is dialectic between text and reader. If this dialectic is governed to
formulate rules, the reader actually perceives what is is described. Poetry seems peculiarly
inseparable from the concept of text. A poem is a closed entity, it cannot be differentiate
poetic discourse from literary language (Riffaterre, 1984:1-2). Any component of the poem
that points to that something else means it will therefore be a constant, and as such it will be
sharply distinguishable from the mimesis. This formal and semantic unity, which includes all
the indices of indirection, is called significance. From the standpoint of meaning, the text is a
string of successive information units. From the standpoint of significance, the text is one
semantic unit (Riffaterre, 1984:2-3).
Any sign within that text will, therefore, be relevant to its poetic quality, which expresses or
reflects a continuing modification of the mimesis. Only unity, thus, can be discerned behind
the multiplicity of representations. The relevant sign need not be repeated. It suffices that it is
perceived as a variant in a paradigm, a variation on an invariant. In either case, the perception
of the sign follows from its ungrammaticality (Riffaterre, 1984:3). The ungrammaticalities
spotted at the mimetic level are eventually integrated into another system. As the reader
perceives what they have in common, as s/he becomes aware that this common trait forms
them into a paradigm, and that this paradigm alters the meaning of the poem, the new function
of the ungrammaticalities changes their nature, and now they signify as components of a
different network of relationships. This transfer of sign from one level of discourse to another,
this metamorphosis of what was a signifying complex at a lower level of the text into a
signifying unit, now a member of a more developed system, at a higher level of the text, this
functional shift is the proper domain of semiotics. Everything related to this integration of
signs from the mimesis level into the higher level of significance is a manifestation of
semiosis (Riffaterre, 1984:4).
The semiotic process really takes place in the reader‘s mind, and it results from a second
reading. Two levels or stages of reading are (1) heuristic reading and (2) retroactive or
hermeneutic reading. Heuristic reading is done by the reader when the reader‘s input is his/her
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linguistic competence, which includes an assumption that language is referential, and at this
stage, words do indeed seem to relate first of all to things. Hermeneutic reading is the process
when the reader remembers what he has just read and modifies his/her understanding of it in
the light of what s/he is now decoding. S/he is in effect performing a structural decoding as
s/he moves through the text s/he comes to recognize, by dint of comparison or because s/he is
now able to put them together, that successive and differing statements, first noticed as mere
ungrammaticalities, are in fact equivalent, for they now appear as variants of the same
structural matirx (Riffaterre, 1984:4-6).
Significance is the reader‘s praxis of the transformation, a realization that it is akin to playing,
to acting out the liturgy of a ritual, the experience of a circuitous sequence, a way of speaking
that keeps revolving around a key word or matrix reduced to a marker. It is a hierarchy of
representations imposed upon the reader, despite his personal preferences, by the greater or
lesser expansion of the matrix‘s components, an orientation imposed upon the reader despite
his linguistic habits, a bouncing from reference to reference the keeps on pushing the meaning
over to a text not present in the linearity, to a paragram or hypogram, a dead landscape that
refers to a live character, a desert traveled through that represents the traveler rather than
itself, an oasis that is the monument of a negated or non-existent future. The significance is
shaped like a doughnut, the hole being either the matrix of the hypogram or the hypogram as
matrix.
Methodology
This study was designed as qualitative-descriptive research applying Semiotic approach. The
material object of this study is the study of Maya Angelou‘s poem entitled I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings. Its formal object is the study of this poem concerning on the heuristic
reading and hermeneutic reading of this poem. The data analysis was taken by some
procedures: (1) data was signified by dictionary meaning; (2) data was interpreted by
hermeneutic reading with finding out the matrix, model, and hypogram of this poem.
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Discussion
Heuristic Reading of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Poem
Heuristic reading is done by finding out the meaning of word(s) in dictionary. First stanza is
written The free bird leaps/on the back of the wind/and floats downstream/till the current
ends/and dips his wings/in the orange sunrays/and dares to claim the sky//. Free means not
limited and controlled. It has no limitation on deciding or choosing something. Bird is a
creature with feathers and wings, usually able to fly. Free bird means a creature with feathers
and wings, usually able to fly which flies unlimitedly and without control. It can fly wherever
it wants without considering the limitation to decide or to choose. The is a determiner which
is used before nouns to refer to things or people when a listener or reader knows which
particular things or people are being referred to, especially because they have already been
mentioned or because what is happening makes it clear. The free bird means that the bird is
being referred to or has been mentioned to make it clear. In another word, the free bird is not
like common free birds. It is particular free bird. Leap means to jump high or a long way, to
move quickly in the specified direction, to increase suddenly and by a large amount (Hornby,
1995:670). The free bird leaps means that it is particular bird flew not limited can move
quickly in specified direction. The leap here associates the free. It flies to move without
guided direction(s). Back means the part or surface of an object that is furthest from the front,
less visible, less used or less important (Hornby, 1995:72). The wind means air moving as a
result of natural forces (Hornby, 1995:1386). The back of the wind means the part of air
moving as result of natural forces that is less visible, sometimes less used or less important.
The free bird leaps on the back of the wind means a particular bird flew not limited that can
move quickly in specified direction to a part of air moving as result of natural forces that is
less visible, sometimes less used or less important. Float means to move slowly and without
resistance in air or water (Hornby, 1995:449). Downstream means in the direction in which a
river flows (Hornby, 1995:351). Floats downstream means the bird flies with slowly
movement and without resistance into a flow of river. Besides the bird flies through the back
of the wind, it moves slowly without resistance to the flow of the river. Till is derived from
the word until (Hornby, 1995:1250). Until means as far as the time when (Hornby,
1995:1310). Current here is a noun. It means a movement of water or air flowing in certain
direction through a larger body of water or air (Hornby, 1995:287). Ends mean last part of
something (Hornby, 1995:380). Floats downstream till the current ends means that the bird
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flies through the back of the wind, it moves slowly without resistance to the flow of the river
until it comes to the last part of a movement of water flowing in certain direction through a
larger body of water. The word dips is part of phrasal verbs dip into something which means
to put one‘s hand, etc. into a container to take something out (Hornby, 1995:325). Wings are
parts of the bird‘s body. They are either of the pair of limbs covered in feathers that a bird
uses to fly (Hornby, 1995:1368). Orange is the reddish-yellow colour of an orange (Horby,
1995:815). Sun is the star that shines in the sky during the day and gives the earth heat and
light (Hornby, 1995:1197). Rays mean narrow beam of light, heat, or other energy (Hornby,
1995:966). The orange sun rays mean the narrow beam of light, heat, or energy from the star
that shines in the sky during the day and gives the earth heat and light, which has reddishyellow colour. Dare means to be brave enough to do something (Hornby, 1995:293). To claim
means to state or declare that something is a fact or is the case but not to prove this (Hornby,
1995:202). The sky means the space seen when one looks upwards from the earth, when
clouds and the gun, moon, and stars appear (Hornby, 1995:1110). Dares to claim the sky here
means to be brave enough to state or declare that the space seen when one looks upwards
from the earth, when clouds and the gun, moon, and stars appear is a fact or is the case but not
to prove this. Thus, this stanza depicts that the particular bird flew not limited that can move
quickly in specified direction to a part of air moving as result of natural forces that is less
visible, sometimes less used or less important which moves slowly without resistance to the
flow of the river until it comes to the last part of a movement of water flowing in certain
direction through a larger body of water into the narrow beam of light, heat, or energy from
the star that shines in the sky during the day and gives the earth heat and light, which has
reddish-yellow colour, and to be brave enough to state or declare that the space seen when one
looks upwards from the earth, when clouds and the gun, moon, and stars appear is a fact or is
the case but not to prove this.
Second stanza of this poem starts with the word but. The words but means on the contrary
(Hornby, 1995:153). It is a conjunction. The word but aims to make a contrast to the depiction
of the first stanza. The word stalks in first line of second stanza means to walk in a proud and
angry way (Hornby, 1995:1159). The word down means from a high or higher point on
something to a lower one (Hornby, 1995:349). Narrow is an adjective. It means relation small
in width in to length (Hornby, 1995:775). Cage is a noun. It is modified by the word narrow.
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Cage means a structure made of bars or wires in which birds or animals are kept or carried
(Hornby, 1995:157). A bird that stalks down his narrow cage describes a particular bird that
walks in a proud and angry way to be put into a structure made of bars or wires in which birds
or animals are kept or carried with its small in width in to length. The word can indicates
ability (Hornby, 1995:161). Seldom depicts condition which is not often or rarely (Hornby,
1995:1065). The phrasal verb see through means to realize the truth about something or
somebody so that one is not deceived (Hornby, 1995:1063). The word bars describes the solid
materials made in regular shape (Hornby, 1995:81). Rage means violent anger or an instance
of this (Hornby, 1995:958). A bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through
his bars of rage illustrate a bird that walks in a proud and angry way to be put into a structure
made of bars or wires in which birds or animals are kept or carried with its small in width in
to length which is able to realize the truth about something or somebody so that one is not
deceived in the solid materials made in regular shape with his violent anger. Next lines speak
that his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing. The word wing is
either of the pair of limbs covered in feathers that a bird uses to fly (Hornby, 1995:1368). The
verb clip indicates that to prevent somebody or something being active or from doing what
they are ambitious to do (Hornby, 1995:209). His wings are clipped means that the bird‘s
either of the pair of limbs covered in feathers that a bird uses to fly are to be prevented to be
active or from doing what they are ambitious to do. The conjunction and indicates that
something added (Hornby, 1995:39). The line his feet are tied is constructed from the content
word (see Sukrisno,?:4) feet and tied. The word feet is the plural form of foot which is the
lowest part of the leg, below the ankle (Hornby, 1995:458). The word tied is derived from the
word tie which means to fasten something with rope, string, etc (Hornby, 1995:1249). This
line, thus, describes the additional condition the bird faces. That is its lowest part of the leg,
below the ankle are fastened with rope, string, etc. The line so he opens his throat to sing has
some content words. The word open means to make something be open, for example to allow
access or to reveal contents (Hornby, 1995:812). The word throat is the passage in the neck
through which food and air are taken into the body (Hornby, 1995:1245). The word sing
means to make musical sounds with the voice in the form of a song, tune, etc (Hornby,
1995:1104). In another word, the line so he opens his throat to sing depicts the consequence
done by bird by making something be open or revealing contents through its passage in the
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neck through which food and air are taken into the body to musical sounds with the voice in
the form of a song, tune, etc.
The third stanza continues to describe the consequences and activities of the caged bird. It is
written The caged bird sings/with fearful trill/of the things unknown/but longed for still/and
his tune is heard/on the distant hill/for the caged bird/sings for freedom//. First line of the
stanza, The caged bird sings, indicates the bird did activity of singing in its cage. The word
caged is the passive form of verb cage. It means to put or keep somebody or something in a
cage (Hornby, 1995:157). This line describes that the caged bird reveals melodious or musical
sounds. The second line writes with fearful trill. It still continues the first line sentence. The
word fearful means terrible or causing horror (Hornby, 1995:425). The word trill means a
repeated sharp high sound made for example by the voice or a bird (Hornby, 1995:1277). The
second line of this stanza depicts the condition the bird has when it sings. It sings with terrible
repeated sharp high sound made by a bird. The third continues the second line, of the things
unknown. The word thing means any object whose name is not stated (Hornby, 1995:1240).
The word unknown means not known or identified (Hornby, 1995:1305). The third line, thus,
speaks about any object whose name is not stated which is not known or identified. From first
line to third line of third stanza, the bird is described as the caged bird reveals melodious or
musical sounds with terrible repeated sharp high sound of any object whose name is not stated
which is not known or identified. Fourth line for third stanza starts with the clause but longed
for still. It begins with but. It indicates something on the contrary. The word longed is derived
from the verb long. It means to have a strong desire for something or to do something
(Hornby, 1995:694). The word still means with little or no movement or sound; quiet and
calm (Hornby, 1995:1172). This line continues the activity and feeling of the caged bird. It
sings with terrible repeated sharp high sound which is not known and identified, but having a
strong desire for something or to do something with little or no movement or sound. Fifth line
of this stanza writes and his tune is heard. This line is continued to next line. That is on the
distant hill. The fourth line begins with the conjunction and. It indicates that this line 5 and 6
still continues to emphasize the previous lines. The word tune means a series of musical notes
that give a piece of music its main character, making it pleasing, easy to remember, etc or
otherwise (Hornby, 1995:1283). The word heard is derived from the word hear. It means that
to perceive sounds with the ears (Hornby, 1995:552). The word distant in the sixth line is far
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away in space or time (Hornby, 1995:336). The word hill means an area of land which is
higher than the land around it, but not as high as a mountain (Hornby, 1995:562). The phrase
on the distant hill means that it takes place on an area of land which is higher than the land
around it, but not as high as a mountain which is far away in space or time. The clause and his
tune is heard on the distant hill means that the caged bird‘s series of musical notes that give a
piece of music its main character, making it pleasing, easy to remember, etc or otherwise to
perceive sounds with the ears which takes place on an area of land which is higher than the
land around it, but not as high as a mountain which is far away in space or time. Seven and
eight lines are the reason why the bird does that activity. The poem stated for the caged
bird/sings of freedom. The word freedom means the state of not being a prisoner or a slave
(Hornby, 1995:471). This stanza hereby depicts the caged bird that reveals melodious or
musical sounds with terrible repeated sharp high sound of any object whose name is not stated
which is not known or identified but having a strong desire for something or to do something
with little or no movement or sound, which its series of musical notes that give a piece of
music its main character, making it pleasing, easy to remember, etc or otherwise to perceive
sounds with the ears which takes place on an area of land which is higher than the land around
it, but not as high as a mountain which is far away in space or time because of its state of not
being a prisoner or a slave.
Fourth stanza illustrates another bird besides the caged bird. The poem writes The free bird
thinks of another breeze/and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees/and the fat worms
waiting on a dawn-bright lawn/and he names the sky his own. The free bird means a creature
with feathers and wings, usually able to fly which flies unlimitedly and without control. The
word thinks means to use the mind in an active way to form connected ideas (Hornby,
1995:1241). The word another means an additional one or additional ones of the same kind
(Hornby, 1995:41). The word breeze means a light wind (Hornby, 1995:137). In another
word, this line speaks about the creature with feathers and wings, usually able to fly which
flies unlimitedly and without control uses its mind in an active way to form connected ideas
of a light wind. Second line is a continuity of the free bird thinks of. This line writes and the
trade winds soft through the sighing trees. The word trade means the exchange of goods or
services for money or other goods; buying and selling (Hornby, 1995:1266). Wind is air
moving as a result of natural forces (Hornby, 1995:1386). The word soft means smooth and
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delicate to the touch (Hornby, 1995:1129). Through means passing one end or side of an
opening, a channel or a passage to the other (Hornby, 1995:1244). The word sighing is
derived from the word sigh. It is to make a sound like sighing which is to take a long deep
breath that can be heard, expressing sadness, relief, tiredness (Hornby, 1995:1099). The word
trees means tall plants that can live a long time (Hornby, 1995:1274). Second line of this
stanza describes the additional thinking activity by free bird which undergo activity with air
moving as a result of natural forces exchanged with smooth and delicate to the touch, passing
one end or side of tall plants living a long time that makes a sound of taking a long deep
breath that can be heard, expressing sadness, relief, tiredness. Third line is still in line with the
previous lines. It is written and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn. The word fat
means large in size (Hornby, 1995:423). Worm is a long thin creature with no bones or limbs,
which lives in soil (Hornby, 1995:1378). The phrase the fat worms depicts a long large
creature with no bones or limbs, which lives in soil. The word waiting is derived from the
word wait, which means to stay where one is or delay acting for a specified time or until
somebody/something comes or until something happens (Hornby, 1995:1336). The word
dawn means the time when light first appears (Hornby, 1995:295). Bright is full of light,
shinning strongly (Hornby, 1995:139). Lawn is an area of short, regularly cut grass in the
garden of a house or in a public park (Hornby, 1995:667). The phrase a dawn-bright lawn
means an area of short cut grass when light first appears which is full of light, shinning
strongly. The third line depicts another thing what the free bird thinks of. That is staying
where one is or delay acting for a specified time or until a long large creature with no bones
or limbs, which lives in soil appears and shines brightly on an area of short, regularly cut
grass in the garden of a house or in a public park. Fourth line of this stanza still speaks the
same. It is stated and he names the sky his own. The word names is to give a name to
somebody/something (Hornby, 1995:772). Sky is the space seen when one looks upwards
from the earth, when clouds and the gun, moon, and stars appear (Hornby, 1995:1110). Own
means done or produced by and for oneself (Hornby, 1995:830). Thus, the fourth line of this
stanza illustrates the activity as a result of what the free bird thinks of. It gives a name to the
space seen when one looks upwards from the earth, when clouds and the gun, moon, and stars
appear for itself. In another word, this stanza depicts the free bird activities to think about a
light win; another activity with air moving as a result of natural forces exchanged with
smooth and delicate to the touch, passing one end or side of tall plants living a long time that
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makes a sound of taking a long deep breath that can be heard, expressing sadness, relief,
tiredness; staying for a specified time or until a long large creature with no bones or limbs,
which lives in soil appears and shines brightly on an area of short, regularly cut grass in the
garden of a house or in a public park; and giving a name to the space seen when one looks
upwards from the earth, when clouds and the gun, moon, and stars appear for itself as a result
of its thought.
Fifth stanza describes different type of bird. This stanza depicts the caged bird. This stanza
writes 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. First line of
this stanza states But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams. Stand is to have or keep an
upright position (Hornby, 1995:1160). Grave is death (Hornby, 1995:519). Dream is an
ambition or ideal, especially when it is not very realistic (Hornby, 1995:353). The clause But
a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams illustrate the condition of a caged bird, which is
different from the free bird depicted in the previous stanza, that has or keeps an upright
position on the death of an ambition or ideal, especially when it is not very realistic. Second
line states his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream. Shadow is a dark area on a surface
caused by an object standing between direct light and that surface (Hornby, 1995:1079).
Shout is to say something in a loud voice (Hornby, 1995:1092). Nightmare is a very
frightening dream (Hornby, 1995:784). Scream is a loud high-pitched cry or noise (Hornby,
1995:1064). The phrase a nightmare scream means a loud high-pitched cry of a very
frightening dream. Thus, this second line speaks about the caged bird‘s dark area on a surface
caused by an object standing between direct light and that surface which say a loud highpitched cry of a very frightening dream in a loud voice. Fourth and fifth lines illustrate that
the bird‘s either of the pair of limbs covered in feathers that a bird uses to fly are to be
prevented to be active or from doing what they are ambitious to do; its lowest part of the leg,
below the ankle are fastened with rope and string; and the consequence done by bird by
making something be open or revealing contents through its passage in the neck through
which food and air are taken into the body to musical sounds with the voice in the form of a
song and tune is undergone. Sixth stanza repeats third stanza. It depicts the caged bird that
reveals melodious or musical sounds with terrible repeated sharp high sound of any object
whose name is not stated which is not known or identified but having a strong desire for
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something or to do something with little or no movement or sound, which its series of musical
notes that give a piece of music its main character, making it pleasing, easy to remember, etc
or otherwise to perceive sounds with the ears which takes place on an area of land which is
higher than the land around it, but not as high as a mountain which is far away in space or
time because of its state of not being a prisoner or a slave.
Hermeneutic Reading of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Poem
Hermeneutic reading is a retroactive reading. The reader remembers what s/he has just read
and modifies his/her understanding of it in the light of what s/he is now decoding. S/he is in
effect performing a structural decoding. Units of meaning may be words, phrases, or
sentences, the unit of significance is a text. In this step, all of them appear as variants of the
same structural matrix (RIffaterre, 1978:6). In this poem, the reader is given information,
from the title, about the reason why the caged bird sings. First stanza describes about the life
of free bird. Directly, it is compared to second stanza. It introduces the caged bird. Third
stanza still continues to depict the caged bird, but it is added with the reason it sings. Fourth
stanza describes the deeds that the free bird can think and do. In the contrary, fifth and sixth
stanza emphasizes the deeds of what the caged bird does.
This poem implies the opposition between the free bird and the caged bird, between freedom
and imprisonment. Freedom implies the activities chosen by it, and imprisonment implies the
activities to speak about freedom. In another word, imprisonment always tries to be busy to
get out from the cage. Freedom also relates to possess the sun. it signifies that freedom has a
core of life and universe. It can hold everything it wants. Thus, freedom is to live. On the
contrary, imprisonment relates to something tied up. It cannot move. Without movement, it
faces fear. It will make repeated sounds of something unknown. Imprisonment closely relates
to death. It will not live. It does not have a life in its hands.
This poem in fact describes the bird with pronoun he. It implies that the bird in not the real
bird. The bird is the representation of human. This poem speaks about differentiation of
human. Human is divided into the free human and the ‗caged‘ human. The caged human
associates with a slave. A slave does not live. S/he is dead seen from ‗human‘ perspective
since s/he lives under controlled and subordinated by. When s/he is subordinated, s/he is
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discriminated. In another word, discrimination is the hole of doughnut (Riffaterre, 1978:13).
Discrimination becomes the matrix of this poem since it is the ‗spirit‘ of this poem. This
poem tries to actualize the discrimination between Black and White people. History said that
discrimination was done based on race, sex, and national origin (Rothenberg, 2001:193). It
actualizes in the implication of binary opposition of free and caged. The ―free‖ is actualized
by the chance to leap, float, dip, and think of dream, and the ‗caged‘ is actualized by the
anger, clipped, tied, fear, still, death, and scream of nightmare. This opposition becomes the
model of this significance.
From this model, it can be seen that discrimination is a means to differentiate and segregate
living humans. It plays in the discourse of differentiation. It reflects on the different
description of Jim when he speaks:
“So I done it. Den I reck‟n‟d I‟d inves‟ de thirty-five dollars right off en keep
things a-movin‟. Dey wuz a nigger name Bob, dat had ketched a wood-flat, en
his marster didn‟ know it;…(Twain, 1884:41).
It is also written in To Kill a Mockingbird: ―…d you see him, Scout? ‗d you see him just
standin‘ there?... ‗n‘ all of sudden… (Lee, 2010:108). It reflects on Hughes (Polonsky,
1998:140) poem, /While night comes on gently/Dark like me/,,,/Night coming tenderly/Black
like me//. The citation above shows the similarities of discrimination discourse about Black
people in America from different literary work published. They, thus, becomes the hypogram
of Angelou‘s poem I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
Conclusion
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that (1) from heuristic reading, this poem
describes the comparison between the free bird and the caged bird and their activities; (2)
from hermeneutic reading, the matrix is the binary opposition of free and caged, the model is
the actualization of free and caged, and the hypogram is some literary works which shows the
discrimination discourse on Black people in America.
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References
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Gray, Martin. 1984. A Dictionary of Literary Terms. Beirut: York Press.
Hawthron, Jeremy. 1994. A Concise Glossary of Contemporary Literary Theory. Second
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Hornby, A.S. 1995. Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford:
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Lee, Harper. 2010. To Kill a Mockingbird. London: Arrow Books.
Polonsky, Marc. 1998. The Poetry Reader‟s Toolkit: A Guide to Reading and Understanding
Poetry. Colombus: McGraw-Hill.
Riffaterre, Michael. 1978. Semiotics of Poetry. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Roberts, Edgar V. and Henry E. Jacobs. 2003. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and
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Rothenberg, Paula S. 2001. Race, Class, and Gender in the United States. Fifth Edition. New
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Twain Mark, 1884. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
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