Lyric Poem · Strength
Sympathy
by Paul Laurence Dunbar · 1899
1I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
2When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
3When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
4And the river flows like a stream of glass;
5When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
6And the faint perfume from its chalice steals —
7I know what the caged bird feels!
8I know why the caged bird beats his wing
9Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
10For he must fly back to his perch and cling
11When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
12And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
13And they pulse again with a keener sting —
14I know why he beats his wing!
15I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
16When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, —
17When he beats his bars and he would be free;
18It is not a carol of joy or glee,
19But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
20But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings —
21I know why the caged bird sings!
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar — quilloak.com/poems/sympathy
Quick facts
- Poem
- Sympathy
- Poet
- Paul Laurence Dunbar
- Published
- 1899
- Length
- 21 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Strength, Hope
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 21 lines · 3 septets
- Line length
- Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Paul Laurence Dunbar1872–1906
- Source record
- PoetryDBSympathy by paul-laurence-dunbar, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1899
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 2fea53d1b7a9f836…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.