what does the title of i know why the caged bird sings mean
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings When selecting a title, Angelou turned to Paul Laurence Dunbar, an Afro-American poet whose works she had admired for years. Jazz vocalist and civil rights activist Abbey Lincoln suggested the title.[19] According to Lyman B. Hagen, the title pulls Angelou's readers into the book while reminding them that it is possible to both lose control of one's life and to have one's freedom taken from them.[20] Angelou has credited Dunbar, along with Shakespeare, with forming her "writing ambition".[21] The title of the book comes from the third stanza of Dunbar's poem "Sympathy":[note 1]