At some point in every person's life, there is a feeling of being trapped or stuck. The poem “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar represents the speaker's vast knowledge of the feeling of being locked in a place where he feels tremendously uncomfortable. The speaker explains the actions of a bird trapped in a small cage and explains the motivations behind the actions. The speaker reveals that the song the caged bird sings is not a melody of exuberant joy, but a cry that begs for freedom. The title of the poem, “Sympathy”, represents the feeling that the speaker feels towards a bird locked in a cage. The speaker relates to the bird by repeating the words “I know” and following them with an action from the bird, revealing that he too has experienced similar events that made him feel like the bird. He knows the little bird's pain when nature takes its beautiful course right outside the window, but feeling the gentle sun on his face is impossible. The speaker uses a simile to compare the flowing river to a “stream of glass,” implanting an image in the reader's mind ...