Read the excerpt from Walt Whitman’s poem “I Sit and Look Out” that Clara is using in her analysis of “The Caged Bird.” I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame; I hear the secret convulsive sobs . . .

Clara chose this excerpt to help support her interpretation of “The Caged Bird” because it has an extended metaphor that examines

secrecy.
sacrifice.
shame.
suffering.

Clara chose this excerpt to support her interpretation because it has an extended metaphor that examines: suffering.

Explanation:

Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was a poet and civil rights activist born in Missouri. Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was born in New York and was also a poet. Both authors have left their mark in American literature.

It makes sense that Clara would choose that quote from Walt Whitman's poem "I Sit and Look Out." The excerpt discusses suffering, and the speaker can see how people around the world agonize, how difficult their lives are due to injustice and oppression.

That is a theme both poems have in common. In Angelou's "Caged Bird", an extended metaphor is used to express suffering as well. A metaphor is a comparison used to emphasize an idea. An extended metaphor is a longer metaphor, one that extends throughout a text or poem, for example. In "Caged Bird," the extended metaphor compares people without freedom to a caged bird - their suffering to its suffering. Centuries of oppression and injustice can only cause suffering to those who endure it and who want nothing more than the freedom to be, to work, to speak, and to thrive.

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