Paired Passages: Sympathy, and
An Account of an Experience
with Discrimination
Paul Laurence Dunbar and Sojourner Truth
Sympathy
by Paul Laurence Dunbar
I KNOW what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals -
I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats his wing
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing:
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting -
I know why he beats his wing!
After reading the passages, sort the terms
based on the speaker whom they describe.
Some terms may describe both selections.
07773
THE TIME
reflective frustrated down to earth
poetic emotional determined