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]
His Eye Is on the Sparrow The theme of the song is inspired by the words of David in the Psalms and Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible: "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye (Psalm 32:8). "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matthew 6:26) and "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:29â€“31).