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“Sympathy”, Laurence
Dunbar |
RSPCA Webpage |
| TEXT TYPE |
Poem |
Webpage |
AUDIENCE
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Readers of poetry - literate 19th century Black Americans and liberal
Whites? |
Internet users with an interest in animal welfare |
| PURPOSE |
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To win sympathy for caged birds and all captive animals
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To win sympathy for oppressed Black people in the USA?
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To persuade egg consumers to buy only free range eggs
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To persuade hen farmers not to use battery systems (though the RSPCA probably
accept that a webpage alone is unlikely to succeed)
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To persuade people to lobby government officials
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| THEME |
The suffering of wild birds in captivity and their awareness of the
freedom they lack
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The cruelty of battery farming and the existence of a more humane alternative |
TONE
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Sentimental, literary …
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“Romantic” (like much 19th century literature, it appeals to the reader’s
emotions and celebrates the beauty of nature) …
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Factual (e.g. lots of measurements)
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Expository – i.e. it explains something
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(e.g. “For example”; “This means”)
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| STRUCTURE |
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3 stanzas of equal length
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Elaborate rhyming scheme (A-B-C-C-B-A-A)
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[The 1st line of each stanza is repeated at the end]
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Regular metre
The strict, regular structure reflects the bird’s captivity? (The
rhyming scheme is like the bars of a cage?) |
1. Info. On battery farming
2. The Freedom Food scheme
3. What you can do (“If you … If you …)
(+ Contact details)
(+ Appeal for donations) |
| IMAGERY |
Main image:
caged bird beating wings against cage bars (fairly effective?)
Minor images:
River = glass
Bud = chalice
Bird sounds = carol/prayer
Perhaps the image of blood throbbing in old scars is really a reference
to Black people’s memories of slavery? |
Each hen has an area the size of a PC screen (clever comparison since
the webpage reader is actually looking at a PC screen …)
Uses statistics rather than imagery –
cage area, dates, number of Freedom Food eggs sold etc. |
| DICTION |
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Rather literary, ornate, high-flown (e.g. “Ah me”; “ops”; “steals”; “bow”;
“aswing”; “bosom”)
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[“ops” is an invented abbreviation of ‘opens’, used because a rhyme for
“slopes” was needed! Similarly, the word order of the second last
line is distorted in order to facilitate a rhyme]
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Nevertheless, much of the diction is relatively simple and easily understood?
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A lot of the words appeal to the readers’ senses (e.g. bright sun, soft
wind, perfume, sting, sore)?
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Mostly rather formal, relatively unemotional language?
One group of words relating to the hens’ living space (restrict, allocates,
area, space)
Another group relating to government policy (proposals, ban, demand, phase
out, minimum standards, campaigning)
Some more colloquial, personal diction (“check out …”; “why not ask”)
The personal pronouns “you” or “your” are used 9 times in the Take Action
section.
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