What is one literary element in Maya Angelou's poem "Caged Bird"?

s poem
, like all poetry, makes use of several literary elements.  A quick reading
reveals the usual poetic emphasis on rhyme, metrical consistency, , and repetition. But this
poem, unlike many others, utilizes one other element, that of juxtaposition. This term refers to
the placing of two things together for the purpose of contrasting them.

A
look at the poems subject shows us why Angelou chose to use the element of juxtaposition to
express her idea. She is looking at the idea of imprisonment (maybe slavery in particular) by
using two birds, one free and one imprisoned.  Notice that she starts the poem with a stanza
about a free bird, followed by two stanzas about a caged bird, followed by another stanza about
the free bird, then back to the caged bird for the final two stanzas. She is alternating, or
juxtaposing her subjects.

By the end of the poem, we have contrasting
images of the two birds. This makes Angelous imagery more powerful, because we see the free
birds life in terms of words like leaps, floats, dips, and dares, immediately followed with
the caged birds condition, expressed with words like stalks, with clipped wings and tied
feet.