What is the Central Idea of this poem? “Caged Bird”
by Maya Angelou

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

An expository essay instructs, provides information, or explains. in this essay, you are presenting information and explaining why you think the ideas and work of the individual you chose had an effect on european thought. but before you begin writing the essay, you need to organize the information you’ve gathered by creating an outline. directions: your taking notes sheet should have you identify and organize the information you found while doing your research. now it is time to create an outline to organize the information in the way you will present it in your essay. you may decide not to use all the information you gathered, but be sure you do not leave out anything that you believe is important to support your thesis. your essay should include an introductory paragraph, supporting paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. each paragraph should cover one main topic and should correspond to a roman numeral (i., ii., iii.) on the outline. the main topics should cover: the person’s accomplishment and contributions, and the effect of his or her accomplishments or contributions on european thought. write a topic sentence for each paragraph of your essay. be sure it tells the reader what the section will be about and how the information relates to your thesis statement. your topic sentence for the introductory paragraph might say something like “johannes gutenberg’s invention changed the way people communicated.” a topic sentence for the second paragraph—the first main topic—might be something like "gutenberg’s printing press changed the way books were produced and the way knowledge was communicated.” decide which pieces of information you will use to support your topic sentences. (these ideas or groups of facts are called subtopics.) subtopics follow capital letters and periods (a., b., and c.) on your outline. add this information beneath your topic sentence. you can further divide subtopics into specific facts. in an outline, specific facts follow arabic numerals and periods (1. 2. 3. 4.) end your outline and essay with a concluding paragraph. write a concluding paragraph that summarizes the main ideas of your essay and restates your thesis statement in some way. write no more than four or five sentences. worth 241 points

When i was young enough to still spend a long time buttoning my shoes in the morning, i'd listen toward the hall: daddy upstairs was shaving, in the bathroom, and mother downstairs was frying the bacon. they would begin whispering back and forth to each other up and down the stairwell. my father would whistle his phrase, my mother would try to whistle, then hum hers backi drew my buttonhook in and out and listened to it -know it was "the merry widow." the difference was, their song almost floated with laughter. how different from the record, which growled from the beginning, as if the victrola were only slowly being wound up. they kept it running between them, up and down the stairs where i was now just about ready to run clattering down and show them my shoes. what is the effect of the parallelism used in the above excerpt? it establishes the rhythm of a duet to echo the song. it expresses the same ideas. it mirrors opposite ideas. it is a paradox.

Read this excerpt from patrick henry's speech ''give me liberty or give me death.'' what is the main idea of the text