The poetry of birds

My bird poetry quiz - if you saw it (if not, just scroll down to previous post) - relied heavily on The Poetry of Birds as the source of quotes. The quotes I selected for the quiz were all from well-known poets, with, I hoped, descriptions of relatively recognisable birds.

I love birds and poetry - I notice poems with birds in them. In The Poetry of Birds, Simon Armitage says 'Poets, I believe, seek and find in the world of birds unlimited and unequalled reflections of their own world.'

As I was going through the book, and in reading other poetry recently, I noted down a few of my favourite of these poems, which I thought I'd share. At the moment, I'm looking at birds and poetry to escape the world, and my choice doubtless reflects that.

From The Poetry of Birds, ed Simon Armitage & Tim Dee (Penguin) (though these poems are available elsewhere):

The Heron - Paul Farley: 

'...it struggles
into its wings then soars sunwards and throws
its huge overcoat across the earth.'

(though it's the cursing man image in this poem that I like most)

Rhu Mor - Norman MacCaig

'Gannets fall like the heads of tridents...'

My Crow - Raymond Carver

'...This was just a crow.
That never fit in anywhere in its life,
or did anything worth mentioning....'


From other pamphlets/collections:

Hedging - Hamish Whyte, from Now the Robin  (Happenstance) - a lovely little book, that made me smile.

Sparrows - Amanda Huggins, from The Collective Nouns for Birds (Maytree) - a beautiful book, that made me cry.

Wader Flock,Thornham Harbour and Pluvialis - Matt Merritt, from hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica (Nine Arches)

Starlings and West Sussex Interlude - Matt Merritt, from The Elephant Tests (Nine Arches)

- almost impossible to narrow it down even to two poems from each of these wonderful collections


I would also recommend Diversifly, Poetry and Art on Britain's Urban Birds,  ed Nadia Kingsley (Fair Acre)

 
I appreciate that these are just a few of many, many poems, and I'd be very happy to hear some of your favourites.

Bird Poetry Quiz

A distraction for me, and hopefully for you. Open to all. Extracts from poems. One point for the bird, one for the poet. There are no prizes - sorry.

1. Art thou the bird whom Man loves best

2. It was the Rainbow gave thee birth

3.Their feathers roughed and ruffling, white on white

4. Our most hardened crooks are sincerely shocked by your nesting habits

5. Thou scorner of the ground!

6. Burglar Alarm of the undergrowth

7. I love to see these chimney sweeps sail by

8. Mostly it is a pale face hovering in the afterdraught of the spirit

9. High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing

10. Warbl'st at eve, when all the woods are still

 
Good luck! Answers below










Answers:
1. Robin - Wordsworth
2. Kingfisher - W H Davies
3. Whooper Swan - Heaney
4. Cuckoo - Auden
5. Skylark - Shelley
6. Wren - Ted Hughes
7. Carrion Crow - Clare
8. Barn Owl - R S Thomas
9. Kestrel - G M Hopkins
10. Nightingale - Milton 

How did you get on?