My classroom is on the courtyard. There is a forsythia bush right outside our fire escape. Often, there are blue jays that sit in the bush. Students frequently observe them and comment. There is actually something fascinating about birds and flight. This is likely why birds are so frequently the topic of so many poems. So, of course, bird poems are the perfect theme for high school English. No matter the season, birds attract the attention of most people.
Additionally, bird symbolism is fairly easy for students to grasp. It is easy for them to see that birds in flight have freedom and birds in cages are trapped. This makes bird poems a great option for poetry study.
17 Bird Poems to Study Symbolism in High School English
Create a unit for these poems by focusing on the essential question: In what ways do birds and flight represent the human desire for freedom? Or get a ready to use unit inside Pencils and Prologues.
Bird poems are a great way for students to learn about and analyze symbolism. Many bird symbols are common in culture. And it is easy for students to see that flight is equal to freedom while caged birds are controlled.
One: “The Wild Swans” by Li Qingzhao (translated by James Whitall, 1908)
In this poem, the speaker gives their troubles to the wild swans on the river so that they can take them away.
Two: “A Gull Goes Up” by Léonie Adams (1925)
The speaker describes the gulls as “they move in a liquid arc” and then are able to use flight to carry the heart.
Three: “The Vagabond” by Emily Pauline Johson (who also goes by her Mohawk name: Tekahionwake, 1917)
The speaker considers the reputation of the crow and how it gets kind of a bad rap.
Four: “The Swallows” by Luis G. Dato (1926)
This bird poem is directed at the one lone swallow who is out before the coming rain. It draws a connection between human desire and the imperfection of nature.
Five: “River Roads” by Carl Sandburg (1918)
Another poem that includes crows, but also the woodpecker and the redwing. Each bird exists in its place in the world capturing its color and livelihood.
Six: “Things Said When He Was Gone” by Blanche Taylor Dickinson (1927)
The night-bird’s song is an element that the speaker associates with her love.
Seven: “Acceptance” by Robert Frost (1926)
This bird poem by Robert Frost is a sonnet about the acceptance of the end of day and things we cannot control.
Eight: “The Sentry Speaks” by Robert Hillyer (1923)
The ducks head south for the winter, but no matter how many go to warmer climes, the speaker will stay back to face the “endless winter” because someone must hold the memory the past.
Nine: “Hope is a Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson (1890)
Dickinson gives hope the qualities of a bird who can fly and sing and strong enough to face the storm.
Ten: “After the Winter Rain” by Ina Donna Coolbrith (1895)
In this bird poem, Coolbrith asks the robin and the swallow to sing to welcome the joy that comes after the long “wintry pain.”
Eleven: “The Last Word of a Bluebird” by Robert Frost (1916)
The crow tells the speaker that the bluebird has a message for Lesley to be good during the winter and that he will return in the spring.
Twelve: “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1899)
The speaker knows what it is to be “the caged bird’ and why, despite being behind the “cruel bars,” it can still sing.
Thirteen: “The Windhover” by Gerand Manley Hopkins (1918)
A windhover is another name for a kestrel. In this alliterative bird poem, the speaker focuses on the flight of the windhover as it majestically flies over the earth on the wind. In the second part of the poem it considers it nothing more noticeable than plowing a field which makes it all the more special because it came from God. (The poem is dedicated “To Christ our Lord.”)
Fourteen: “Summer in the South” by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1903)
In this bird poem, the oriole is the highlight of this imagery heavy poem about the arrival of summer.
Fifteen: “Interlude” by Edith Sitwell (1920)
Sitwell paints a picture of nature, using a bird metaphor for the woman in a passionate relationship.
Sixteen: “A Mojave Lullaby” by Bertrand N. O. Walker (who also published under his Wyandot name, Hen-toh, 1924)
This is a bedtime poem for the speaker’s son which created a comforting picture of the end of day and a mother bird snuggling her babies in the nest.
Seventeen: “When My Soul Findeth Wing” by Libbie C. Baer (1902)
The speaker of this bird poem focuses on the flight and the song on the lark. She seeks to find wings of her own.
Bird Poems for High School Classes
Use these bird poems for close reading, double entry journals or gamify it with a poetry slam. You could also do close reading stations or collaborative annotations. Or, you could play a sybolism matching game with the Bird Symbolism Cards provided in the Pencils and Prologues Membership. They are perfect for spring or anytime of year.
If you are ready to use lessons for these bird poems, join Pencils and Prologues. You will get 3 units that focus on the essential question: In what ways do birds and flight represent the human desire for freedom?
