Birds in Poetry

 

            In Robert Penn Warren’s poem “Evening Hawk”, which I analyzed in a seminar in class this past week, the hawk and its actions were some of the main focuses of the work. I found it interesting how this bird played the complicated role of giving perspective as well as meaning in the poem, so I examined other poems that have birds as symbols to compare their effects. I found that the bird featured in Jones Very’s poem “The Winter Bird” is extremely similar to the one in “Evening Hawk”. 

In both poems, the bird is able to experience life in a way that humans cannot. The hawk is able to view the sunset from the air, and the bird in Very’s poem is able to sing its unique song to rival the snowstorm. The hawk’s elevated point of view allows it to see more than humans, and therefore educate them on the continuing passage of time and humanity’s tendency to repeat mistakes. Similarly, the other bird’s courage and ability to recognize its own strengths helps the speaker realize that he may also be able to stand up against the tribulations of the world.

Also, both birds are depicted as being tightly connected to nature. The hawk gracefully and effortlessly rides “ the last tumultuous avalanche of/ Light above the pines and guttural gorge” (4-5) and the bird is depicted with both “the bare wintry bough” (1) and “Spring with its leaves”(2). This makes both birds seem to have an understanding of nature that humans have still yet to come to themselves. This adds to their mystery, wisdom, trustworthiness, and importance as symbols in both poems.