Editor's note
Ranking is generated by Storgy's classification model, which scores each poem's thematic depth on this subject relative to the rest of the corpus. The list is re-indexed weekly as new poems enter the public-domain corpus.
Best poems about — Storgy
Bird.
Twenty-five poems, ranked.
25 of the finest public-domain poems about bird, ranked by thematic depth. Scored by Storgy's classification model against the rest of the corpus, and re-indexed weekly as new works enter the canon.
The leading three
01
Sympathy
Paul Laurence Dunbar · 1899
“A caged bird sits amidst the beauty of the natural world it cannot touch, and Dunbar captures that feeling perfectly — the longing, the pain, and the fervent si…”
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02
Leda
H. D. · 1921
“H.D.'s "Leda" reimagines the Greek myth where Zeus takes the form of a swan to connect with the mortal Leda, but it sheds the violence, replacing it with rich,…”
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03
The Humming Birds
Alfred Noyes · 1922
“Alfred Noyes observes hummingbirds honing in on a single flowering tree from thousands of miles away, using that image to illustrate how poets operate: just as…”
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The complete index
- 04
The New Duckling
Alfred Noyes · 1922
A young duckling chooses to be completely different from what he was born as — he doesn’t want webbed feet, waddling, or quacking — and disregards all warnings about a fox lurking…
- 05
Cuckoo Song
H. D. · 1924
A speaker talks to the cuckoo bird, noting that its plain, straightforward call achieves what no nightingale, swallow, or oriole can: it calms the troubled mind without drowning it…
- 06
A Little Bird in the Air
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A little bird is sharing gossip throughout a medieval town: a princess named Thyri ran away from her arranged marriage to King Burislaf and found refuge at the court of King Olaf,…
- 07
Bluebird
Charles Bukowski
Bukowski's "Bluebird" is a brief, personal poem where the speaker reveals that he has a delicate, sensitive part of himself—a bluebird—that he keeps hidden from the world. He drink…
- 08
Bobolink: If Lowell had a favorite bird, it was the bobolink,
James Russell Lowell
This piece is a blend of prose and verse that celebrates the bobolink, a small songbird from North America that James Russell Lowell cherished more than any other. Lowell expresses…
- 09
Chorus of Birds
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This short poem envisions a bird's nest as a cradle, where baby birds sway gently in the breeze, bathed in sunlight and shaded from below. Longfellow employs this imagery to repres…
- 10
Evening Hawk
Robert Penn Warren
A hawk glides down from the mountain heights at dusk, and Warren uses that single image to explore profound questions about time, history, and what it means to be alive and mortal.…
- 11
From Paumanok Starting I Fly Like a Bird
Walt Whitman
Whitman envisions himself as a bird taking flight from Paumanok (Long Island, where he was born) and soaring across the entire United States, reaching every area from Canada to Tex…
- 12
Hangbird: The oriole, so called from its hanging nest; one of
James Russell Lowell
This entry serves more as an encyclopedia entry than a standalone poem. Lowell shares his admiration for the oriole, a bird he enjoyed observing at his home, Elmwood, and directs r…
- 13
Hawk Roosting
Ted Hughes
A hawk perches at the top of a tree, proclaiming in its own voice that it owns the world, kills without hesitation, and intends to maintain the status quo indefinitely. This is a s…
- 14
Hope is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson likens hope to a little bird that resides within everyone, singing continuously regardless of how difficult life becomes. This bird provides warmth during storms, j…
- 15
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
A free bird and a caged bird sit side by side — one soars through the sky, while the other is confined by bars and can only sing about freedom. That song, filled with longing and f…
- 16
Ode to a Nightingale
John Keats
A poet listens to a nightingale's song and longs to leave behind the pain and sadness of human existence to join the bird in its joyful, eternal realm. He attempts to reach that pl…
- 17
The Aziola
Percy Bysshe Shelley
A man hears his wife Mary mention a strange sound during the evening twilight, and he panics, thinking "the Aziola" must be some bothersome person. When Mary laughs and explains th…
- 18
The Birds of Killingworth
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A New England town decides to eliminate all its birds after farmers claim they’re stealing grain. The only person who speaks up is the local schoolteacher, who argues that the bird…
- 19
The Eagle
Lord Alfred Tennyson
A brief six-line poem divided into two stanzas, "The Eagle" observes a solitary bird sitting atop a cliff by the sea before it suddenly dives downwards. Tennyson employs the eagle…
- 20
The Emperor's Bird's-Nest
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A Spanish emperor is besieging a Flemish town when his soldiers spot a swallow that has built her nest on his tent. Rather than having it removed, the emperor instructs everyone to…
- 21
The Falcon
James Russell Lowell
A speaker paints a picture of a magnificent falcon — fearless, powerful, and drawn to the light of dawn — before revealing that this bird actually symbolizes Truth itself. The falc…
- 22
The Falcon of Ser Federigo
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A down-and-out Italian nobleman named Ser Federigo once squandered his entire wealth in a bid to win the heart of a woman named Monna Giovanna, who ended up marrying another man. Y…
- 23
The Herons of Elmwood
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A speaker strolls alone by a river at night, observing herons soaring over the home of a fellow poet. She asks them to deliver a message of admiration. These herons serve as messen…
- 24
The Nightingale
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A group of friends—Coleridge, his buddy William Wordsworth, and their "Sister" Dorothy—stop on a mossy bridge one April night to listen to a nightingale sing. Coleridge challenges…
- 25
The Raven
Edgar Allan Poe
A grieving man sits alone late at night, missing his deceased love Lenore, when a mysterious Raven flies into his room and only utters one word: "Nevermore." No matter what the man…
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