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Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds
In this beautiful collection of poems and paintings, Billy Collins, former U.S. poet laureate, joins with David Allen Sibley, America's foremost bird illustrator, to celebrate the winged creatures that have inspired so many poets to sing for centuries. From Catullus and Chaucer to Robert Browning and James Wright, poets have long treated birds as powerful metaphors for beauty, escape, transcendence, and divine expression.
Here, in this substantial anthology, more than one hundred contemporary and classic poems are paired with close to sixty original, ornithologically precise illustrations. Part poetry collection, part field guide, part art book, Bright Wings presents verbal and visual interpretations of the natural world and reminds us of our intimate connection to the "bright wings" around us. Each in their own way, these poems and pictures honor the enchanting creatures that have been, and continue to be, longtime collaborators with the poet's and painter's art.
Poet and bird pairings include: Wallace Stevens and the Blackbird; Emily Dickinson and the Robin; Marianne Moore and the Frigate Pelican; Thomas Hardy and the Goldfinch; Sylvia Plath and the Pheasant; John Updike and the Seagull; Walt Whitman and the Eagle; Billy Collins and the Sparrow.
Here, in this substantial anthology, more than one hundred contemporary and classic poems are paired with close to sixty original, ornithologically precise illustrations. Part poetry collection, part field guide, part art book, Bright Wings presents verbal and visual interpretations of the natural world and reminds us of our intimate connection to the "bright wings" around us. Each in their own way, these poems and pictures honor the enchanting creatures that have been, and continue to be, longtime collaborators with the poet's and painter's art.
Poet and bird pairings include: Wallace Stevens and the Blackbird; Emily Dickinson and the Robin; Marianne Moore and the Frigate Pelican; Thomas Hardy and the Goldfinch; Sylvia Plath and the Pheasant; John Updike and the Seagull; Walt Whitman and the Eagle; Billy Collins and the Sparrow.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published October 16, 2009
39 people are currently reading
609 people want to read
About the author
Billy Collins
150 books1,613 followersWilliam James Collins is an American poet who served as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He was a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York, retiring in 2016. Collins was recognized as a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library (1992) and selected as the New York State Poet for 2004 through 2006. In 2016, Collins was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. As of 2020, he is a teacher in the MFA program at Stony Brook Southampton.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
September 3, 2021
Not by any means a definitive collection, which makes it odd that several poets feature multiple times while other bird-writers are excluded, but overall I quite enjoyed it.
We've got observed birds, symbolic birds, incidental birds...!
(by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson)
With blistered heels and bones that ache,
Marching through pitchy ways and blind,
The miry track is hard to make;
Yet, ever hovering in my mind,
Above red crags a kittiwake
Hangs motionless against the wind—
We've got observed birds, symbolic birds, incidental birds...!
(by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson)
With blistered heels and bones that ache,
Marching through pitchy ways and blind,
The miry track is hard to make;
Yet, ever hovering in my mind,
Above red crags a kittiwake
Hangs motionless against the wind—
November 24, 2016
I like the concept of this anthology. For wild bird lovers its a treat. The combination of bird art and poems is well done. Poetry deserves to be presented thoughtfully, and I think the editor succeeded in this collection. I recommend it.
A sample of one of the more well-known poems:
Sandpiper
The roaring alongside he takes for granted,
and that every so often the world is bound to shake.
He runs, he runs to the south, finical, awkward,
in a state of controlled panic, a student of Blake.
The beach hisses like fat. On his left, a sheet
of interrupting water comes and goes
and glazes over his dark and brittle feet.
He runs, he runs straight through it, watching his toes.
- Watching, rather, the spaces of sand between them
where (no detail too small) the Atlantic drains
rapidly backwards and downwards. As he runs,
he stares at the dragging grains.
The world is a mist. And then the world is
minute and vast and clear. The tide
is higher or lower. He couldn't tell you which.
His beak is focussed; he is preoccupied,
looking for something, something, something.
Poor bird, he is obsessed!
The millions of grains are black, white, tan, and gray
mixed with quartz grains, rose and amethyst.
Elizabeth Bishop
A sample of one of the more well-known poems:
Sandpiper
The roaring alongside he takes for granted,
and that every so often the world is bound to shake.
He runs, he runs to the south, finical, awkward,
in a state of controlled panic, a student of Blake.
The beach hisses like fat. On his left, a sheet
of interrupting water comes and goes
and glazes over his dark and brittle feet.
He runs, he runs straight through it, watching his toes.
- Watching, rather, the spaces of sand between them
where (no detail too small) the Atlantic drains
rapidly backwards and downwards. As he runs,
he stares at the dragging grains.
The world is a mist. And then the world is
minute and vast and clear. The tide
is higher or lower. He couldn't tell you which.
His beak is focussed; he is preoccupied,
looking for something, something, something.
Poor bird, he is obsessed!
The millions of grains are black, white, tan, and gray
mixed with quartz grains, rose and amethyst.
Elizabeth Bishop
August 27, 2022
I love birds and everything about them from how they build their nests, to how they attract mates, to their beautiful songs. I found this book by happenstance when searching for another book on my library's website (I don't even recall the original title for which I was searching). I was even happier when I picked this up at the library and saw that Billy Collins is the editor.
Collins pointedly lets the reader the know he ignored such classics as Poe's "The Raven" and Dickens' "Hope." The poems are categorized by various birds and an illustration is provided with a brief explanation of where the species is found and other fun facts.
The poems by Juliana Gray are stand outs for me. There are many poems with beautiful notes on not just the beauty of birds, but also the ingenuity of birds as well.
I took my time reading it and I am so glad I came across it.
Collins pointedly lets the reader the know he ignored such classics as Poe's "The Raven" and Dickens' "Hope." The poems are categorized by various birds and an illustration is provided with a brief explanation of where the species is found and other fun facts.
The poems by Juliana Gray are stand outs for me. There are many poems with beautiful notes on not just the beauty of birds, but also the ingenuity of birds as well.
I took my time reading it and I am so glad I came across it.
August 4, 2016
I'm torn. The artwork is beautiful and amazing 5 stars - worth owning the book just for that. Poetry: 2-3 stars. Aside from a small handful of really good poems the majority didn't touch, excite nor inspire me.
March 23, 2021
This is a keeper, although like many collections, there are probably more misses than hits but what makes it a stand-out, are David Sibley's wonderful illustrations and descriptions, which always hit the mark. Even for non-poetry lovers, it might be worth paging through.
August 1, 2010
A small but gorgeous treasury: 57 full-color illustrations by the celebrated bird painter David Allen Sibley, and poems written by 98 international authors (but not composed in collaboration with the artist), and interesting tidbits of ornithology presented as captions to the pictures. Almost all of the poetry is tasteful and conservative in both style and content, with a few archaic phrases to please the nostalgic reader. Poems about bird-watchers themselves open and close this glossy anthology which would make a lovely -- and reasonably priced -- holiday gift.
August 8, 2020
A beautiful book, the kind one is more likely to keep on a shelf and take out to read an occasional poem from time to time. It is filled with beautiful prints and carefully reviewed poems. The editor, Billy Collins would do no less. He includes just one poem of his own.
The downside of this book is that the poems are probably not the best work of most of the authors but rather good, well edited poems that represent the authors well and fit the purpose of the book.
The downside of this book is that the poems are probably not the best work of most of the authors but rather good, well edited poems that represent the authors well and fit the purpose of the book.
September 29, 2024
Before I purchased this book, I read 2 poems from it. I read “The swan at Edgewater park” and “John James Audubon,” both of which were about birds but totally not about birds too. I was really excited to see what the other poems included would be like! To me, many of the remaining poems were really about birds vs ones that on the surface were about birds but were actually about something else. I wanted more like the first two. This book fell somewhere between “I like it” and “it was ok.” I think if you really like both birds and poems, this is the book for you.
Read
February 25, 2022I enjoyed the illustrations, the poems - not as much.
February 1, 2014
A good collection. I renewed it 3 times after taking it out of the library in my leisurely journey of reading, and could continue to circle through if I didn't need to return it for others to take out and enjoy.
Collins has included an assortment of poets and styles, so it's hard to generalize about the whole thing except to say that all the poems relate in some way to birds (some more than others, of course). I tended to like the less purely descriptive, but not always; we all know how time and circumstance can mold our attraction and delight.
Unfortunately, I did not think that the illustrations lived up to the words. Go onto etsy.com, search "bird paintings", and you will easily find dozens of artists whose work is more alive. To me it was a large detraction from what could have made "Bright Wings" an outstanding combination of color and sound, reflecting and enlarging each.
Standouts from an initial read-through:
Lisa Williams' autumnal "Grackles". Dorianne Laux's meditation on the world we do not honor in "The Ravens of Denali". Gary Snyder's radiant "Magpie's Song". Linda Pasten's somber "After Reading Peterson's Guide". John Hollander's evocative bird-shaped "Swan and Shadow" (it should be just a gimmick but it most decidedly is not). Long time favorite of mine, Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird". John Ciardi's hymn of hope, "Bird Watching" ("...Let there/be bread and seed in time: all else will follow."). As a beautiful closing summation, Brendan Constantine's "Rara Avis" ("When interviewed, the bird watchers agreed/to be interviewed again./The birds could not be reached for comment.").
And a poem which will be attended by me over and over: Jeffrey Harrison's "Visitation".
Walking past the open window, she is surprised
by the song of the white-throated sparrow
and stops to listen. She has been thinking of
the dead ones she loves--her father who lived
over a century, and her oldest son, suddenly gone
at forty-seven--and she can't help thinking
she has called them back, that they are calling her
In the voices of these birds passing through Ohio
on their spring migration...
Collins has included an assortment of poets and styles, so it's hard to generalize about the whole thing except to say that all the poems relate in some way to birds (some more than others, of course). I tended to like the less purely descriptive, but not always; we all know how time and circumstance can mold our attraction and delight.
Unfortunately, I did not think that the illustrations lived up to the words. Go onto etsy.com, search "bird paintings", and you will easily find dozens of artists whose work is more alive. To me it was a large detraction from what could have made "Bright Wings" an outstanding combination of color and sound, reflecting and enlarging each.
Standouts from an initial read-through:
Lisa Williams' autumnal "Grackles". Dorianne Laux's meditation on the world we do not honor in "The Ravens of Denali". Gary Snyder's radiant "Magpie's Song". Linda Pasten's somber "After Reading Peterson's Guide". John Hollander's evocative bird-shaped "Swan and Shadow" (it should be just a gimmick but it most decidedly is not). Long time favorite of mine, Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird". John Ciardi's hymn of hope, "Bird Watching" ("...Let there/be bread and seed in time: all else will follow."). As a beautiful closing summation, Brendan Constantine's "Rara Avis" ("When interviewed, the bird watchers agreed/to be interviewed again./The birds could not be reached for comment.").
And a poem which will be attended by me over and over: Jeffrey Harrison's "Visitation".
Walking past the open window, she is surprised
by the song of the white-throated sparrow
and stops to listen. She has been thinking of
the dead ones she loves--her father who lived
over a century, and her oldest son, suddenly gone
at forty-seven--and she can't help thinking
she has called them back, that they are calling her
In the voices of these birds passing through Ohio
on their spring migration...
August 10, 2025
What a beautiful book!
I enjoyed the diversity of the poems--Modern, Romantic, contemporary, etc.--and the fact that there are some lesser-known poets in this collection. However, more contemporary poets, especially poets of color and women, would have made this a much stronger anthology.
But the artwork is truly wonderful. The bird paintings are by David Allen Sibley. Prior to a poem called "December Notes" by Nancy McCleery, there is a painting of a chickadee--one of the birds mentioned in McCleery's poem. Each painting is accompanied by a short (about 5 sentences) introduction to that bird--habitat, nesting, mating habits, plumage description, the sounds it makes, etc.
Anyone who loves poetry, birds, and/or nature paintings--or, if you are like me and enjoy all three--will find a lot to love in this collection.
I enjoyed the diversity of the poems--Modern, Romantic, contemporary, etc.--and the fact that there are some lesser-known poets in this collection. However, more contemporary poets, especially poets of color and women, would have made this a much stronger anthology.
But the artwork is truly wonderful. The bird paintings are by David Allen Sibley. Prior to a poem called "December Notes" by Nancy McCleery, there is a painting of a chickadee--one of the birds mentioned in McCleery's poem. Each painting is accompanied by a short (about 5 sentences) introduction to that bird--habitat, nesting, mating habits, plumage description, the sounds it makes, etc.
Anyone who loves poetry, birds, and/or nature paintings--or, if you are like me and enjoy all three--will find a lot to love in this collection.
November 8, 2010
This is a book for bird lovers who don't have the means, patience, or keen eyesight to wait for hours in the wild for a quick glimpse of some little feathered beauty. You can open Bright Wings anywhere and learn some fascinating snippet of info under the gorgeous David Sibley illustration on the left side page. For instance, the female Northern Cardinal is one of the few NA female songbirds who sings; the Great Horned Owl is the only animal that regularly eats skunks; the female Belted Kingfisher is brighter than the male; the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher may line its nest with cigarette butts, while the Great Crested Flycatcher prefers snakeskin--it just goes on and on! Then you can savor a wonderful poem about that bird on the right page--selected by Billy Collins. I love this book!
November 1, 2010
Had to get this through Interlibrary Loan. I've suggested to Denver Public Library to purchase.
I am thinking of buying it for my poetry collection. The book is big enough to show the illustrations well, and the poetry is beyond conventional, with a good selection of older and modern poetry on the experience of seeing birds, of experiencing birds in a most personal way.
In many of the poems, if the reader is a birder, they will be able to tell that the poet is an avid one, too.
I am thinking of buying it for my poetry collection. The book is big enough to show the illustrations well, and the poetry is beyond conventional, with a good selection of older and modern poetry on the experience of seeing birds, of experiencing birds in a most personal way.
In many of the poems, if the reader is a birder, they will be able to tell that the poet is an avid one, too.
March 11, 2018
The illustrations are absolutely lovely, and the tidbits of information provided about each are excellent as well. However, the poetry is a mixed bag when it comes to quality, as can happen when material is chosen because it covers a specific topic, rather than for it's quality. It ranges from pedestrian to transcendent.
Also, does anyone else think Thoreau is dreadfully overrated?
Also, does anyone else think Thoreau is dreadfully overrated?
November 4, 2009
Mostly for bird fans, although there a few poems that are gems whether you have a passion for birds or not.
December 26, 2009
This is a beautiful little book full of poems and lovely illustrations of birds. I'm already smitten.
January 6, 2010
The Sibley illustrations are gorgeous! The poems unique! I especially love "Swan and Shadow." This collection is a gem.
August 8, 2012
a simply charming collection of poetry that looks like a field guide. A big tweet for the poet biologist, and Collins and Sibley know their respective fields.
April 27, 2010
Probably will be reading this for awhile. I'm a birder and I am usually careful with reading poems about birds.
August 13, 2010
For bird lovers...gorgeous illustrations matched with gorgeous poetry. What's not to love? Thanks, Bailey!
May 12, 2022
Review to come!
July 18, 2023
Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds Billy Collins
When I don't know what to write, I write about birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (allaboutbirds.org) is an endless source of poetic inspiration. This book is even better. It's poems about birds chosen by Billy Collins, it's paintings by David Allen Sibley, and it's notes from Cornell. It's 248 pages of inspiration.
I took a couple months to poem my way through the collection — steeping in these selections and writing my own poems. I was able to write a lot of things that needed to be written but that could only be written by being layered on the details about a particular bird. Sometimes those details came from the description, sometimes from the poem, sometimes from the art.
"Bright Wings" contains many poems I already love, including Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush," Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese," and Lucia Perillo's "The Crows Start Demanding Royalties." And now I have a whole murmuration of new ones: John Ciardi's "Bird Watching," Jane Hirshfield's "Hope and Love," and Billy Collins' own "Christmas Sparrow."
Get yourself a copy. Take your time. See what wings your way.
Unknown Bird in the Chapel
before I could sing
a bird began its own song
from a skylight nest
– Megan Willome
When I don't know what to write, I write about birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (allaboutbirds.org) is an endless source of poetic inspiration. This book is even better. It's poems about birds chosen by Billy Collins, it's paintings by David Allen Sibley, and it's notes from Cornell. It's 248 pages of inspiration.
I took a couple months to poem my way through the collection — steeping in these selections and writing my own poems. I was able to write a lot of things that needed to be written but that could only be written by being layered on the details about a particular bird. Sometimes those details came from the description, sometimes from the poem, sometimes from the art.
"Bright Wings" contains many poems I already love, including Thomas Hardy's "The Darkling Thrush," Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese," and Lucia Perillo's "The Crows Start Demanding Royalties." And now I have a whole murmuration of new ones: John Ciardi's "Bird Watching," Jane Hirshfield's "Hope and Love," and Billy Collins' own "Christmas Sparrow."
Get yourself a copy. Take your time. See what wings your way.
Unknown Bird in the Chapel
before I could sing
a bird began its own song
from a skylight nest
– Megan Willome
December 21, 2017
This book could not help but be a lovely addition to my personal library, with editing by a former Poet Laureate of the United States and Illustrations by the author of one of America’s most popular birding guides. Collins has worked hard to popularize poetry, especially during his two-year tenure as Poet Laureate. He is also a birdwatcher, judging from his poem “Osprey” (published elsewhere).
The order of poems and illustrations follows the order in Sibley’s guide, beginning with Common Loon, and ending with three poems about the American Goldfinch. The collection does not include every bird seen in North America, but each illustration has a brief descriptive paragraph by Sibley, as well as one or more poems. The illustrations show primarily male birds in breeding plumage, though the kingfisher has the bright red belly band of a female bird.
I would not attempt to use the book as a field guide, but it is a thoroughly enjoyable read, potentially introducing novices to birds and new readers to poetry.
The order of poems and illustrations follows the order in Sibley’s guide, beginning with Common Loon, and ending with three poems about the American Goldfinch. The collection does not include every bird seen in North America, but each illustration has a brief descriptive paragraph by Sibley, as well as one or more poems. The illustrations show primarily male birds in breeding plumage, though the kingfisher has the bright red belly band of a female bird.
I would not attempt to use the book as a field guide, but it is a thoroughly enjoyable read, potentially introducing novices to birds and new readers to poetry.
May 6, 2021
In a strange coincidence, I happened to get into bird research and Billy Collins' poetry lectures around the same time, so I clearly had to pick up this book. I'm used to reading poetry books that are either by a single author or defined to a specific historical time period, so it was an interesting experience to read this sort of themed poetry collection with a range of styles. Some selections resonated more than others, naturally, but on the whole I quite liked the collection. I also enjoyed the unique addition of brief bird facts and Sibley's illustrations.
Some of my favorites:
"Mother Carey's Hen" by David Yezzi
"Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver
"Peregrine Falcon, New York City" by Robert Cording
"A Bird at the Leather Mill" by Joshua Mehigan
"Seagulls" by John Updike
"The Crows Start Demanding Royalties" by Lucia Perillo
"The Darkling Thrush" by Thomas Hardy
"A Pair of Tanagers" by Mark Jarman
"Grackles" by Lisa Williams
Some of my favorites:
"Mother Carey's Hen" by David Yezzi
"Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver
"Peregrine Falcon, New York City" by Robert Cording
"A Bird at the Leather Mill" by Joshua Mehigan
"Seagulls" by John Updike
"The Crows Start Demanding Royalties" by Lucia Perillo
"The Darkling Thrush" by Thomas Hardy
"A Pair of Tanagers" by Mark Jarman
"Grackles" by Lisa Williams
November 6, 2017
This book was a bit of a difficult one for me. I have been trying to read more poetry and have been finding it very hit or miss. This book was more of a success than my previous attempt as I picked an anthology of many different poets with a common theme that I have some interest in, birds. I found that I understood and so could appreciate some poets and not others. There were some I liked and some I didn't. Hopefully I will go into a more in depth review on my blog. Overall I found the book to be enjoyable the different range of styles and skill levels was engaging. It may have been nice to have just a quick passage on each poet, their style and time period.
The second major aspect of the book, the ornothogical painting were breathtaking. I loved each one and learnt the names of many new birds.
The second major aspect of the book, the ornothogical painting were breathtaking. I loved each one and learnt the names of many new birds.
February 20, 2023
This isn’t a bad collection, and in fact the message seems quite good; exposing people to various types of birds through gorgeous illustrations and poetry seems like a fantastic idea. For me, though, it was really dull. I DNF’d this book after about 50 pages because I couldn’t bring myself to read anymore. No hate to Billy Collins, David Allen Sibley, or any of the poets who feature in the book — it’s just not for me. I love certain classic poets and poems, but these didn’t do it for me. I was interested in this book because I loved Collins’ Poetry 180 anthology and I just love his work, and it was worth giving it a try, but not worth it to finish.
If you like birds and have the attention span for classic poetry, you might like this. Otherwise, probably best to look elsewhere.
If you like birds and have the attention span for classic poetry, you might like this. Otherwise, probably best to look elsewhere.
August 29, 2021
I loved that this collection was varied poets, all with a unique style and preference for writing poetry. I also loved that the subject happened to be one of my favorites - birds. I think I was hoping for a bit more with this. The artwork was stunning, but the poetry was more about just observations and after 250 pages of observations I don't care what bird I'm looking at, the colors might be different but the descriptions get a bit repetitive. Overall enjoyable, although it took my some time to really digest through it. It's a pretty thick collection.
December 31, 2023
I have been reading these poems gradually over a period of years. The poems include classical and contemporary poems, all focused on detailed observation of bird appearance, behavior, song. Artist David Allen Sibley contributed beautiful paintings of many of the birds that appeared in the poems. The paintings were accompanied by factual information about the birds depicted. An altogether lovely collection. I will begin rereading it soon.
July 7, 2018
What a treat! Paintings of birds with informative text paired with diverse poems. Learning, reviewing, and looking parallels interacting with words. About birds, maybe my favorite creatures. Only wish the roadrunner had made the cut for this TX girl, now I need to find a poem to satisfy my craving. Thanks Billy Collins!
May 17, 2020
A really good anthology. Highly recommend, especially if you like birds. Most of the poems or poets chosen are not the typical ones, the poems are varied enough, there is a decent ratio between female poets and male ones, and the paintings are lovely. A good poetry book to read especially in the spring time.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews