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.
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An intelligent assembly of poems that take us places where prose cannot go... This little book is a reminder that everything important about birds can't be found in guide books or scientific papers. -- Jim Williams Minneapolis Star Tribune 8/20/09 What's not to love?Birder's World Birder's World 12/1/09 Part poetry anthology, part field guide, Bright Wings is a delight. -- Isabel Nathaniel Dallas Morning News 11/29/2009 An elegant little compilation. Des Moines Register 12/26/09 A beautiful anthology. -- Jim Higgins Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 12/20/09 [Collins & Sibley] have created a veritable jeweled music box... sure to appeal to birdlovers and poetry fans alike.The West Australian The West Australian 12/22/09 Whether metaphorical or purely observational, the verses provide a wealth of details and, as a group, form a literary guide to the behavior of bird and birder. -- Adam Levine Country Gardens 7/1/10 Rarely has poetry and art been so deftly partnered... A truly impressive anthology. The Midwest Book Review 3/1/10 Collins has done his homework, ponying up those who should never be forgotten nor hidden away in an English Lit syllabus. The Folio 2010
About the Author
Billy Collins is Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College and the author of eight books of poetry, including Ballistics, The Trouble with Poetry: and Other Poems, Nine Horses, Sailing Alone Around the World, and Questions About Angels, which was selected by Edward Hirsch for the National Poetry Series. He has received fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation, and has served two terms as the poet laureate of the United States, along with one term as New York State Poet. Collins divides his time between New York and Winter Park, Florida. David Allen Sibley has spent most of his life traveling across North America, studying and drawing the natural world. With the National Audubon Society, he published The Sibley Guide to Birds in 2004 and The Sibley Guide to Trees in 2009. He lives with his family in Concord, Massachusetts, and his work can be viewed at www.sibleyguides.com.
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4.9 out of 5 stars
25 reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poems that will flutter into your heart.
4 Feb 2010
By Deborah Verlen
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
As a birder when I look at my large collection of bird books and guides, I frequently swear I'm not buying another book on birds, about birds, or to view birds! Then along comes a book like Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds and my resolutions not to add another birding book to the shelf is forgotten as I view the poetry and wonderful art work.
Billy Collins, a former US Poet Laureate choose over 100 poems to include in this lovely little volume about birds. David Allen Sibley of the Sibley bird guides is the illustrator. That winning combination alone would make this wonderful volume of bird-related poetry and art a must for a birder!
The book contains both classical and modern poems by poets/writers as diverse as Keats, Plath, Nemerov, and Thoreau. Sixty or so illustrations lovingly picture birds along side the poetry.
Best of all, the book will inspire you to look at birds, even the every day ones like the Grackle with new eyes. You may even feel the muse of poetry or art fall upon you and you'll be inspired to pick up your pencil and try your hand at writing poetry or sketching the birds you see in your back yard!
Billy Collins, a former US Poet Laureate choose over 100 poems to include in this lovely little volume about birds. David Allen Sibley of the Sibley bird guides is the illustrator. That winning combination alone would make this wonderful volume of bird-related poetry and art a must for a birder!
The book contains both classical and modern poems by poets/writers as diverse as Keats, Plath, Nemerov, and Thoreau. Sixty or so illustrations lovingly picture birds along side the poetry.
Best of all, the book will inspire you to look at birds, even the every day ones like the Grackle with new eyes. You may even feel the muse of poetry or art fall upon you and you'll be inspired to pick up your pencil and try your hand at writing poetry or sketching the birds you see in your back yard!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beauty on the Wing
22 Jan 2010
By ALICE DELANA
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Everything about this book is appropriate to the fleeting beauty of the subject. The poems are lovely, the images true, and the overall effect warming to the heart. Its appeal is not limited to either poetry lovers or birdwatchers; anyone who loves a beautiful book will enjoy it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful, fulfilled expectations.
24 Aug 2011
By Clara Blair
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
My husband and I are both avid birdwatchers and poetry readers. This finely illustrated volume is a dependable treat for us. The Sibley pictures combine with poets from Dickinson and Whitman, back to Chaucer and on to more contemporary writers such as one of our favorites, Mary Oliver. We highly recommend this book, which is beautifully printed in the USA on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
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