At the wetlands yesterday, two herons sighted about two miles apart. One picked something out of the water (a fish?) and took it to shore eat. At feeder this morning, tufted titmouse, along with the usual cardinals and sparrows. Squirrels, too, will come. It is pointless to chase them away, though feeding them is quite expensive.
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At one point, I noticed that the majority of the words I would need to look up when reading Spanish poetry were names of birds or plants. I conceived of the project of a "poet's ornithology." I wouldn't be the one to do it, because I'm not very experienced. There are four main directions.
1) Bird song is the closest and most familiar natural analog for human song, hence the main natural metaphor for song (poetry) itself.
2) Bird flight is a prime metaphor for freedom and aspiration.
3) Individual species are conventionally associated with certain qualities or personalities, like swallows with constancy or owls, crows, hawks, swans, falcons, eagles, peacocks, with their folkloric and literary attributes. The average non-poetic or non-ornithological person will be familiar with several of these associations.
4) Birds live in proximity to humans, in urban, suburban, rural areas as well as the wilderness. They are part of the lived experience of nature for almost everyone. Birds are close to human, while also alien. You would think simians would be the prime metaphorical analog for humans, but they are too close. We think of them as "aping" human behavior, as being uncomfortably similar. We don't always like to be related to them biologically, because of course we are. Birds are not superficially similar at all, so there is more metaphorical play possible. The variety of species means there is a template on which different personalities can be projected. The symbolism of the sparrow, for example, comes its actual behavior, close to the ground hunting for seeds in a humble, skittish way.
1 comment:
Marvelous idea.
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