E X P L O R I N G B I R D A L L U S I O N S I N T K A M T H R O U G H P O E T R Y

POETRY IS FOR THE BIRDS

THINK ABOUT THE NAMES…

• Finch

• Robinson

•Mockingbird

THINK ABOUT THE NAMES…

• Finch

•Robinson

•Mockingbird

HOUSE FINCHES

• The House Finch is a recent introduction from western into eastern North America (and Hawaii), but it has received a warmer reception than other arrivals like the European Starling and House Sparrow. That’s partly due to the cheerful red head and breast of males, and to the bird’s long, twittering song, which can now be heard in most of the neighborhoods of the continent. If you haven’t seen one recently, chances are you can find one at the next bird feeder you come across.

HOUSE FINCHES

Behaviors:

House Finches are gregarious (sociable) birds that collect at feeders or perch high in nearby trees. When they’re not at feeders, they feed on the ground, on weed stalks, or in trees. They move fairly slowly and sit still as they shell seeds by crushing them with rapid bites. Flight is bouncy, like many finches.

ROBINS

• The quintessential early bird, American Robins are common sights on lawns across North America, where you often see them tugging earthworms out of the ground. Robins are popular birds for their warm orange breast, cheery song, and early appearance at the end of winter. Though they’re familiar town and city birds, American Robins are at home in wilder areas, too, including mountain forests and Alaskan wilderness.

ROBINS

Behaviors:

American Robins are industrious and authoritarian birds that bound across lawns or stand erect, beak tilted upward, to survey their environs. When alighting they habitually flick their tails downward several times. In fall and winter they form large flocks and gather in trees to roost or eat berries.

MOCKINGBIRDS

• If you’ve been hearing an endless string of 10 or 15 different birds singing outside your house, you might have a Northern Mockingbird in your yard. These slender-bodied gray birds apparently pour all their color into their personalities. They sing almost endlessly, even sometimes at night, and they flagrantly harass birds that intrude on their territories, flying slowly around them or prancing toward them, legs extended, flaunting their bright white wing patches.

MOCKINGBIRDS

Behaviors:

The Northern Mockingbird enjoys making its presence known. It usually sits conspicuously on high vegetation, fences, eaves, or telephone wires, or runs and hops along the ground. Found alone or in pairs throughout the year, mockingbirds aggressively chase off intruders on their territory.

BIRDS…WHY?

• Now, why do you think Harper Lee chose these particular names for these families?

The FinchesThe Robinsons Mockingbirds

POETRY ANALYSIS

• While reading Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “Sympathy,” answer the following questions on your own sheet of paper (title it Poetry is for the Birds).

1. What is the tone of the poem? 2. What is the theme (lesson) of the poem? 3. Which character in TKAM would most identify

with this poem?

POETRY ANALYSIS

• While reading Maya Angelou’s poem “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,” answer the following questions on your own sheet of paper.

1. What is the tone of the poem? 2. What is the theme (lesson) of the poem? 3. Which character in TKAM would most identify

with this poem?

YOUR TURN

• With a partner, you are going to write your own poem about characters in TKAM and birds.

1. Pick a character2. Pick a bird (one of the three we talked about) 3. Write a 20 line poem that’s one big metaphor

(comparing the character to the bird without using the words “like” or “as”)

4. You can use whatever rhyme scheme you’d like 5. Once you’re finished, you are going to write it

on a sheet of computer paper6. Draw pictures that illustrate the tone and theme

of your poem

OUR EXAMPLE (AS A CLASS)4 LINES

• Character: Miss Maudie• Bird: Robin