Yeats, Birds, Poetry, Sligo

I think there has to be a moratorium on the use of birds in poetry especially as symbols of freedom, the spirit, independence, inebriation, etc etc. We've had enough stuffed birds.

Yeats was fond of using birds in his work. He said in a note on his play Calvary: "Certain birds, especially as I see things, such lonely birds as the heron, hawk, eagle, and swan, are the natural symbols of subjectivity, especially when floating upon the wind alone or alighting upon some pool or river".

I was in Sligo last week and walking along the Garavogue in the town centre waiting for the library to open (Too early again!) I saw a swan and a heron between the two bridges.


I'm writing a poem about a robin myself, symbol of greed, gluttony, dependence and treachery.