Ornithology poem
by Eleanor Farjeon
What’s ornithology? Pray can you tell?
It’s hard to pronounce and it’s harder to spell—
Yet that’s what you’re learning whenever you care
To study the Birds of the Earth, Sea, and Air.
There’s a long word
To stand for a Bird!
For a Lark or a Sparrow its length is absurd!
Eagles and Ostriches need no apology
If you should label them as ornithology!
But how can it fit
The tiny Tom-Tit?
The Finch.
Wants a word that’s no more than an inch!
Yet all the Birds of the East and the West,
Whatever they be, and wherever they nest—
The Vulture—the Hen—
The Flamingo—the Wren—
The Dove—the Canary—
The queer Cassowary
The Thrush on the bough, and the Duck in the pool—
They are all ornithology when you’re in School!
Eleanor Farjeon (1881 - 1965), born in London, was an author of children's stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire. She won many literary awards and the prestigious Eleaner Farjeon Award for children's literature is presented annually in her memory by the Children's Book Circle, a society of publishers.
I think this is a short children's poem that explains what the word ornithology means. It explores small birds, and large ones such as an albatross. It ends by pointing out that regardless the size of the bird, the study of ornithology includes all birds.
Discussion Questions and Activities:
In this poem the poet is having fun with a very big word. The word may not be too big for big birds like ostriches and flamingos, but it seems pretty silly for little birds like the finch.
1. Absurd means ridiculous or silly. This poem is about how strange or absurd it seems to use a long word like 'ornithology' to talk about small birds. Why is the word's length absurd for a lark or sparrow?
2. In this poem the word 'apology' means something like excuse. We don't have to excuse ourselves or apologize if we use a big word like ornithology to talk about eagles and ostriches. Why don't we?
3. What size birds are the tom-tit and finch? What clues are given in the poem that tell us this?
4. List words and phrases from the poem which describe the small birds.
5. Do you think this is a humorous poem? Why or why not?
6. What does the speaker mean by the line "They are all Ornithology when you're in school?" Why should we study birds in school? How can the study of birds help us in other arenas of life?
7. Conduct research into the birds mentioned in this poem. If the poet had been Bangladeshi, what birds might she have mentioned in the poem?
Research small and large birds that are native to Bangladesh and bring their pictures to show the students in your class.
8. What do you think about bird hunting? Do you think we should be allowed to hunt birds? Why or why not?
W/M:absurd = stupidfinch = any of various types of small singing birdsornithology = Scientific study of birdsOrnithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them.