Words are Birds

STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS

Select the best words to fill each blank.

All the words in the poem are 1 _____________, but 2 _____________ lines are ideas that the 3 ______________really wants to 4 _______________.

• 1. unimportant 2.four-word 3. reader 4. ignore

• 1. important 2. one-word 3. poet 4. stress

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

The speaker references _____________ words at the end of the poem.

• fly

• written

• birds

• instant

• spoken

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Words like “arrive,” “migrate,” and “fly” suggest _____________words.

• fly

• written

• birds

• instant

• spoken

Select all that apply.

These words give the reader imagery to show that, like _______________, spoken words _________________through the air and are gone in an _____________________.

• written

• spoken

• birds

• fly

• instant

Which words best describe the mood of the poem?

• Cautious, uncertain

• Uneasy, restless

• Festive, excited

• Quiet, tender

The poet wrote stanzas 3 and 4 to suggest that —

STANZA 3

some words

are messengers

that come

from far away

from distant lands

STANZA 4

for them

there are

no borders

only stars

moon and sun

• words, like birds, have no borders

• words, like birds, are without feelings

• words and birds usually come from remote places

• words and birds can be hard to understand

In lines 21–30, why does the poet compare some words to canaries and other words to the quetzal bird?

some words

are familiar

like canaries

others are exotic

like the quetzal bird

some can stand

the cold

others migrate

with the sun

to the south

• To identify the types of birds that live in cold and warm climates

• To help the reader understand how some words sound when spoken

• To suggest that we need a variety of words in order to communicate

• To help the reader imagine the message each bird might carry with it

Why did the poet most likely use short lines in this poem?

• To create a rhythm with words like the movement of birds

• To highlight the subject of every stanza in the first line

• To emphasize the importance of lines with more than one word

• To imply that words don’t carry much weight

Which lines from the poem suggest that words have lasting effects?

• words

  are birds

  that arrive

  with books

  and spring

• some words

  are messengers

  that come

  from far away

  from distant lands

• some can stand

  the cold

  others migrate

  with the sun

  to the south

• the letters

  on this page

  are the prints

  they leave

  by the sea

Based on the descriptions in lines 31–45, the reader can infer that the speaker believes —

some words

die

caged–

they’re difficult

to translate

and others

build nests

have chicks

warm them

feed them

teach them

how to fly

and one day

they go away

in flocks

• some words describe how birds raise chicks until they fly away in flocks

• some words are easier than others to translate into different languages

• some words will be spoken or used more than others over time

• some people will use words as carefully as a mother bird cares for her offspring