In literature nature has always been considered as an important topic. As a natural object, birds are also have been mentioned in poetry. In fact, many poets have written many beautiful poems on birds. Birds are often used as symbols in poetry too. For example, in Bangla literature the cuckoo bird is often associated with spring time. In English literature there are many poems which are written about birds or birds play important role in the poems.

For example, Ode to a Nightingale written by John Keats and Ode to a Skylark of P B Shelly are two very famous poems on birds. Another such poem is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner of Samuel Taylor Coleridge in which the poet has used the Albatross as a symbol. According to the requirement of the assignment I have selected Ode to Nightingale by John Keats and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by S.T.Coleridge for my discussion.

Before discussing the above mentioned two poems it is needed to cast some light on the two poets and the Romantic age in English literature as a whole. The Romantic Age in English literature is a unique era because in this age all the poets created their poetry on nature and nature related topics. Nature forms the main aspect of their poetry. Before them no poet could think of nature as the main theme of a poem. The Romantic poets have successfully implemented this theme. As a result, all the great poems about birds were written in this age. John Keats was a Romantic poet who has worshipped beauty of nature in his poetry. Natural objects become lively and beautiful in his poem however he does not treat them just as lifeless natural objects. Rather he mixed his own emotion and creates a personal attachment with them.

He also expresses his own personal feelings such as happiness, sadness, hope, and frustration etc in his poems. In Ode to a Nightingale Keats has expressed a desire to escape from a harsh reality which he can not tolerate. He wants to join the nightingale and fly away into a dreamland.

On the other hand S.T.Coleridge touched the supernatural elements of nature and has presented them in a very natural way. Coleridge had a brilliant sense of imagination and with his excellent narrative skills he could imagine the most supernatural thing and then describe it in the most natural way. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Coleridge has described the life of a mariner who had killed an albatross and then suffered immensely for killing it. The whole poem is based on the reaction of killing the albatross. A bird is a beautiful creation of god and by killing the albatross without any reason the mariner had committed a grave sin against god.

Only at the twentieth century men learned to fly like a bird before aero plane was discovered men were always fascinated with the idea of flying like a bird. According to Greek mythology Daedalus and Icarus tried to imitate the birds and made artificial wings to fly. Their efforts failed in tragedy. So the concept of flying was like a dream to mankind until the beginning of the twentieth century people marveled at the birds because they could fly in the sky. The poets also appreciated this matter and their minds also wanted to fly with them. We see this kind of urge in Keats