"Bob: The Story of Our Mocking-bird" by Sidney Lanier is a tender narrative from the late 1800s, exploring the deep connection between people and the natural world, as seen through the life of a pet mockingbird named Bob. The book combines personal stories with observations of nature, displaying both the bird's life and Lanier's poetic way of seeing the world and his detailed study of bird habits. The story centers around the themes of friendship and the happiness of caring for an animal, while also considering ideas about freedom and being held captive. Bob is saved as a young bird and grows into a loved part of the Lanier family. The story follows Bob’s growth from a weak baby bird to a spirited bird with his own way of showing his feelings and character. The writer points out Bob's talent and emotional range, shown in his songs and how he gets along with other birds and family members. Lanier likens Bob to heroes from stories, such as Sir Philip Sidney and Don Quixote, linking the bird's bravery to the admirable qualities of people. Bob’s life as a pet brings about serious thoughts about freedom, imagination, and the struggles that artists face. In the end, the book honors the relationship between the Laniers and their admired mockingbird, and it raises important questions about the worth of art and friendship.
Bob: The Story of Our Mocking-bird
By Sidney Lanier
Rescued from the wild, a charming pet bird's artistic abilities and emotional depth cause a family to challenge views on freedom, creativity, and companionship.
Summary
About the AuthorSidney Clopton Lanier was an American musician, poet and author. He served in the Confederate States Army as a private, worked on a blockade-running ship for which he was imprisoned, taught, worked at a hotel where he gave musical performances, was a church organist, and worked as a lawyer. As a poet he sometimes used dialects. Many of his poems are written in heightened, but often archaic, American English. He became a flautist and sold poems to publications. He eventually became a professor of literature at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and is known for his adaptation of musical meter to poetry. Many schools, other structures and two lakes are named for him, and he became hailed in the South as the "poet of the Confederacy". A 1972 US postage stamp honored him as an "American poet".
Sidney Clopton Lanier was an American musician, poet and author. He served in the Confederate States Army as a private, worked on a blockade-running ship for which he was imprisoned, taught, worked at a hotel where he gave musical performances, was a church organist, and worked as a lawyer. As a poet he sometimes used dialects. Many of his poems are written in heightened, but often archaic, American English. He became a flautist and sold poems to publications. He eventually became a professor of literature at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and is known for his adaptation of musical meter to poetry. Many schools, other structures and two lakes are named for him, and he became hailed in the South as the "poet of the Confederacy". A 1972 US postage stamp honored him as an "American poet".
More Like This
Explore books similar to the one you're viewing
Our Feathered Friends
By Elizabeth Grinnell
Dickey Downy: The Autobiography of a Bird
By Virginia Sharpe Patterson
Bird Stories from Burroughs Sketches of Bird Life Taken from the Works of John Burroughs
By John Burroughs
The history of a tame robin
By Anonymous
The Bird
By Jules Michelet
Little Henry and His Bird
By Anonymous
More by This Author
Discover other books written by the same author
Knightly Legends of Wales; or, The Boy's Mabinogion Being the Earliest Welsh Tales of King Arthur in the Famous Red Book of Hergest
By Sidney Lanier
The English Novel and the Principle of its Development
By Sidney Lanier
The Poems of Sidney Lanier
By Sidney Lanier
Select Poems of Sidney Lanier
By Sidney Lanier
Bob: The Story of Our Mocking-bird
By Sidney Lanier
Poem Outlines
By Sidney Lanier
Related by Category
Discover books in the same genre or category
Making a Rock Garden
By H. S. (Henry Sherman) Adams
War Dogs of the World War
By John I. Anderson
The Botanical Magazine, Vol. 05 Or, Flower-Garden Displayed
By William Curtis
The Journal of the Maine Ornithological Society, Vol. XI. No. 2
By Various
Proserpina, Volume 1 Studies of Wayside Flowers, While the Air was Yet Pure Among the Alps and in the Scotland and England Which My Father Knew
By John Ruskin
An Alphabet of Quadrupeds Comprising descriptions of their appearance and habits
By Anonymous