Modern Sonnet 215. Avian Domesticus -On Birds Kept in Cages- by Andrew Barker 

Thanks for this beautifully measured and, as ever, polemically conceived sonnet, with a refreshingly different rhyme scheme, Andy. I agree with its every sentiment - except that the title will have Cicero turning in his grave, together with generations of departed British Latin teachers. Even Billy Bunter would have done better! 🤣

Fung Sze Shing, Terry This sonnet is interesting because the poet is pointing out William Blake’s “ridiculous hyperbole” not because the poet disagrees with him, but because the poet is not only raging at the act of locking a bird in a cage, but also raging at the fact that it seems like he is the one being bothered the most compared to anyone else. William Blake’s wrote the act “puts all heavens in a rage”, but the question remains who “all heavens” represent? Obviously, Blake does not have the authority to speak for everyone and the fact is that someone simply is not bothered by this act, unlike “children raped by priest, cot-death, old-age, or AIDS”, which more people are concerned about. The poet goes on to connect Blake’s quote to the Broken Windows Theory, meaning if we let ourselves not care about these animals, this could eventually lead to something worse that all of us would rage at. Moreover, the poet supports his argument by debunking the delusion that the birds are singing and “she prefers it there”. In fact, they are screaming, waiting “to be released”. Lastly, the couplet, in which “walked in circled cage” indicates the passivity of the birds, is critical of diminishing the value of lives. Birds, which evolved from dinosaurs, are sadly symbolised as voluntary and happy creatures when they are in a cage.