View source for What a piece of work are birds

[[File:What a piece of work are birds - Scarlet-and-a-half.jpg|thumb|Scarlet-and-a-half.]]
[[File:What a piece of work are birds (King bird of paradise).jpg|thumb|What a piece of work are birds. (King bird of paradise [https://twitter.com/Enviearth_web/status/1367761784254328832 photo by Dustin Chen].)]]
"'''What a piece of work are birds!'''" is a phrase from within a monologue by an anonymous contemporary of William Shakespeare.

== The speech ==

<blockquote>
What a piece of work are birds! How noble in saturation, how infinite in hue! In spectral absorption and reflection how express and admirable ... the beauty of the air ... the paragon of visual stimuli!
</blockquote>

== History ==

An early version was drafted by William Shakespeare in ''Hamlet'':

<blockquote>
What piece of work is a man, how noble in reason,<br>
how infinite in faculties, in form and moving,<br>
how express and admirable in action, how like an angel in apprehension,<br>
how like a god! 
</blockquote>

== In the News ==

<gallery>

File:How is there no crow emoji - Corvidae Treaty Organization.jpg|link=Corvidae Treaty Organization|'''[[Corvidae Treaty Organization]]''' is a licensed transdimensional corporation which provides treaty negotiation services between humans and corvids.

File:Stained Glass Flamingos.jpg|link=Stained Glass Flamingos|'''''[[Stained Glass Flamingos]]'''''. 

File:What_a_piece_of_work_are_birds.jpg|What a piece of work are birds.

File:Shakespeare-Magellan_Expedition.jpg|link=Shakespeare-Magellan Expedition|The [[Shakespeare-Magellan Expedition|Shakespeare-Magellan high-energy literature experiment]] will re-route Shakespeare's quantum timeline such that the Bard produces his entire body of historical work while serving as a Liberal Arts adjunct to Magellan's Expedition.

</gallery>

== Fiction cross-reference ==

* [[Gnomon algorithm]]
* [[Gnomon Chronicles]]
* [[Corvidae Treaty Organization]]
* [[One state per State Bird]]
* ''[[Stained Glass Flamingos]]''
* [[Three Baby Birds]]

== Nonfiction cross-reference ==

== External links ==

* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_a_piece_of_work_is_a_man What a piece of work is man] @ Wikipedia - a phrase within a monologue by Prince Hamlet in William Shakespeare's play ''Hamlet''. Hamlet is reflecting, at first admiringly, and then despairingly, on the human condition.

=== Social media ===

* [https://twitter.com/GnomonChronicl1/status/1700510707454746791 Post] @ Twitter (9 September 2023) - Scarlet and a half
* [https://twitter.com/GnomonChronicl1/status/1367790405689999360 Post] @ Twitter (5 March 2021)) - King bird of paradise
* [https://twitter.com/GnomonChronicl1/status/1357388511301804037 Post] @ Twitter


[[Category:Fiction (nonfiction)]]

[[Category:Animals (nonfiction)]]
[[Category:Birds (nonfiction)]]
[[Category:Shakespeare (nonfiction)]]