The poet's confusion about waterfowl is a projection of his own confusion, and his most fundamental purpose is to try to find the enlightenment to solve the confusion from waterfowl, so he doesn't stop at asking questions, he wants to find the answer further. In the second half of the poem, in the larger space-time world, the waterfowl's flight becomes firm and powerful, waiting for it is a warm home: "You will have a new summer nest/will sing in unison with your partners/reeds will be bent by the nest." The beauty of all this comes from the emergence of strength, from God's guidance and care for waterfowl, so although waterfowl disappeared from the poet's field of vision, the poet no longer worried about its future; He is no longer worried about his future. He believes that the god who cares for all beings "will also give me guidance."
From this perspective, the poem To Waterbirds is a vivid interpretation of the poet's religious beliefs. In poetry, God always exists, and the poet's initial confusion only comes from the loss of faith. When he suddenly understands the existence of God, the whole world will have a bright center and become orderly and harmonious, and the previously lost individuals, including waterfowl and poets, will all take their places in the grace of God and accept their own destiny.
In Bryant's time, although there was a religious revival movement in the United States, the decline of traditional beliefs was inevitable, or the way of belief changed greatly. In the prevailing deism at that time, God was excluded from the independent natural world, as if he had become a helpless observer who could only live in high places.
Bryant's poem To Waterbirds was published in 18 15. Like a silhouette of the second religious awakening movement, the confusion revealed in his poems is also a deep-rooted belief confusion and a destination confusion. He tried to summon the god who was far from his height to people again, to get rid of this confusion with his appearance and existence, and to restore his confidence in life by reviving his inner faith. But in an increasingly secular and scientific world, it is not easy to revive faith. Regarding people's faith, Bryant once wrote in another poem: "You should not walk into the dungeon like a slave who quarries stones at night/but walk to the grave with the support and comfort of firm faith/wrap yourself in a couch with a cloth/walk into a beautiful dream." Perhaps, even the poet himself didn't realize that his words contained satire on himself, and the so-called "firm belief" might really just have a "beautiful dream".