THE IMMORTAL MGIITINGALE 237 



It is possible to read the thought in the original 

 differently, that immortality is given to the song, not 

 the bird. As one of my friends who have made literal 

 translations for me has it: "Vet thy nightingale's notes 

 live, whereon Hades, ravisher of all things, shall not 

 lay a hand," or "But thy nightingales (or nightingales' 

 songs) live; over these Hades, the all-destroyer, throws 

 not a hand." 



Keats, too, plays with the thought in his famous ode: 



Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird ! 



No hungry generations tread thee down ; 

 The voice I hear this passing night was heard 



In ancient days by emperor and clown : 

 Perhaps the self-same song that found a path 



Through the sad heart of Ruth, when sick for home 

 She stood in tears amid the alien corn ; 

 The same that oft-times hath 



Charmed magic casements, opening on the foam 

 Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn. 



His imagination carries him too far, since the "self- 

 same song" or the song by the same bird, could never 

 be heard in more than one spot — at Hampstead, let 

 us say ; for though he may travel far and spend six 

 months of every year in Abyssinia or some other re- 

 mote region, he sings at home only. Of all the British 

 poets who have attempted it, George Meredith is great- 

 est in describing the song which has so strong an effect 

 on us; but how much greater is Keats who makes no 

 such attempt, but in impassioned stanza after stanza 

 of the supremest beauty, renders its effect on tlie soul. 



