Birds in later Poetry 
too wide to be fully entered upon here ; 
but it may be briefly illustrated by select- 
ing three well-known poems by three of 
the most illustrious of the English poets 
of the nineteenth century—the “Ode to 
the Cuckoo” of Wordsworth, the “Ode 
to the Nightingale” of Keats, and the 
“‘ Ode to the Skylark” of Shelley. 
Coming anew to these poems from a 
prolonged perusal of Shakespeare, we are 
first struck by the fact that although 
so distinct from each other in thought 
as well as in music, they are akin in 
being not mere references to the birds, 
but actual addresses to particular mem- 
bers of the feathered tribes. In each 
case the ode is no cold description, but 
a monologue, glowing with apprecia- 
tion and love, and spoken as it were 
directly to the subject itself. The birds 
are recognised as, like ourselves, “‘travellers 
between life and death.” Instead of being 
regarded as “ unreasonable,” that is, devoid 
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