186 BIRDS AND POETS 
groves and orchards, or of the gilded cage in my 
lady’s chamber. It is by some such analogy that 
I would indicate the character of the poetry I am 
about to discuss, compared with that of the more 
popular and melodious singer, —the poetry of the 
strong wing and the daring flight. 
Well and profoundly has a Danish critic said, in 
“For Ide og Virkelighed” (‘‘For the Idea and the 
Reality ”), a Copenhagen magazine: — 
“Tt may be candidly admitted that the American 
poet has not the elegance, special melody, nor re- 
cherché aroma of the accepted poets of Europe or 
his own country; but his compass and general har- 
mony are infinitely greater. The sweetness and 
spice, the poetic ennui, the tender longings, the 
exquisite art-finish of those choice poets are mainly 
unseen and unmet in him, — perhaps because he can- 
not achieve them, more likely because he disdains 
them. But there is an electric living soul in his 
poetry, far more fermenting and bracing. His 
wings do not glitter in their movement from rich 
and vari-colored plumage, nor are his notes those of 
the accustomed song-birds; but his flight is the flight 
of the eagle.” 
Yes, there is not only the delighting of the ear 
with the outpouring of sweetest melody and its les- 
sons, but there is the delighting of the eye and 
soul through that soaring and circling in the vast 
empyrean of ‘‘a strong bird on pinions free, ’’ — les- 
sons of freedom, power, grace, and spiritual sugges- 
tion, — vast, unparalleled, formless lessons. 
