104 NATURE AND THE POETS. 



his small hollow wings gives forth the same low, mel- 

 low thunder from a rock as from a log. Bryant has 

 recognized this fact in one of his poems. 



Our poets are quite apt to get ahead or behind the 

 season with their flowers and birds. It is not often 

 that we catch such a poet as Emerson napping. He 

 knows nature, and he knows the New England fields 

 and woods as few poets do. One may study our flora 

 and fauna in his pages. He puts in the moose and 

 the " surly bear," and makes the latter rhyme with 

 " wood-pecker " : 



" He saw beneath dim aisles, in odorous beds, 

 The slight of Linnaea hang its twin-born heads. 



" He heard, when in the grove, at intervals, 

 With sudden roar the aged pine-tree falls, 

 One crash, the death-hymn of the perfect tree, 

 Declares the close of its green century." 



"They led me through the thicket damp, 



Through brake and fern, the beavers' camp." 



"He saw the partridge drum in the woods; 

 He heard the woodcock's evening hymn; 

 He found the tawnj r thrush's broods; 

 And the shy hawk did wait 'for him." 



His " Titmouse" is studied in our winter woods, and 

 his " Humble-Bee " in our summer fields. He has 

 seen farther into the pine-tree than any other poet ; 

 bis "May-Day" is full of our spring sounds and 

 tokens; he knows the "punctual birds," and the 

 '* herbs and simples of the wood : " 



