NATURE AND THE POETS. 117 



.he fence absorbs the heat, and shelters the ground 

 from the winds, and the sward quickly responds to 

 the touch of the spring sun. 



Stedman's poem is worthy of his theme, and is the 

 only one I recall by any of our well-known poets 

 upon the much loved May-flower or arbutus. There 

 is a little poem upon this subject by an unknown au- 

 thor that also has the right flavor. I recall but one 

 stanza : 



"Oft have I walked these woodland ways, 



Without the blest foreknowing, 

 .That underneath the withered leaves 



The fairest flowers were blowing." 



Nature's strong and striking effects are best rendered 

 by closest fidelity to her. Listen and look intently, 

 and catch the, exact effect as ^nearly as you can. It 

 seems as if Lowell had done this more than most of 

 his brother poets. In reading his poems, one wishes 

 for a little more of the poetic unction (I refer, of 

 course, to his serious poems ; his humorous ones are 

 just what they should be), yet the student of nature 

 will find many close-fitting phrases and keen obser- 

 vations in his pages, and lines that are exactly, and 

 at the same time poetically, descriptive. He is the 

 only writer I know of who has noticed the fact that 

 the roots of trees do not look supple and muscular 

 like their boughs, but have a stiffened, congealed 

 'ook, as of a liquid hardened. 



' ** Their roots, like molten-metal cooled in flowing, 

 Stiffened in coils and runnels down the bank." 



