16 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



a dozen pieces that equal the 'Ode to the West Wind, 1 

 which is in essence an address to Autumn : 



' O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, 

 Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead 

 Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, 

 Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red.' 



As he recalls these autumn hymns, and puts them in their 

 places among the poets' works, a lover of nature, a naturalist, 

 may feel a sort of pride in realising that the greatest poems 

 of all are evoked by birds. If the Odes to Autumn and the 

 West Wind come second, the ' Nightingale' and the * Sky- 

 lark ' of these two poets come first. As a rule the poets 

 have not been naturalists. A great exception is Lord de 

 Tabley, who has described the country with a fulness and 

 fidelity no one else has approached. His ' Autumn Serenade ' 

 is a sort of naturalist's calendar, very much resembling in the 

 fulness of detail Meredith's spring poem, ' The Sweet o' the 



Year.' 



AN AUTUMN SERENADE. 



Before the tears of autumn shed 



All leaves away at winter's door, 

 My queen, across the foliage tread 



Of yellow gusty woodland floor ; 

 And watch the squirrel overhead 



In stories of her pine-trees hoar. 



When only redbreast chirps thee on, 

 And fingered chestnut leaves are cast ; 



And gaudy greenwood gathers wan 

 On lime and beech, and sickens fast ; 



And acorns thicken paths upon, 



And shrew-mice treasure winter mast. 



When plovers tremble up to cloud, 



And starling legions whirl apace ; 

 And redwing nations restless-loud 



Are over every fallow's face ; 

 And barren branches like a shroud 



Blacken the sun-way's interspace. 



