26 BIEDS AND POETS 



" When all aloud the wind doth blow, 



And coughing drowns the parson's saw, 

 And birds sit brooding in the snow. 



And Marian's nose looks red and raw; 

 When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl, 

 Then nightly sings the staring owl, 



Tu-whoo ! 

 Tu-whit ! Tu-whoo ! a merry note, 

 While greasy Joan doth keel the pot." 



There is, perhaps, a slight reminiscence of this song 

 in Tennyson's "Owl": — 



" When cats run home and light is come. 

 And dew is cold upon the ground. 

 And the far-off stream is dumb. 

 And the whirring sail goes round. 

 And the whirring sail goes round ; 

 Alone and warming his five wits. 

 The white owl in the belfry sits. 



" When merry milkmaids click the latch. 

 And rarely smells the new-mown hay. 

 And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch 

 Twice or thrice his roundelay. 

 Twice or thrice his roundelay ; 

 Alone and warming his five wits, 

 The white owl in the belfry sits." 



Tennyson has not directly celebrated any of the 

 more famous birds, but his poems contain frequent 

 allusions to them. The 



" Wild bird, whose warble, liquid sweet. 

 Rings Eden through the budded quicks, 

 Oh, tell me where the senses mix, 

 Oh, tell me where the passions meet," 



of "In Memoriam," is doubtless the nightingale. 

 And here we have the lark : — 



"Now sings the woodland loud and long, 

 And distance takes a lovelier hue, 



