16 
THE BIRD IN POETRY. 
emblem of power. Clinging to the partner of its little nest, it is the 
type of love. Carolling in the sunshine of the early morning, it is the 
symbol of praise. What would our poetry be without the Bird ? 
Drear and dull as the woodlands without the music of their feathered 
choristers. And in the strains of the minstrels, as in the depths of the 
grove, we may exclaim, with Spenser, — 
" Hark ! how the cheerful birds do chant their lays, 
And carol of love's praise ! 
The merry lark her matin sings aloft ; 
'yii^ The thrush replies ; the mavis descant plays ; 
The ousel shiills ; the redbreast warbles soft. " 
Religion clothes the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, as we are 
reminded by Herbert's lovely stanza: — 
" Listen, sweet dove, unto my song, 
And spread thy golden wings on me ; 
Hatching my tender heart so long, 
Till it get ^ving, and fly away with thee." 
" LISTEN, SWEET DOVE, UNTO MV SONG." 
Nations have chosen the eagle for their emblem; and a Roman 
legion named itself after the lark, Alauda. We express our idea 
of wisdom by the owl; of the supreme sweetness of music by the 
nightingale; of home and homely affections by the robin. The birds, 
