In this instance their very absence will serve to recall them to the reader’s memory.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION Page [13]
I. The Flower and the Leaf.
The Flower and the Leaf [36]
II. The Bee.
To the Bees Page [54]
On a Bee’s Nest [54]
The Bee [55]
Management of Bees [55]
From Shakspeare [59]
The Drone [59]
Memory of the Bee [60]
The Death of the Bee [60]
Sonnet [61]
III. Spring.
The Return of Spring in Greece [63]
Spring [64]
Description of Spring [64]
Spring [65]
On Spring [65]
Sonnet on Spring [66]
Spring, at Easter [66]
The Airs of Spring [69]
Return of Spring [69]
Ode to Spring [70]
The Flower [71]
Ode [73]
To Spring [74]
To Spring [75]
Spring [76]
Ode [76]
The Awakening Year [77]
Spring Scene [78]
Spring [79]
IV. Morning.
Morning Melodies [80]
Morning Walk [81]
Hymn [81]
Morning [83]
Spring Morning in Italy [84]
Up, Amaryllis! [85]
The Morning Walk [86]
Danish Morning Song [87]
Summer Morning Song [88]
V. Lark and Nightingale.
The Note of the Nightingale [92]
Sonnet [93]
The Nightingale [94]
Ode to a Nightingale [95]
The Nightingale [97]
The Nightingale [98]
The Mother Bird [99]
The Mother Nightingale [99]
The Nightingale [100]
Nest of the Nightingale [101]
The Nightingale [103]
The Lark [103]
To the Skylark [104]
A Lark Singing in a Rainbow [107]
The Skylark [107]
The Moors of Jutland [108]
The Rising of the Lark [108]
The Lark [109]
Lark [109]
Lines [110]
VI. May.
May Morning [112]
Emilia on May Day [112]
Salutation of Maia [113]
Song [114]
May [115]
Song [116]
May [117]
VII. The Flock.
On a Rural Image of Pan [121]
Pastoral Scene from “The Arcadia” [121]
From the “Faithful Shepherdess” [122]
The Shepherd’s Life [122]
The Shepherd’s Address to his Muse [123]
Phillida and Corydon [125]
Shearing Time [126]
A Fayre and Happy Milk-Maid [128]
Sheep Pastures [129]
The Spinner’s Song [130]
Song for the Spinning-Wheel [130]
Wurtha [131]
To Meadows [132]
French Song [132]
VIII. The Garland.
Flowers [136]
Spring-Flowers [136]
Arrangements of a Bouquet [137]
Heart’s-Ease [138]
The Garland [139]
To Primroses [140]
To the Narcissus [141]
The Rose [142]
Ancient Servian Song [142]
To Blossoms [143]
Children’s Posies [143]
Love’s Wreath [144]
To Daffodils [144]
The Lily [145]
Wild Flowers [145]
To the Sweet-Brier [147]
The Wild Honeysuckle [148]
Wild Flowers [148]
Beau and the Lily [149]
Flowers [150]
Alpine Flowers [153]
To the Bramble Flower [153]
The Painted Cup [154]
The Wreath of Grasses [155]
Divination [155]
Grass [155]
Daffodils [156]
IX. Medley.
Grongar Hill [157]
Letter on Certain Trees [161]
A Sketch [162]
An English Peasant’s Cottage [163]
Ruth [163]
Simple Pleasures [164]
From “The Complete Angler” [164]
The Milk-Maid’s Song [166]
The Milk-Maid’s Mother’s Answer [167]
The Solitary Reaper [168]
The Husbandman [169]
X. The Garden.
The Garden [171]
Of Gardens [171]
A Garden [172]
The Garden of Alcinous [172]
The Garden of Eden [173]
Of Gardens [174]
Gardening [175]
Flowers and Art [176]
Chinese Gardening [177]
Employment [177]
The Garden [178]
The Gardeners [179]
Lines [181]
XI. Summer.
Saxon Song of Summer [182]
Lines [183]
The Summer Months [183]
Virtue [184]
From the “Holy Dying” [185]
Simile [185]
The Sun [186]
The Sun [187]
Delight in God [188]
Noon [189]
Summer Dream [191]
Summer [192]
Portuguese Canzonet [193]
XII. The Forest.
From “Evangeline” [194]
Song [194]
A Grove [195]
Of the Seminary, and of Transplanting [196]
Windsor Forest [196]
Fairlop [197]
An Old Oak [198]
Yardley Oak [198]
The Groaning Elm of Badesley [200]
Yew-Trees [201]
Lines [202]
Lime-Trees [202]
The Birch-Tree [203]
The Hemlock-Tree [204]
The Oak [205]
On an Ancient Oak [205]
Wood Notes [205]
A Pine-Forest [207]
A Wood in Winter [208]
“Leaves have their Time to Fall” [208]
Sonnet [209]
XIII. Birds.
Lines [211]
A Flight of Cranes [211]
The Swallow and the Grasshopper [212]
The Same [212]
Song of the Swallow [213]
Swallows [214]
Lines [214]
The Black Cock [215]
To the Mocking-Bird [215]
The Bob-o-Linkum [216]
The Owl [217]
Extract [218]
The Pattichap’s Nest [219]
A Thought [219]
The Birds of Passage [220]
The Dove [222]
The Dying Swan [223]
The Twa Corbies [224]
The Redbreast in September [224]
XIV. The Butterfly.
Muiopotmos; or, the Fate of the Butterflie [227]
On a Locust [238]
To the Cicada [238]
The Grasshopper [239]
Insects [240]
Flowers and Insects [240]
The Dragon-Fly [241]
To an Insect [242]
The Grasshopper [243]
XV. The Streams.
The Streams [245]
The Thames [245]
River and Song [247]
Ode to Leven-Water [247]
Song [248]
The Rivulet [250]
The Stream of the Rock [250]
A River [252]
Life compared to a Stream [252]
On the Bronze Image of a Frog [253]
Little Streams [253]
Frogs [255]
The Rivulets [255]
Lines [256]
The Wayside Spring [257]
Gulls [258]
The Fountain [258]
XVI. Fairies.
Elves [262]
Hynde Etin [262]
The Fairy Queen [268]
Merry Pranks of Robin Good-Fellow [270]
Slavic [273]
Cottage Fairy [274]
Fairies in the Highlands [275]
XVII. Medley.
Of Beauty [278]
Fragment [279]
The Memory of a Walk [279]
A Bower [279]
Mist of the Mountain-Top [282]
Emblem [283]
Song [284]
To a Mountain-Daisy [285]
Mossgiel [286]
The Forest-Leaves in Autumn [287]
Bohemian [287]
A Landscape and its Associations [288]
XVIII. The Calendar.
The Opening Year [289]
On Observing a Blossom [290]
February [290]
March [291]
April [292]
April [293]
Ode to First of April [294]
April [296]
May [298]
June [299]
July [299]
August [300]
August [301]
September [302]
October [302]
November [303]
November [303]
November in England [304]
Sonnet [305]
Song [305]
XIX. The Schoolmistress.
The Schoolmistress [308]
The Hamlet [313]
The Nosegay [314]
The Well of St. Keyne [315]
Losel’s Farm [316]
Gipsies [317]
A Sterile Field [318]
The English Common [319]
Lines [319]
Lines [320]
XX. Autumn.
To Autumn near her Departure [323]
Autumn [323]
Ode to William Lyttleton, Esq [325]
Song [327]
Autumn Scene in England [328]
Indian Summer [329]
An Autumn Landscape [329]
Autumn Woods [330]
XXI. Medley.
A Wish [333]
A Country Life [334]
Of Building [334]
Of Building [336]
The Wish [337]
A Thanksgiving for his House [338]
The Stranger on the Sill [339]
The Invitation [340]
Icelandic Lines [341]
Domestic Peace [341]
XXII. The Hunt.
Ancient Hunting Song [342]
Hounds [343]
Deer Leap [343]
The Hare [343]
A Hunter’s Matin [347]
A Sportsman of Olden Time [348]
Sonnet [349]
Sonnet [350]
Lines [350]
XXIII. Medley.
Ode [351]
Letter of Sir Thomas More to his Wife [353]
Peasant Pavo [354]
Country Life [356]
Scene in an American Forest [357]
Song [359]
Song [359]
Blessings of a Country Life [360]
Plagues of a Country Life [360]
XXIV. Wind and Cloud.
A Storm in Autumn [361]
To the Rainbow [362]
The Windy Night [363]
A Shower [364]
To the Rainbow [364]
The Hurricane [365]
The Rainbow [367]
XXV. Medley.
The Story of Aaron the Beggar [369]
Elegy [371]
Take Thy Old Cloake about Thee [372]
The Country Lasse [374]
Harvest Song [375]
Song [376]
Servian [377]
Lines [377]
The Balade of the Shepharde [378]
XXVI. Medley.
Song [382]
Song of Colma [383]
Song [384]
Lines [384]
Letter of St. Basil [385]
A Vision [386]
The Campagna of Rome [389]
The Wave of Life [389]
Mutability [390]
XXVII. Winter.
Winter [391]
A Winter Scene [392]
Winter Song [393]
Holly Song [394]
An Old-Fashioned Holly Hedge [394]
Christmas Carol [394]
The Seasons [395]
A Winter Song [396]
The Thrush [396]
Sonnet [397]
Spring and Winter [397]
Woods in Winter [398]
Winter [399]
XXVIII. Medley.
Fragment from the Greek of Aristotle [400]
The Creation of the Earth [401]
Earth [402]
The Shield of Achilles [403]
Lines [404]
An Italian Moon [407]
Italian Song [408]
A Farm Scene in Portugal [408]
From “The Lusiad” [411]
Paradise [412]
Nature Teaching Immortality [413]
XXIX. Evening and Night.
The Moon [415]
Lines [415]
To Cynthia [416]
To Night [416]
Night [417]
To the Moon [418]
Moonlight [419]
Elegy [420]
Night Song [422]
Progress of Evening [423]
Night [423]
Evening [424]
Spring Evening [424]
Song [425]
Song [425]
Life [426]
On Hope [426]
Sonnet [426]
Twilight [427]

INTRODUCTION.

The ancient classical writers of the world are thought to have shown but little sensibility to that natural beauty with which the earth has been clothed, as with a magnificent garment, by her Almighty Creator. Those of their works which have been preserved to us are declared by critics rarely to bear evidence of much depth of feeling of this kind. The German scholars are understood to have been the first to broach this opinion—the first to point out the fact, and to comment on what appears a singular inconsistency.

“If we bear in mind,” says Schiller, “the beautiful scenery with which the Greeks were surrounded, and remember the opportunities possessed by a people living in so genial a climate, of entering into the free enjoyment of the contemplation of nature, and observe how conformable were their mode of thought, the bent of their imaginations, and the habits of their lives to the simplicity of nature, which was so faithfully reflected in their poetic works, we can not fail to remark with surprise how few traces are to be met among them of the sentimental interest with which we in modern times attach ourselves to the individual characteristics of natural scenery. The Greek poet is certainly in the highest degree correct, faithful, and circumstantial in his descriptions of nature, but his heart has more share in his words than if he were treating of a garment, a shield, or a suit of armor. Nature seems to interest his understanding more than his moral perceptions; he does not cling to her charms with the fervor and the plaintive passion of the poet of modern times.”

This passage of Schiller, quoted in “Cosmos,” is supported by similar observations of M. de Humboldt himself: “Specific descriptions of nature occur only as accessories, for in Grecian art all things are centered in the sphere of human life.” And, again: “The description of nature in its manifold richness of form, as a distinct branch of poetic literature, was wholly unknown to the Greeks. The landscape appears among them merely as the background of the picture, of which human figures constitute the main subject.” Touches of description must of course occasionally occur, and whenever these are found, the harmony of Grecian taste gives them the highest beauty possible. The many noble similes and comparisons scattered through the greater poems, form admirable detached pictures; but they occupy the attention very briefly; a rapid glance is thrown upon the hill, the river, or the wood, rather for the purpose of affording greater relief to the figures in the foreground than of enduing the sketch of these features of the earth with any charm or importance in itself. But it is quite impossible to believe for a moment that the Greeks, so fully alive to the spirit of beauty in all its other forms, should have been blind to its effects in the natural world. Other ways of accounting for the apparent inconsistency must be sought for, and the peculiar character and position of the people would seem to suggest these. It was quite consistent with the condition of the world at that early period, and of the Greeks in particular, that nature and art should not then hold the same relative places which they occupy to-day. Art was still in its youth, and of more importance to them than it is to us. Nature, with all her untold wealth, her unharvested magnificence, lay before them, close at hand, always within reach; there was no fear that she should fail them. But human Art was in its earliest stages of culture; every successive step was watched with most lively interest; every progressive movement became of great importance, while the genius of the Greeks particularly led them to feel extreme delight in every achievement of the kind. In fact, all their highest enjoyments flowed from this source, and into this sphere they threw themselves with their whole soul. Whatever susceptibility to the grandeur and beauty of the inanimate creation was felt among them, sought therefore rather to express itself in forms more positive than the voice of song. What, for instance, was the most noble of their temples but the image in Dorian marble of some grand primeval grove, whose gray, columnar trunks they found reflected in the waves of the Ægean Sea? What were the vase, and the vine wreathed about its lip, but the repetition of living forms of fruits and foliage growing in the vale of Tempe, or at the foot of Hymettus? The Greek mind thus beheld the whole external world chiefly through the medium of human Art. An interesting and very striking instance of this peculiarity occurs in the Iliad; no natural object which has a place in the poem—neither the sea nor the skies, neither the streams nor the mountains, all glowing as these were with the purple light of a Grecian atmosphere—could draw from Homer a description filling half the space allotted by him to the shield of Achilles; nay, more, observe that where rural life and its accessories appear the most distinctly in his verse, it is not the reality which he shows us; we do not ourselves tread the brown soil of the freshly-tilled fallow; we do not pass along the one narrow path in the vineyard, amid the purple clusters, but we are called upon to behold these objects—“sight to be admired of all!”—as they lie curiously graven by the hand of Vulcan on the bronze buckler of the hero, where he

* * * “With devices multiform, the disk

Capacious charged, toiling with skill divine.”[[1]]