登陆注册
5381700000027

第27章 Conclusion(13)

The former view, fortunately upheld by few, is strikingly set forth in Granald's `The Mock-bird and the Sparrow'.After describing minutely the various songs of the mocking-bird and emphasizing that they all come from other birds, the author gives the dialogue between the mock-bird and the sparrow.The former taunted the latter and insisted on his singing; and"The sparrow cock'd a knowing eye, And made him this most tart reply --`You steal from all and call it wit, But I prefer my simple "twit".'"But the latter view is espoused by most of the writers mentioned, notably and nobly by Drake, the Haynes, the Laniers, Lee, Meek, and Thompson, the poet-laureate of the mocking-bird, whose poems should be read by every lover of nature and especially of the mocking-bird.

As Thompson's tributes are all too long for quotation, I give here Meek's, in the hope that I may rescue it from the long oblivion of an out-of-print.

My attention was called to it by my friend, Dr.C.H.Ross, to whom every reader will be indebted along with myself.It runs as follows:

"From the vale, what music ringing, Fills the bosom of the night;On the sense, entranced, flinging Spells of witchery and delight!

O'er magnolia, lime and cedar, From yon locust-top, it swells, Like the chant of serenader, Or the rhymes of silver bells!

Listen! dearest, listen to it!

Sweeter sounds were never heard!

'Tis the song of that wild poet Mime and minstrel -- Mocking-bird.

"See him, swinging in his glory, On yon topmost bending limb!

Carolling his amorous story, Like some wild crusader's hymn!

Now it faints in tones delicious As the first low vow of love!

Now it bursts in swells capricious, All the moonlit vale above!

Listen! dearest, etc.

"Why is't thus, this sylvan Petrarch Pours all night his serenade?

'Tis for some proud woodland Laura, His sad sonnets all are made!

But he changes now his measure Gladness bubbling from his mouth Jest and gibe, and mimic pleasure Winged Anacreon of the South!

Listen! dearest, etc.

"Bird of music, wit and gladness, Troubadour of sunny climes, Disenchanter of all sadness, --Would thine art were in my rhymes.

O'er the heart that's beating by me, I would weave a spell divine;Is there aught she could deny me, Drinking in such strains as thine?

Listen! dearest, etc."

As is well known, the mocking-bird is often called the American nightingale.

As to their relative merits as singers, here is the judgment of one that has heard both birds, Professor James A.Harrison (`The Critic', New York, 2.284, December 13, 1884): "Well, it is my honest opinion that philomel will not compare with the singer of the South in sweetness, versatility, passion, or lyrical beauty.The mocking-bird -- better the echo-bird, with a voice compounded of all sweet sounds, as the blossom of the Chinese olive is compounded of all sweet scents --is a pure lyrist; its throat is a lyre -- Aeolian, capricious, many-stringed;as its name suggests, it is a polyglot mime, a bird linguist, a feathered Mezzofanti singing all the bird languages; yet over and above all this, with a something of its own that cannot be described."The mocking-bird speaks for himself in Thompson's `To an English Nightingale':

"What do you think of me?

Do I sing by rote?

Or by note?

Have I a parrot's echo-throat?

Oh no! I caught my strains From Nature's freshest veins.

.....

"He A match for me!

No more than a wren or a chickadee!

Mine is the voice of the young and strong, Mine the soul of the brave and free!"This self-appreciation is confirmed by the greatest authority on birds, Audubon: "There is probably no bird in the world that possesses all the musical qualifications of this king of song, who has derived all from Nature's self.Yes, reader, all!"It will be interesting and instructive to compare the tributes to the mocking-bird with Keats's `Ode to a Nightingale', Shelley's `To a Skylark', and Wordsworth's `To the Skylark'.

Aside from Audubon's `Birds of America' and Ridgway's `Manual of North American Birds', the student may consult with profit Burroughs's `Birds and Poets', Thompson's `In the Haunts of the Mocking-bird'

(`The Atlantic', 54.620, November, 1884), various articles by Olive Thorne Miller in `The Atlantic' (vol.54 on), and Winterfield's `The Mocking-bird, an Indian Legend' (`The American Whig Review', New York, 1.497, May, 1845).

14.Wilde compares the mocking-bird to Yorick and to Jacques;Meek, to Petrarch; Lanier, to Keats, in `To Our Mocking-bird', as does Wm.H.Hayne:

"Each golden note of music greets The listening leaves divinely stirred, As if the vanished soul of Keats Had found its new birth in a bird."Song of the ChattahoocheeOut of the hills of Habersham, [1]

Down the valleys of Hall, I hurry amain to reach the plain, Run the rapid and leap the fall, Split at the rock and together again, Accept my bed, or narrow or wide, And flee from folly on every side With a lover's pain to attain the plain Far from the hills of Habersham, Far from the valleys of Hall.

All down the hills of Habersham, [11]

All through the valleys of Hall, The rushes cried `Abide, abide,'

The willful waterweeds held me thrall, The laving laurel turned my tide, The ferns and the fondling grass said `Stay,'

The dewberry dipped for to work delay, And the little reeds sighed `Abide, abide, Here in the hills of Habersham, Here in the valleys of Hall.'

High o'er the hills of Habersham, [21]

Veiling the valleys of Hall, The hickory told me manifold Fair tales of shade, the poplar tall Wrought me her shadowy self to hold, The chestnut, the oak, the walnut, the pine, Overleaning, with flickering meaning and sign, Said, `Pass not, so cold, these manifold Deep shades of the hills of Habersham, These glades in the valleys of Hall.'

And oft in the hills of Habersham, [31]

同类推荐
  • 回向文

    回向文

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Cleveland Era

    The Cleveland Era

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 混元八景真经

    混元八景真经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 平汉录

    平汉录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说不空罥索咒经

    佛说不空罥索咒经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 王牌冤家,律政首席别乱来

    王牌冤家,律政首席别乱来

    他清俊优雅,却高冷毒舌,跻身国际的高级律师,却不小心惹上号称女王的她……她娇美高贵,却强悍霸道,位列时尚潮流的顶端,却意外碰撞了被称毒舌的他……为朋友抱打不平?因工作被迫交集?还是月老的红线不小心打了个死结……面对她,他搬出了一大堆倒背如流的国际法,面对他,她拿出了大师兄悟空的七十二变。拌嘴,吵架,欢喜冤家?NO,她要玩点新花样。带着三千亿冥钱,毁了他兄弟的婚礼!红酒白酒,灌醉了将其送进夜店的客房!或是偷了他衣服将其困在了游泳池!只是……这新花样好像有副作用……
  • 专属校草养成计划

    专属校草养成计划

    刚入学校的许念,开学的前一天就入院了,而且还是被一个全校公认的帅哥用篮球砸了脑袋。这开学的第一天就这么丧,满心期待的心情瞬间就被浇灭了……
  • 不再让你孤单

    不再让你孤单

    十年宠爱,她以为她是孟立暄心尖尖上的人。一朝梦醒,家破人亡,她躺在一片血泊之中,“孟立暄,我做鬼都不会放过你!”--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 父子双雄(人猿泰山系列)

    父子双雄(人猿泰山系列)

    人猿泰山系列是一部让中小学生开阔眼界、丰富想象力的书,是一部教给孩子动物是朋友、大自然是家园的温情冒险小说,是一部中小学图书馆和孩子的书架上不得不放的书,是父母与孩子共同阅读的睡前故事。小说情节奇谲精彩,主人公强悍而无畏,为孩子们打开了一扇充满着浪漫英雄主义的丛林世界大门。译者的话:上世纪四十年代,我们在读初中时,《人猿泰山》作为世界名著,曾经风靡一时。每逢课间十分钟,同学们几乎满教室争说泰山。当时,这部奇趣曼妙的小说,已经在我们心里扎根了。1988年,我俩六十岁退休后,曾到各地旅游,顺便到各省大图书馆、大学图书馆查询此书,不但译本遍寻不得,连原文本也没有了。
  • 首席的独宠娇妻

    首席的独宠娇妻

    时光回到慕容语嫣还在慕容妈妈的肚中的18年前,慕容振邦也就是慕容爸爸,他的公司还只是个经营稍见起色的小食品工厂,慕容氏夫妻俩还正为工厂忙的焦头烂额呢,却发生了一件改变了那个还未出世的慕容语嫣小朋友一辈子人生大事的的事情,人生逆转竟在此刻了。
  • The Marble Faun

    The Marble Faun

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 妾最大

    妾最大

    此文已入半价^^^母亲早逝,爹不疼后妈不爱……上天怜她让她在另一个时代重生自已作主嫁人为妾本想生活可以由此重新开始自己的亲亲夫君却从开始就没计划娶她为娶妻当着自己的面骂她是个恶劣女人也罢也罢,她也没在忽他说什么一个臭男人的话他爱杂说杂说呗她只要一个妾室的名份就够了只要做妾的目标实现就好自愿做妾的女人本来就不是好人那么就要混出这“妾”样来学男人做土匪、逛妓院、打劫、路见不平拔刀相助……一个不小心却陷进了朝庭的斗争原来妾的生活可以这么疯狂无限、刺激无比……刘青云,同侍夫君情敌的哥哥,要带她走景仁德,当今权高的王爷,要立她为妃洛誉,带刀护卫,前夫君的好兄弟也来插一腿什么那个好不容易才休掉的臭男人也来凑热闹也罢,也罢她现在不再是那个可以任人欺负的小女人了她现在怎么说也是个副帮主还是兼救天下苍生的有缘人她不会再那么容易就让男人绑住的此文略有小白,没有太大的明争暗斗兰妮不喜欢那些血腥、阴谋诡计喜欢兰妮文文的可以加群87727003进行交流学习兰妮^_^期待大家的加入★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★推荐自己的新文:〈与魔同寝〉索嘉琪,一个被亲生父亲一家折磨、痛恨的私生女,在听到父亲要把她卖出去时,依然选择了离开。一天之内,她差点被车撞到,好友反目成仇,亲亲男友背叛了自己……一切的一切都是拜那个恶魔聂齐枫所赐霸道的把她禁锢在身边,与他同进同出在真真爱上他的时候才知道这一切都是骗局会娶她只是为了更好的折磨她、报复她伤过了、痛过了她坚定的选择了离开几年后再次相遇他还是一样的霸道恶魔,休息再伤害到她包括她生命中最重要的东西即使也属于他她绝不会让他得逞的……@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@推荐自己的新文《贤妇》新婚之日,发誓最爱她的那个人众目之下羞辱她,她的爱、她的付出换回来的只是更多的羞辱,亲友们的指责,今日让她知道了什么是抓狂,一向文静、乖巧的她亲手杀了那个忘恩负义,玩弄她的贱男人,在解恨之时,她大笑而死。或许帝哥真的是公平的,让她穿越到一个陌生的时空,莫名其妙的被押上花轿成为了别人的冲喜夫人。新婚之夜,她的亲亲老公给她来了一通乱七八糟的警告…
  • 我为君狂:绝色魔妃战天下

    我为君狂:绝色魔妃战天下

    人背吃个饭都能呛死,更背的还是黄花闺女穿越成了一个大肚婆。妖孽魔王君主众她腹中降临于世不说,还狗血的落下了心脏在她的身子里。妖孽君王翻手为云,覆手为雨,因为遗留在她身体里的心脏便欺她身,占她人。这魔王究竟是她儿还是她夫?
  • 超神控制

    超神控制

    秦明穿越到修仙世界,然而却是一个灵气绝缘体,修炼进度缓慢!而自小的童养媳秦楠却怀有极为特殊的体质!令秦明无脸感到欣慰地是,狗血地退婚事件并没有发生在自己的身上!“嫁人依附大家族,好有一个保障?我自己就是保障!”已经成为云天宗宗主候选人之一的秦楠一脸淡定。“小明哥,背后没人?不用多说了,我就是小明哥的靠山”面对乡亲父老的是,
  • 精选妙用中草药治疗疑难杂病

    精选妙用中草药治疗疑难杂病

    慢性阻塞性肺气肿是由于吸烟、大气污染、呼吸道感染等有害因素引起的呼吸系统慢性疾病,以广泛小气道阻塞、终末细支气管远端气道弹性减退、过度膨胀充气为特征。本病的病理改变呈进行性发展,可伴有气道高反应性。临床主要表现为咳嗽、咯痰、进行性加重的呼吸困难,疾病晚期多出现肺动脉高压,进展为慢性肺源性心脏病。