Birds of the Bible Author:Gene Stratton-Porter Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE BIRDS OF THE POETS textit{'He shall cover thee with his feathers, textit{And under his wings shalt thou trust." ?David. ROBIN NEST STRATTON-PORTER ... more » "/ textit{will trust in the covert of thy wings." Chapter III THE BIRDS OF THE POETS Poetry might be defined roughly as the most appealing manner in which a thought that touches the heart can be expressed. The connecting link between the birds and the poets is very strong. Feathered creatures have a beauty of form and motion, a sweetness of song, a de- fenselessness against the elements, a wonderful ability in nest-building, a faithfulness in brooding, a fearlessness in defending their young, an attachment to their frail homes, and a devotion to each other that marks them as the especial property of the poets. There is in bird-life a constant appeal to our affection and sympathy, and continual comparison is suggested between their life processes and ours. We love the birds, and whoever writes of them with a touch of the divine tenderness of poesy makes instant appeal to our hearts. Long before exquisite thought had been harnessed and worked down to a thing of rhyme, meter, and carefully measured feet, the historians of the Bible were making the very essence of poetic expression on many subjects. On none did their particular genius soar higher than when writing of the birds, or using some of their habits or attributes in comparison with men. These poets of the dawn knew little about measuring their words into symmetrical periods and covering a page with graceful rhymesto express ti single thought. They conceived their poetic idea, and then studied to strip it of every unnecessary word, in order to present the naked thought more prominently. Our rhyming and jingling may be soothing and musical, but who in these ...« less