Page:The poems of Emma Lazarus volume 1.djvu/229

Rh (&quot;Poetry must be simple, sensuous, or impassioned; this man is neither simple, sensuous, nor impassioned; therefore he is not a poet.&quot;)

No man had ever heard a nightingale, When once a keen-eyed naturalist was stirred To study and define—what is a bird, To classify by rote and book, nor fail To mark its structure and to note the scale Whereon its song might possibly be heard. Thus far, no farther;—so he spake the word. When of a sudden,—hark, the nightingale! Oh deeper, higher than he could divine That all-unearthly, untaught strain! He saw The plain, brown warbler, unabashed. &quot;Not mine &quot; (He cried) &quot; the error of this fatal flaw. No bird is this, it soars beyond my line, Were it a bird, ’t would answer to my law.&quot;