Many people think that red would have been a better colour for the bards, because this symbolises the enthusiasm that is so necessary in song and poetry; but the bards were to have more than enthusiasm--they were to have the gift of looking beyond the world and of obtaining great Truths to uplift humanity. They were to be Masters of Wisdom. They were to get beyond mere passion and look into the cooler, calmer regions beyond, whence they could draw these great and deep truths. It makes us think instinctively of Wordsworth’s definition of poetry as “Passion recollected in tranquillity.” From the great Triads of the Druids we learn the duties of the bards:-- 1. To make a country habitable. 2. To civilise the people. 3. To promote science. Blake had the same belief in the duty of a poet, which he expresses very beautifully:-- “I will not cease from mental strife Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand Till we have built Jerusalem In England’s green and pleasant land.” The work and duty, as given in the first two parts of the Triad, recalls J. Russell Lowell’s wonderful lines:-- “He who would be the tongue of this wide world Must string his harp with cords of banded iron And strike it with a toil-embrownèd hand.” In our own time, Maurice Maeterlinck has written a little play called _The Blue Bird_. The playbills tell us that the quest of the Blue Bird is the quest for happiness, but it seems to be far more than this. A bird often symbolises spirit. Thus the quest of the Blue Bird is really the quest for spiritual truths.[17] The children in their journey first appeal to their dead grandparents for the bird. By this Maeterlinck means us to ask ourselves whether the past was able to know Truth, and the fact that the children do not find the bird there shows us that Maeterlinck thinks Truth is of the future. [17] See Henry Rose, _The Blue Bird_. Still, the children have grown by appealing to the past, as is shown when the grandparents measure the children against the door. They have also another great fact to learn--that there are no dead. Next the children ask the Trees if they have the Blue Bird. These Trees, who think they are the rightful custodians of the Blue Bird, and resent the intrusion of the children, represent the persecuting churches of the world who have become stereotyped and hate progress. So the children are in great danger and are only saved when the dog (or human common sense) bursts his bonds and Fairy Light comes to the rescue. The children never find the Blue Bird, for is it possible to obtain universal Truth and put it in a cage? When a man says vaingloriously that he has all Truth, it is a sign that he is very far from his statement. Still Mytyl and Tyltyl are better children for going on their journey, showing that it is the quest that is the great thing. * * * * *