Dante's eye was free and open to external nature in a degree new among poets; certainly in a far greater degree than among the Latins, even including Lucretius, whom he probably had never read. We have already spoken of his minute notice of the appearance of living creatures; but his eye was caught by the beautiful as well as by the grotesque. Take the following beautiful picture of the bird looking out for dawn: Come l'augello intra l'amate fronde, Posato al nido de' suoi dolci nati, La notte, che le cose ci nasconde, Che per veder gli aspetti desiati, E per trovar lo cibo, onde li pasca, In che i gravi labor gli sono aggrati, Previene 'l tempo in su l'aperta frasca, E con ardente affetto il sole aspetta, Fiso guardando, pur che l'alba nasca.--_Parad._ 23.[119] [Footnote 119: E'en as the bird that resting in the nest Of her sweet brood, the shelt'ring boughs among While all things are enwrapt in night's dark vest-- Now eager to behold the looks she loves, And to find food for her impatient young (Whence labour grateful to a mother proves), Forestalls the time, high perch'd upon the spray, And with impassion'd zeal the sun expecting, Anxiously waiteth the first break of day.--WRIGHT.] Nothing indeed can be more true and original than his images of birds; they are varied and very numerous. We have the water-birds rising in clamorous and changing flocks: Come augelli surti di riviera _Quasi congratulando a lor pasture_, Fanno di sè or tonda or lunga schiera;--_Parad._ 18.[120] the rooks, beginning to move about at daybreak: E come per lo natural costume, Le pole insieme, al cominciar del giorno Si muovono a scaldar le fredde piume, Poi altre vanno via senza ritorno, Altre rivolgon sè onde son mosse Ed altre roteando fan soggiorno;--_Parad._ 21.[121] the morning sounds of the swallow: Nell'ora che comincia i tristi lai La rondinella presso alla mattina, Forse a memoria de' suoi primi guai;--_Purg._ 9.[122] the joy and delight of the nightingale's song (_Purg._ 17); the lark, silent at last, filled with its own sweetness: Qual lodoletta, che 'n aere si spazia, Prima cantando, e _poi tace contenta Dell'ultima dolcezza che la sazia_;--_Parad._ 20.[123] the flight of the starlings and storks (_Inf._ 5, _Purg._ 24); the mournful cry and long line of the cranes (_Inf._ 5, _Purg._ 26); the young birds trying to escape from the nest (_Purg._ 25); the eagle hanging in the sky: Con l'ale aperte, e a calare intesa;-- the dove, standing close to its mate, or wheeling round it: Sì come quando 'l _colombo si pone Presso al compagno_, l'uno e l'altro pande _Girando e mormorando_ l'affezione;--_Parad._ 25.[124] or the flock of pigeons, feeding: