song of the lark. In this poem, as in the preceding ode, every figure will repay careful study.

31-60. A description of the bird by a series of similitudes. 36-40. Like ... not. Consider how the lark, like the poet, creates the taste which is to enjoy its song? 55. heavy-winged thieves. The wings of the wind are heavy from the drowsy perfume of the rose.

61-75. Sources and nature of the song. 61. Sprite, an early form of the word spirit. 66. Hymeneal, from Hymen, god of marriage. See Cl. D. or Cl. M., p. 70.

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76-105. Details of the lark's superiority to the poet. 81-95. Waking near. Show the connection and trace the thought of these three stanzas. 90. Our . . . thought. A fine example of the balanced line, inevitable in thought and expression, a touchstone. 96-99. Better . . . found. Shelley himself excelled in these two particulars, -the understanding of metrical effects, and the knowledge and appreciation of poetry ('treasures of books')

THE CLOUD

This lyric also appeared in 1820, though it must have been composed two or three years before, if, as Mrs. Shelley suggests, it was written in England. In speaking of the ode To a Skylark and The Cloud, she says that in the opinion of many critics they "bear a purer poetical stamp than any of his productions. They were written as his mind prompted, listening to the carolling of the bird, aloft in the azure sky of Italy, or marking the cloud as it sped across the heavens, while he floated in his boat on the Thames." The cloud itself is supposed to sing.

The metre and rhyme of this poem are characterized by a lightness and airiness of effect especially well suited to the subject. The even-numbered lines are nearly all trimeter, and are rhymed in pairs. The odd-numbered lines are tetrameter, and have only internal rhyme. Though the number of lines in the stanza differs, the stanza is always regularly formed according to the principle shown above. The lightness of movement in the verse is due to the short lines, to the internal rhyme, to the large number of anapestic substitutions, and to the artistic sequences of vowel and consonant sounds. (See INTRODUCTION, pp. liii, lxvi, lxix-lxxiv, lxxvii.)

1-12. 7. mother's breast. Who is this mother that dances about the sun? Notice each figure of speech in the stanza.

13-30. Discuss the figures. 18. Lightning. How is Lightning the pilot of the cloud? 28. Spirit. . . remains, object of 'dream.' 30. Whilst .. rains. Explain this line.

31-44. Discuss figures. 31. sanguine, blood-red, the radical meaning of the word. Derivation? 33. sailing rack, thin, broken clouds, sailing or floating through the air. 35-38. As . . . wings. Show the points of likeness in this comparison. 41. crimson pall. Describe the picture.

45-58. 53. whirl and flee. What gives the stars this appearance? 55.

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wind-built. Explain the adjective. 56-58. Till . . . these. Describe how the waters become like strips of the sky.

59-72. 59-60. I bind -pearl. Explain 'burning zone' and 'girdle of pearl.' 61-62. The . . . unfurl. Discuss these lines. 66. be, here an indicative. 69. powers chair. Meaning? Comment upon the process.

71. The

wove.

73-84. Discuss the figures. 73; 74. daughter; nursling. How so? 81. cenotaph. Look up meaning and apply it to this picture. 82. caverns of rain. What is meant ?

TO NIGHT

This lyric was written in 1821. Shelley here gives extraordinary evidence of his wizardry in the technique of verse. The metrical effects, the combinations of vowel sounds, the swing of the verse, and its peculiar cadences contribute to make the stanzas well-nigh perfect.

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1-7. Swiftly. . . flight. What is the metrical and stanzaic system of the poem? 1. western wave. In what direction is Night represented as moving, and why? 13. opiate wand, thus producing sleep. 20. unloved guest. Why? unloved by whom? 22. brother Death. In what sense is Death the brother of Night? 24. filmy-eyed. Consider the epithet. Discuss the use of personification in the poem.

KEATS

THE EVE OF ST. AGNES

St. Agnes was a Roman maiden who suffered martyrdom under the Emperor Diocletian about 300 A.D. The tradition runs that not long after her death she appeared to her parents in a vision in the midst of angels and accompanied by a white lamb. The lamb was henceforward considered sacred to her, and the custom accordingly arose that on St. Agnes's Day (January 21) the nuns of the church should bring two white lambs as an offering to her altar. Various superstitions became connected with her name, among others the belief that maidens who carefully observed certain ceremonies might, on St. Agnes's eve (January 20), obtain a sight of their future husbands. On this tradition Keats's poem is founded. As a narrative it is not without defects, but as a poem of sensuous impressions it has few equals. Sight, hearing, taste, smell, feeling, are brought under tribute and made to respond to the keen yet delicate sensibilities of the poet. Few poets have succeeded in creating an atmosphere so dreamy, so enchanted, so full of beauty, so removed from the common world of our everyday experiences. In many respects The Eve of St. Agnes takes us back to the fairyland of Spenser. On the metrical structure of its stanzas, see INTRODUCTION, p. lxxxiii, and notes to stanzas from Faerie Queene. The poem was first printed in the volume of 1820, though it had been written the early part of the preceding year.

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I-III. Rehearse the various ways by which the cold is suggested in these lines. 2. for, in spite of. 5. Beadsman, a retainer of the house whose business it was to utter prayers for his benefactors. The original but now obsolete meaning of bead was a prayer. told: see note to L'Alleg. (67). 6-9. while picture. In what particulars is this simile thoroughly "in keeping"? 14-15. dead . . . rails. The images of the dead ancestors of the household are carved in an attitude of prayer. Their oratories, or prayer rooms, are the little railed-off spaces on each side of the chapel aisle. Their enforced imprisonment, under conditions so unpleasant, suggests 'purgatorial.' 21. Flatter'd. Leigh Hunt, in his Imagination and Fancy, devotes a page and a half to rather over-enthusiastic praise of the aptness of this verb. What are some of its points of excellence ? 22. But no. To what thought in the beadsman's mind is this an answer?

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IV-VIII. What means are used by the poet to give the effect of space and magnificence in Stanzas IV and V? Enumerate the details by which emphasis is given to the introduction of the principal character, Madeline. 31. snarling. Aptness of word? 34-36. The carved . . . breasts. Describe the picture, especially noting 'eager-eyed.' 37. argent, bright or shining, as silver. Why this color rather than golden? 39-41. Numerous . . . romance. Show aptness in the comparison. 56. The music ... pain: see INTRODUCTION, p. xliii, on this figure, and note especially the word 'yearning.' 58. train, of the ladies' skirts. 60. tiptoe, an adjective meaning eager yet mincing. 62. she saw not. How is the preoccupation of Madeline evidenced in Stanzas VII and VIII? 70. Hoodwink'd. Meaning and syntax? all amort, the Anglicized form of the French à la mort, as if dead. 71. lambs unshorn. The lambs offered at the altar of St. Agnes. They were then shorn and the wool spun by the nuns. See introduction to notes.

IX-XII. 74. across the moors. In what country and at what time may we imagine these events to have occurred? 76. portal (Lat. porta), a gate. 78. all saints. What is gained artistically by placing these scenes in a Catholic environment? Give illustrations. 84. Love's fev'rous citadel. Discuss the metaphor. 86. Hyena. Show force of this word here. go. beldame, an old woman. Look up derivation and history of word. 100; 103. dwarfish Hildebrand; old Lord Maurice. Observe the vividness with which the poet "hits off " these characters. 105. Gossip. Note the history of this word: (1) a sponsor in baptism (A.-S. god + sib, a God alliance), hence a godmother; (2) a familiar or customary acquaintance; (3) an idle tattler; (4) the tattle of a gossip. In what sense is the word used here?

XIII-XIX. 111. well-a-day, a corruption of the interjection wel-a-way; (A.-S. wa-la-wa), alas. 112. a little moonlight room. "The poet does not make his 'little moonlight room' comfortable, observe. All is still wintry. There is to be no comfort in the poem but what is given by love. All else may be left to the cold walls." (Leigh Hunt.) 115. by the holy loom see note on 1. 71. 127. Feebly she laugheth. Why does she laugh? Describe the picture in detail. Discuss the figure which follows. 129. urchin.

Look up derivation and trace history of word. 133. brook. This word is used inaccurately here. What does the poet evidently intend to say? 156. passing bell, a tolling of a bell to signify that a soul has passed or is passing from the body (formerly to invoke prayers for the dying). 171. Since . . debt. Forman, the editor of Keats, explains this line by interpreting Merlin's monstrous debt as "his monstrous existence, which he owed to a demon," and repaid when he died or disappeared through means of a charm which he had revealed to Vivien, and which she used on him. These are legendary characters of the time of King Arthur. The night on which the magician was thus spellbound by his wily sweetheart was attended by a fearful storm. Does 'such a night,' etc. (170), refer to this storm or to the spirit of enchantment in the air?

XX-XXVI. What are the characteristic qualities of the descriptions in Stanzas XXIV and XXV? Note what senses are appealed to. 173. cates, luxurious foods or delicacies. Look up derivation, and cf. cater and caterer; also 'catering' (177). 174. tambour frame. What is this? 175. lute. Why introduced? See 11. 289–293. 193. mission'd, in its radical sense of sent (Lat. missum). unaware, unexpectedly. 198. fray'd, terrified. The situation in this stanza is interesting; the trembling Angela startled by the trembling Madeline, etc. In this way fill out the picture. 200. Its . . . died. What kind of figure? "The smoke of the wax taper seems almost as ethereal and fair as the moonlight, and both suit each other and the heroine." (Leigh Hunt.) 203. No utter'd syllable. Why? 207. heart-stifled. How does this apply to Madeline? 208-216. A casement . . . kings. Leigh Hunt speaks of this stanza as "a burst of richness, noiseless, colored, suddenly enriching the moonlight, as if a door of heaven were opened." Note here as in Stanzas IV and XXV-XXXI the vividness of the derived or memory images and see INTRODUCTION, p. xlii. Try to gain a definite picture of this triplearched' window. Where was the carving? Of what size and shape were the panes? What were the emblazonings' and the 'twilight saints'? Where was the shielded scutcheon,' and in what sense did it 'blush' with blood of queens and kings? 218. gules, used poetically for a red color. 218-222. gules, Rose-bloom, soft amethyst; glory. On this passage Sidney Colvin remarks: "Observation, I believe, shows that moonlight has not the power to transmit the hues of painted glass, as Keats in this celebrated passage represents it. Let us be grateful for the error, if error it is, which has led him to heighten by these saintly splendors of color the sentiment of a scene wherein a voluptuous glow is so exquisitely attempered with chivalrous chastity and awe." 221. Amethyst. Look up the derivation of the word, and the meaning as applied to heraldry. 228. warmed jewels. Here we have a good instance of the poet's perfection of taste. Madeline is to be the central figure. Accordingly, Keats resists the temptation to enlarge upon the brilliancy of the gems, but contents himself with an epithet “breathing the very life of the wearer." 234. dares not look behind: see l. 53.

XXVII-XXXIII. 237. poppied warmth. Explain the epithet and figure.

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241. Clasp'd.. pray. A 'missal' is a mass-book or prayer-book. swart Paynims are dark or swarthy pagans. Is the missal 'clasped' because it is never used in pagan lands, or to shield its contents? 242. Blinded. What does this figure mean? 244. So. Force of this adverb? 250. Noiseless .. wilderness. Discuss the aptness of the comparison. 251. hush'd carpet. What kind of figure? This is certainly an anachronism. Floors in mediæval times were strewn with rushes. Cf. Sir Launfal (103). For 'carpet' used in its older and proper sense, see l. 285. 253. faded moon. Discuss the epithet. Enumerate the elements of color and of sound in this stanza. 257. Morphean amulet, charm to insure sleep, lest the music awaken Madeline. 260. Affray, same as fray (198). 262. azure-lidded sleep. Discuss the epithet. 264-275. While . . . light. These lines were evidently introduced because Keats could not resist this chance of appeal to the sense of taste, thus adding to the richness and Oriental coloring of his picture. For the apt sequence of consonants, see INTRODUCTION, p. lxxii. Does this Feast of St. Agnes add to the poem? 266. soother, more sweet or delightful. 267. tinct. (Cf. tint.) These syrups were evidently given a richer appearance by being stained with cinnamon. 268. argosy. Derivation? Cf. Merchant of Venice, I, 1, 9. 269. Fez, a province in northwestern Africa. 270. silken Samarcand. A city in Russian Turkestan, Central Asia. Why 'silken'? cedar'd Lebanon. A province of Turkey in Syria, southwestern Asia. Why' cedar'd'? 271. delicates. Same as 'cates' (173). 277. eremite, an older and more correct form of the word hermit. 279. soul doth ache: cf. 'half-anguished,' l. 255. 285. carpet, table-cover — the original meaning of carpet. As here used the word is not an anachronism. 288. woofed, woven. 289. hollow, resounding. 291. ancient ditty: see note on La Belle Dame, etc. This French poem was written early in the fifteenth century, by Alain Chartier. 292. Provence, an old province in southeastern France. 296. affrayed: see 1. 260, and cf. the modern form, afraid.

XXXIV-XXXIX. Observe in this passage how cleverly the poet manages the difficult situation of the awakening of Madeline. 317. voluptuous, in its radical sense of causing delight, caressingly pleasing to the ear. 322-324. meantime . . . window-panes. Why does the poet make the weather change from chill moonlight to gusty storm? 325. flaw, a sudden burst or gust of wind of short duration. Purpose of the descriptive lines 325 and 327 ? 336. Thy . . . dyed. What does this line mean? Is it hopelessly extravagant, as some editors hold, or can you justify it? 344. haggard, wild or untamed. boon. Why? 349. Rhenish, Rhine wine. Cf. Merchant of Venice I, 2. mead, a fermented drink made of water and honey with malt, yeast, etc.

What is meant? 360. carpets : Would it have been better to repreDiscuss. 365. wakeful bloodhound.

XL-XLII. 353. sleeping dragons. see note on 1. 251. 361. They glide. sent further perils in leaving the house? Why introduced? 370. ay, ages long ago. Observe the art by which the