JOHN KEATS

"Eternal Spirit of the chainless Mind!Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art,For there thy habitation is the heart—The heart which love of thee alone can bind;And when thy sons to fetters are consigned—To fetters, and the damp vault's dayless gloom,Their country conquers with their martyrdom,And Freedom's fame finds wings on every wind."Chillon! thy prison is a holy place,And thy sad floor an altar—for 'twas trod,Until his very steps have left a traceWorn, as if thy cold pavement were a sod,By Bonnivard!—May none those marks efface!For they appeal from tyranny to God."

"Chillon! thy prison is a holy place,And thy sad floor an altar—for 'twas trod,Until his very steps have left a traceWorn, as if thy cold pavement were a sod,By Bonnivard!—May none those marks efface!For they appeal from tyranny to God."

[107]4.Sudden fears.Marie Antoinette's hair has been said to have turned gray on the return from Varennes to Paris. It certainly turned gray very quickly during the anxiety of the Revolution.

[108]22.Sealed.How?

[109]27.Chillon has seven Gothic-looking pillars, i.e. a pillar that holds up Gothic-style arches.[Note missing in original text.]

[110]35.Marsh's meteor lamp; will o' the wisp.

[111]38.Cankering thing.What does canker do?

[112]57. Theelementsare fire, air, earth, and water.

[113]82.Polar day.What is the length of the day near the poles?

[114]100.Sooth; truth.

[115]107.Lake Leman; another name for Lake Geneva.

[116]133. Themoatwas the ditch which surrounded a castle. The moat of Chillon Castle, however, was the part of the lake which separated the rock from the shore.

[117]179.Rushing forth in blood.Byron is said to have been fond of the symptoms of violent death. He, a year after writing this poem, saw three robbers guillotined, taking careful notice of his own and their actions. Goethe, the German poet, even thought that Byron must have committed murder, he seemed so interested in sudden death.

[118]230.Selfish death; suicide.

[119]237.Wist; the imperfect tense ofwit,to be aware of,to know.

[120]288.Brother's.It was a Mohammedan belief that the souls of the blessed inhabited green birds in paradise.

[121]294.Solitary cloud.This line is one of several very close similarities in this poem to Wordsworth; cf.:—"I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hills."

[121]294.Solitary cloud.This line is one of several very close similarities in this poem to Wordsworth; cf.:—

"I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o'er vales and hills."

[122]341. Thelittle islereferred to is Ile de Peilz, an islet on which a century ago were planted three elms.

[123]392.With a sigh.It is not unheard of for men long imprisoned to lose all desire for freedom, and even to return to their place of confinement after being set free.

The following extract from Voltaire'sHistory of Charles XIIwas prefixed to the first edition ofMazeppaas the "Advertisement":—

"The man who then filled this position [Hetman of Ukraine] was a Polish gentleman, named Mazeppa, who had been born in the Palatinate of Podolia. He had been brought up as a page to John Casimir, at whose court he had taken on some of the color of learning. An intrigue which he had in his youth with the wife of a Polish gentleman having been discovered, the husband had him bound, all naked, upon a wild horse, and in this condition let go. The horse, which was from the country of Ukraine, returned and brought there Mazeppa, half-dead with weariness and hunger. Some peasants helped him: he remained a long time among them and distinguished himself in several expeditions against the Tartars. The superiority of his wisdom brought him great consideration among the Cossacks. His reputation increased day by day, until the Czar was obliged to make him Prince of Ukraine."

The real life of Mazeppa was as follows: Ivan Stepánovitch Mazeppa was born in 1645, of Cossack origin and of the lesser nobility of Volhynia. When fifteen years old, he became the page to John Casimir V of Poland, and, while holding this office, learned Latin and much about statesmanship. Later, however, being banished on account of a quarrel, he returned home to his mother in Volhynia. While here, to pass the time, he fell in love with the wife of a neighbor, Lord Falbouski. This lord, or pane, discovering his wife and her lover, caused Mazeppa to be stripped and bound to his own horse. The horse, enraged by lashes and pistol shots and then let loose, ran immediately to Mazeppa's own courtyard.

Mazeppa, later, after holding various secretaryships, was made hetman, or prince, over all of Ukraine, and for nearly twenty years he was the ally of Peter the Great. Afterwards, however, he offered his services to Stanislaus of Poland, and finally to Charles XII of Sweden. "Pultowa's Day," July 8, 1709, when Charles was defeated by the Russians and put toflight, was the last of Mazeppa's power. He fled with Charles across the river Borysthenes and received protection from the Turks. He died a year later at Varnitza on the Dneister, just in time to escape being delivered over to Peter.

[124]1.Pultowa.See Introductory Note.

[125]9.Day were dark and drear; Napoleon's famous defeat, and retreat from Moscow, October, 1815.

[126]15.Die.What is the plural?

[127]23.Gietawas a colonel in the king of Sweden's army.

[128]51.Levels man and brute.Burke says in hisSpeech on Conciliation with America, "Public calamity is a mighty leveller."

[129]56.Hetman.See Introductory Note.Mazeppa was sixty-four years old.

[130]104.Bucephalus; the horse of Alexander the Great. Alexander, when a boy, was the first to tame this horse, thereby, in fulfilment of the oracle, proving his right to the throne.

[131]105.Scythiawas a country, north and northeast of the Black Sea, which was inhabited by nomadic people. It was noted for its horses.

[132]116.Borysthenes; another name for the Dnieper River.

[133]151. AMimewas a sort of farce, travestying real persons or events.

[134]154.Thyrsiswas one of the names commonly used for shepherds in the Greek and Latin pastoral poets, as Theocritus, Bion, Virgil. The names were conventionally used by modern imitators of these poets.

[135]155.Palatine(frompalatium, meaning palace) was a name given to a count, or ruler of a district, who had almost regal power.

[136]237.O'erwrought; the past participle ofoverwork. Cf.wheelwright,wainwright, etc.

[137]329.Cap-à-pie; from head to foot.

[138]349.'Scutcheon, or escutcheon, is the shield-shaped surface upon which the armorial bearings are charged.

[139]437.Spahi's; the name of a Turkish corps of irregular cavalry.

[140]575.Uncouth; literally, unknown.

[141]618.Ignis-fatuus; will-o-the-wisp, Jack-o'-lantern.

[142]664.Werst; a Russian measure equal to about two-thirds of a mile.

Read2 Chronicles, chapter 32, andIsaiah, chapters 36 and 37.

John Keats was born October, 1795, and died on the 23d of February, 1821. He was the son of a livery-stable keeper, who had married his former proprietor's daughter. The parents had wished to educate Keats and his two brothers, but before Keats was fifteen, both his father and mother had died. He was then apprenticed to a surgeon at Edmonton, under whom he remained four years, and then went up to London to complete his training for a medical degree. This he received in due time and began to practise, but he found literature so much more attractive that, in about a year, he gave up his attempt to practise medicine. At about this time he became acquainted with Leigh Hunt, who had a good deal of influence upon Keats's literary beginnings. His first volume of poetry, which appeared in 1817, shows this influence strongly. A year later hisEndymionwas published and was so severely criticised byBlackwood'sand especially by theQuarterlythat Keats took it much to heart; some have supposed that this attack very much hastenedhis death. His brother George had moved to America in 1818, and his brother Tom was now dying with consumption. Keats nursed him faithfully until his death. Immediately after this sorrow, he fell deeply in love, but his health was so greatly impaired that he found it necessary, in 1820, to take a trip to Italy. He did not grow stronger, however, but died at Rome on the 23d of February, 1821.

Keats's poetry is noted especially for its sensuous beauty, its descriptions, and its remarkable reproduction of the Greek and romantic spirits.

Around St. Agnes' Eve, which is the night before the Feast of St. Agnes on January 21, and which corresponds to the Scotch "Hallowe'en," there grew up the superstition that a maiden could, by observing certain traditional precautions, have in her sleep a vision of her future husband. Perhaps the most common way to obtain this vision was for the girl to go to sleep on her back with her hands behind her head; then at midnight she would dream that her lover came and kissed her. This is the superstition that Keats has made use of inThe Eve of St. Agnes.

St. Agnes was a Roman girl, who at thirteen was loved by the son of a Roman prefect, but, however, being like her parents a Christian and having vowed virginity, she told her lover that she was already betrothed. The youth, thinking he had some earthly rival, as a result fell so very sick that his father tried to intercede with the girl's parents. When he found these people were Christians, he tried to compel Agnes to become a vestal virgin or marry his son. Agnes, because she refused to do either of these things, was dragged to the altar, but becausehere, by her prayers, she restored to her lover the sight which he had lost, she was set free by the Prefect. The people, however, tried to burn her, but were themselves consumed in the fire, until finally one of their number slew her with his sword. A few days after her death, her parents had a vision of her, surrounded by angels and accompanied by a lamb (Agnus Dei). After her canonization it was customary to sacrifice on St. Agnes' Day, during the singing, two lambs whose wool the next day was woven by the nuns into pallia for the archbishops. (Cf. I. 115, 117.) Cf.AgnusandAgnes.

[143]5.Beadsman.Beadoriginally meant prayer; hence "to say one's beads." A beadsman was an inmate of an almshouse who was bound to pray for the founders of the house. In Shakespeare the word is used to denote one who prays for another.

[144]31.Snarling.Does this verse resemble the sound described? What is the name of this figure?

[145]40.New-stuffed.What does this mean here?

[146]46.St. Agnes' Eve.See Introductory Note.

[147]70.Amort(Fr. à la mort); lifeless, spiritless.

[148]71.Lambs.See Introductory Note.

[149]75.Porphyro(Gr.porphyro= a purple fish, purple). Why did Keats choose this name instead of Lionel, as he first intended?

[150]77.Buttress'dmeans supported, but here it must mean protected from;i.e.Porphyro was in the shadow of the buttress.

[151]81.Sooth; truth. Cf.soothsayer.

[152]86.Hyena.Find out the characteristics of this animal, and see what the force of the epithet is here.

[153]90.Beldame(bel + dame) originally meant a fair lady, then grandmother and, in general, old woman or hag.

[154]105.Gossiporiginally meant a sponsor at baptism (God-sib), then a boon companion, and finally a tattler.

[155]115.Holy loom.See Introductory Note.

[156]120.Witch's sieve.This refers to the superstition that witches could hold water in sieves and could sail in them. Cf.Macbeth, I. 3. 1, 8:—"But in a sieve I'll thither sail,And, like a rat without a tail,I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do."

[156]120.Witch's sieve.This refers to the superstition that witches could hold water in sieves and could sail in them. Cf.Macbeth, I. 3. 1, 8:—

"But in a sieve I'll thither sail,And, like a rat without a tail,I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do."

[157]126.Mickle; much.

[158]135.Lap."Madeline is asleep in her bed; but she is also asleep in accordance with the legends of the season; and therefore the bed becomes their lap as well as sleep's."

[158]135.Lap.

"Madeline is asleep in her bed; but she is also asleep in accordance with the legends of the season; and therefore the bed becomes their lap as well as sleep's."

—Leigh Hunt.

[159]138. How makepurple riotin his heart?

[160]171.Merlinwas the sorcerer in Arthur's court. Vivien succeeded in getting from him a secret by which she shut him up in a hollow tree. See Tennyson'sMerlin and Vivien. Malory has another version of the story.

[161]173.Cates; provisions,—especially rich, luxurious provisions. Cf.cater,caterer.

[162]174.Tambour frame.Tambour is a kind of drum; cf.tambourine. A tambour frame is a round frame for holding material which is to be embroidered.

[163]208.Casement high....On these next three stanzas Keats spent much time. They are considered beautiful description. Why?

[164]214.Heraldriesare coats of arms.

[165]215.Emblazonings; colored heraldries.

[166]218.Gules; the tincture red. In a shield without color gules is indicated by vertical parallel lines.

[167]241.Missal; a mass book for the year. What is the meaning of this line?Paynims; pagans.

[168]257.Morphean.Morpheus was the god of sleep.

[169]262.Azure-lidded sleep.Note the different senses appealed to in these next stanzas. Keats is called one of our most sensuous poets.

[170]266.Soother; used here formore soothing.

[171]267. What arelucent syrops? Note derivation.

[172]277.Eremite; hermit.

[173]292. Keats wrote a poem about this time calledLa Belle Dame sans Merci.

[174]346.Wassailerswas a term originally used for men drinking each other's health with the wordswes h[=a]l, be whole.

[175]375.Angela. Have the deaths of Angela and the Beadsman been foretold?

Alfred Tennyson was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, England, on August 6, 1809, and died at Aldworth in Surrey in 1892. He was the third of twelve brothers and sisters, several of whom later showed evidences of genius. As early as 1827 he and his brother Charles publishedPoems by Two Brothers, for which they received ten pounds. At Trinity College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1828, he won the chancellor's gold medal for a prize poemTimbuctoo. On the death of his father in 1831 he left Cambridge without a degree. Before this in 1830 he had publishedPoems, chiefly Lyrical, and two years later in 1832 a new volume appeared which was severely criticised, though it contained much excellent work. The death of his close friend, Arthur Henry Hallam, in 1833 was a terrible blow to Tennyson and one from which it took him many years to recover. It was, however, the inspiration for his elegyIn Memoriam, written for the mostpart during the period when the loss was felt most keenly. For some time after, Tennyson lived quietly, gaining in power and expression, and busy training himself for the future. The product of this seclusion came in two volumes of poetry, printed in 1842, which were enthusiastically greeted. In 1845 Wordsworth wrote, "Tennyson is decidedly the first of our living poets."The Princess; A Medley, appeared in 1847, and three years later he gave to the world the completedIn Memoriam. This same year (1850) is also notable for his marriage with Miss Emily Sellwood and his appointment as poet-laureate in place of Wordsworth, who had just died.

From this time on his place in literature was secured, and he lived a happy life, making occasional short trips in England and on the continent, but remaining for the most part quietly at his estate on the Isle of Wight. Among his later works areMaud(1855),Enoch Arden(1864),Idylls of the King(finished 1872), a group ofBallads, and Other Poems(1880), and several dramas. He accepted a peerage in 1883. Nine years later he died and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Tennyson, in the range and scope of his work, in the variety of his interests, and in the versatility of his art, is the most representative poet of the nineteenth century. He tried many kinds of poetry and met with some success in all. He learned versification as Stevenson did his prose style, by long-continued study and practice, with the result that he became eventually a supreme literary artist, a master of melody in words. His diction is admirably precise and exact, and he is easy to read and understand. While he is rarely profound or searching, like Browning, neither is he overintellectual; but he embeds sane and safe thought in a mould of beauty. He was a national poet in his patriotism and fondness for English scenery. Finally he was an apostle of religious optimism, ready to combat the morbid beliefs which were disturbing contemporary philosophy.

Published in 1842.

The clearness and simplicity of this exquisite pastoral make any explanatory notes superfluous. Regarding it, Wordsworth once said to Tennyson, "I have been endeavoring all my life to write a pastoral like your Dora and have not yet succeeded."

Most of this poem was written in 1830 while Tennyson was travelling in the Pyrenees Mountains with his friend, Arthur Henry Hallam. The descriptions of scenery belong, therefore, to that district, and not to the vicinity of ancient Troy.Œnonewas first published in 1832, but was afterward frequently revised; it appears here in the final form approved by Tennyson himself.

[176]1.Idais a mountain in northwest Asia Minor near the site of Troy.

[177]2.Ionian; Grecian.

[178]10. Gargarus is the highest peak of Mount Ida.

[179]13.Troasis the district in northwest Asia Minor in which was located the city of Troy.

[180]13.Ilionwas the Greek name for Troy.

[181]16.Pariswas the son of Priam, king of Troy, and his wife Hecuba.

[182]37.River-God; Cebren, the god of a small river near Troas.

[183]40.Rose slowly.According to tradition, Neptune, the god of the sea, was the founder of Troy, but was assisted by Apollo, who raised the walls to the music of his lyre.

[184]51.Simois; a river having its source in Mount Ida.

[185]65.Hesperian gold.The apples of Hesperides were made of pure gold. They were given to Herè as a wedding present, and thereafter guarded night and day by a dragon. Hercules finally secured three of them through a stratagem.

[186]66.Ambrosially.Ambrosia was the food of the gods.

[187]72.Oread.The Oreads were nymphs who were supposed to guide travellers through dangerous places on the mountains.

[188]79.Peleus; a king of Phitia who married Thetis, a sea-nymph. To the wedding feast all the immortals were invited except Eris, goddess of discord. In revenge, she cast a golden apple on the banquet table before the gods and goddesses, with an inscription awarding it to the most beautiful among them. The strife which followed resulted in the choosing of Paris as judge in the matter.

[189]81.Iriswas the messenger and attendant of Juno. She frequently appeared in the form of a rainbow.

[190]83.Herè(Roman Juno) was the wife and sister of Zeus (Roman Jupiter), and therefore Queen of Heaven.

[191]84.Pallas(Roman Minerva) was the goddess of wisdom.

[192]84.Aphroditè(Roman Venus) was the goddess of beauty and love.

[193]95.Amaracus; a fragrant flower.

[194]95.Asphodel; supposed to have been a variety of Narcissus.

[195]102. Thepeacockwas a bird sacred to Herè.

[196]151.Guerdon; reward.

[197]170.Idalian; so-called from Idalium, a town in Cyprus sacred to Aphroditè.

[198]171.Paphian; a reference to Paphos in Cyprus where Aphroditè first set foot after her birth from sea foam.

[199]195.Pard; leopard.

[200]220.The Abominable; Eris, the goddess already referred to.

[201]257.The Greek woman; Helen, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. She was the wife promised to Paris by Aphroditè as his reward for his decision. Paris stole her from her husband through the direction of Aphroditè, and carried her back to Troy. As a result of this act, the Greeks, under Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon, joined in an attack on Troy which ended, after ten years, in the capture of that city. In the course of the siege Paris was killed.

[202]259.Cassandra; the daughter of Priam, and hence the sister of Paris. She was condemned by Apollo to utter prophesies which, though true, would never be believed.

The conclusion of the story of Œnone and Paris may be read in Tennyson's ownDeath of Œnoneor in William Morris'sDeath of Paris.

This poem was written in 1862, its actual composition taking only two weeks, although the poet had been considering the theme for some time. It was first printed in 1864 and became popular at once, sixty thousand copies being sold in a very short period.

[203]7.Danish barrowsare burial mounds supposed to have been left by the early Danish invaders of England.

[204]18. Theflukeis the part of the anchor which fastens in the ground.

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