29 Ambition. Ambitious people. Gray makes large use of personification, i. e. he speaks of the passions as if they were human beings. Cf. lines 31, 43, 44, 49, 51, etc. 30 Destiny obscure. A life hidden from observation. 31 Grandeur. Great and influential people. 33 Boast of heraldry. The displaying of coats of arms as a sign of noble birth. 37 Impute to these. Charge them with. 38 Trophies. (Lat. tropeum, anything taken and preserved as a monument of victory, e. g arms, flags, etc., taken from the enemy), here the representation of such things in marble, or the record in marble of men's deeds during life. 39 Aisle (Fr. aile, wing). The division of a church separated from the nave by a row of pillars. The epithet long-drawn refers to the view obtained looking up or down the aisle. 39 Fretted vault. The arched roof ornamented with small frets or bands intersecting each other. (Fr. fretter, to interlace.) Cf. "the high embowéd roof" in Milton's Il Penseroso, 157. Anthem (Gr. antiphōnon, a sounding of voices alternately), a setting of words from the Scriptures to music for two or more voices. 40 40 Swells the note. Augments the sound. Cf. Il Penseroso, 161 — "let the pealing organ blow To the full voic'd choir below In service high and anthem clear"; and Tennyson, Dream of Fair Women, 191 — "Hearing the holy organ rolling waves of sound on roof and floor." It has been suggested that the beautiful services in King's College Chapel, Cambridge, may have inspired Gray with these thoughts. 41 Storied Urn. A vase carved or painted with scenes from a story or from history. Here the poet means the tomb on which would be recorded some events in the life of the man buried beneath. Cf. "Storied windows richly dight," in Il Penseroso, 159. 41 Animated bust. The sculptured head and shoulders of a person, so well done as to look like life. Cf. Vergil's "breathing brass." and "let them express from marble, features that live.' (Eneid VI. 847, 848.) 42 Mansion. Abiding or resting place; here, the body. (Lat. mansio, from manere, to remain.) 42 Fleeting breath. The life with which the body was endowed for a short space of time. Provoke. Arouse, call up (the Lat. provocare, to call forth). 43 46 Pregnant with celestial fire. Filled with genius. Celestial, divine. Genius is often called divine spark." the " 47 Men who might have ruled over the land. 47 Rod of Empire. The sceptre, the symbol of government. 48 Men who might have been poets. In Greece poets sang their verses to the accompaniment of the lyre, an ancient stringed musical instrument. It gave the name to the sort of poetry we call lyric. Poets are often called singers, and their poems songs. 49, 50 The treasures of accumulated knowledge contained in books were never displayed to them. 51 Penury. Poverty. (From the Gr. penes, one who works for his daily bread, a poor man.) 51 Rage. Enthusiasm, a common meaning of the word in seventeenth-century poetry. Poverty is compared to the frost that turns the merry rushing stream to ice. 53 Serene. Clear, bright. 54 Unfathom'd. Never penetrated. Fathom is a measure of six feet used chiefly in calculating the depth of the sea. 55 Cf. Pope, Rape of the Lock, IV. 158, "Like roses that in deserts bloom and die." 56 Desert. In the sense of desolate: there is no one to appreciate the beauty of the flower. 57 Hampden (1594-1643). He underwent imprisonment in 1627 for refusing to subscribe to a ioan raised by Charles I. without the authority of parliament. He was prosecuted in 1636 for refusing to contribute to the tax of ship-money, and died in 1643 from the effects of a wound received at the battle of Chalgrove Field. 58 A farmer or landlord who may have been a harsh taskmaster to his laborers or tenants is compared with Charles I., who interfered with the liberties of the English people. 59 Milton. (1608-1674.) The great poet who wrote Paradise Lost. Hampden, Milton, and Cromwell are patriots, i. e. they all sacrificed themselves for the good of their country; even Milton gave up twenty of the best years of his life to assisting the Parliamentary cause with his pen. etc. 61-65 The order is, "Their lot forbade them to command th' applause of listening senates," 61 Command. To claim by reason of their wisdom and eloquence. 64 This line means that the high estimation in which they are held by their country assures them of the important place they will hold in its history. 66 Growing virtues. The growth of their virtues. 67 Possibly a reference to the execution of Charles I. and the rule of Cromwell is intended. 68 Mercy is compared with a place of shelter whose gates are shut to man. 2, 10. "The gates of mercy shall be all shut up." Cf. Henry V. 69 Conscious truth. What they knew to be truth. (Lat. conscius (con scio), known to oneself.) This stanza is dependent on the verb forbade in the preceding one. Gray never intended the poem to be divided into stanzas; in the first edition the lines follow each other without any break. 70 Ingenuous. Honorable, candid. (Lat. ingenuus, well-born.) The word must not be confused with "ingenious" (Lat. ingenium, natural capacity), skilful, clever. 71, 72 It was a common practice of authors before the time of Dr. Johnson to preface their works with dedications in praise of some great nobleman, who usually rewarded the compliment with a gift of money. The lines mean 66 their lot forbade them to write flattering verses to place at the feet of great men." 73 Rousseau (1712-1778), a great French writer, is mainly responsible existed in the last century of the innocence and peacefulness of a country life. exist in the country too. Cf. "Not only in great cities dwells great crime." Prol. to The New Arcadia, 1.) 73 Madding. Raging, wild. for the belief that But strife and misery (Mary Darmesteter, 75 Sequester'd. Secluded. (Lat. sequestrare, to seclude oneself for the purpose of solitude.) (Lat. tenore, to hold on in a continued course.) 76 Tenor. Course or direction. 77, 78 Some slight memorial is, persons from injury. however, erected to protect even the bones of these lowly 79 Uncouth. Unknown, hence ignorant, rough. (O. E. cunnan, to know.) Milton has "uncouth cell," ", uncouth swain." 80 Cf. Milton, Lycidas, 21 "And, as he passes, turn And bid fair peace be to my sable shroud." 81 The Muses were the goddesses who presided over poetry, art, and science; poets usually invoked them at the beginning of their poems. Gray means that the epitaph was composed by an uneducated person. 82 With the Greeks elegy meant the expression of mournful or melancholy feelings on any subject. The word is now chiefly connected with the expression of regret for the dead. English literature is rich in such poems, e. g. Milton's Lycidas, Shelley's Adonais, Tennyson's In Memoriam. Matthew Arnold's Thyrsis, etc. But the eighteenth century furnished many less worthy examples, since the practice of writing elaborate elegies on all occasions largely prevailed. (Gr. elegeia, the name of the metre always used for such poems, from elegos, a lament.) 84 A moralist is one who teaches the duties of life or of conduct or one who draws lessons from the contemplation of life. The verb teach should be singular since text is the antecedent of that. 85 This stanza is the most difficult in the poem. It seems to mean "for who a prey to dumb forgetfulness (i. e. now dead and forgotten), ever died without wishing to be remembered." Other interpretations have been suggested by Gray's numerous editors, but this one seems the simplest. 86 Pleasing anxious being. Life which is made up of both pleasure and pain, yet no one wants to die. Cf. "We complain of this world and the variety of crosses and afflictions it abounds in and yet for all this who is weary on't (more than in discourse), who thinks with pleasure of leaving it, or preparing for the next?" (Dorothy Osborne, letter 53, 1654.) 88 Note the alliteration. 90 Pious. Reverent. (Lat. pius; Germ. pietat, reverence.) 90 Requires. Asks for. (Lat. requirere, to seek.) Cf. The Tempest, V. 1. 51, "And when I have requir'd some heavenly music," 91, 92 The lines mean, "even after death the love of life and need for sympathy are scarcely quenched; they linger on in the very ashes of the dead." It is a somewhat forced and exaggerated poetical figure. 93 For. As for. 95 "If it should chance that some kindred spirit led by lonely contemplation shall," etc. Contemplation is here personified. Milton speaks of the "Cherub contemplation" (Il Penseroso 54), and Spenser of "An aged holy man, His name was heavenly contemplation." 97 Swain. Is properly a young man living in the country. Here, a countryman, a rustic. -Faerie Queene, 1. 10. 46 98 Peep of dawn. When dawn just begins to appear. (Lat. pipilare, the sound which chickens make on first breaking the shell, is transferred to the look accompanying it.) 100 Upland. Means here higher ground. It is generally used by poets to mean the country as opposed to towns, which are usually built in the plains. 100 ΙΟΙ Lawn. An open grassy space, hence pastures. Yonder. (O. E. geon; Germ. jener. that.) The d has crept in because the pronunciation of n is made easier by a d following. Cf. "thunder" (O. E. thunor). 103 His listless length. He lay down wearily at full length. Cf. "And stretch'd out all the chimney's length" (L'Allegro, 111). 105, 106 "He, now smiling, as in scorn, now drooping, etc., would rove hard by yon wood, muttering his wayward fancies." 105 Hard by. Near, or close at hand. "Hard" is here an adverb. 105 Yon. See line 101. 107 Woful-wan. Sad and pale. 108 Hopeless love. Love doomd to disappointment and unfulfilment. III Rill. A small brook or stream. 113 Dirges. Songs sung for the dead, from Lat. dirige, direct, the word with which a hymn sung at funerals in the burial service of the Roman Catholic Church, begins: — dirige gressus meos. 114 Church-way. Probably church-yard, as in Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1. 388 — "Every one lets forth his sprite In the church-way paths to glide.” It might be, however, the path leading towards the church. 115 In the eighteenth century it was not everyone who could read. 115 Lay. A song or poem. Cf. "The Lay of the Last Minstrel." (O. E. ley, sound, melody.) 116 Gray originally inserted here some very beautiful lines, afterwards omitted, probably on account of the long parenthesis, but never actually cancelled. They are: "There scattered oft, the earliest of the year, By hands unseen, are showers of violets found; 116 Grav'd. Engraved. 117, 118 "Here a youth unknown to fortune and to fame, rests his head," etc. 119, 120 Gray is of course thinking of himself. In a letter to his friend West (1742) he speaks of his melancholy. 121 Bounty. Goodness, virtue. (Lat. bonitas.) BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH BROWNING Robert Browning was born in 1812, and had an exceptionally long life of activity as a poet. His first acknowledged work was a dramatic poem, Pauline, published in 1833, and his last poem was the Epilogue, which left his pen in 1889, the finishing touch to the work of fifty-six years. Born in London, he was nearly contemporary with Charles Dickens, Alfred Tennyson, Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, Macaulay, Dumas, and Victor Hugo. While receiving his education, partly at London University and partly abroad, he soon began to make a name by his writing of verse. In 1846, he came to be personally acquainted with Elizabeth Barrett, whose genius, reared in the serene atmosphere of Greek antiquity, had a special attraction for him. The two poets were engaged and married in the same year, and at once set out for a tour-destined to be a prolonged one in Italy. While there, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who had already written her so-called Sonnets from the Portuguese, was busy with Aurora Leigh. In 1856 a return to London was made, and the publication of Aurora Leigh met with a remarkable success. Just five years after, her fifteen years of almost perfect married life came to an end, and Mrs. Browning passed away "like the windy fragrance of a flower." In the next year the bereaved poet, for whom "the sweetest music of his life had been withdrawn," settled permanently in London, where he had with him his painter son as his great consolation. He broke the silence of his grief with the noble poem, Prospice. In 1864 was issued Dramatis Personæ, another collection of dramatic poems, and in 1868 his poetical works were published in six volumes. From this point the publication of his numerous writings went steadily on. In 1881 the enthusiasm for Browning's work culminated in the establishment of the "Browning Society," which, besides concerning itself with the detailed criticism of the poems, has caused many of the plays to be produced again on the stage. Crowned with degrees and distinctions, and covered with honor, he died in Venice, December 12, 1889, the very day of the publication of his last book, Asolando. The funeral at Venice was succeeded by a solemn and impressive interment in Westminster Abbey. Among the marked characteristics of his work are his joy in life for life's sake "the wild joys of living" — and his confident trust "in the larger hope" after death. He made his characters of men and women breathe with real life and speak their own words as if they were indeed alive. His work is rugged and herculean; he is the best representative of the grand style among the poets of the nineteenth century. THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN NOTE they "Hamelin town was infested with rats in the year 1284. In their houses the people had no peace from them; rats disturbed them by night and worried them by day. One day, there came a man into the town, most quaintly attired in parti-colored suit. Bunting the man was called, after his dress. None knew whence he came, or who he was. He announced himself to be a rat-catcher, and offered for a ecrtain sum of money to rid the place of the vermin. The townsmen agreed to his proposal, and promised him the sum demanded. Thereupon the man drew forth a pipe and piped. No sooner were the townsfolk released from their torment then they repented of their bargain, and refused to pay the stipulated remuneration. At this the piper waxed wroth, and vowed vengeance. On the 26th of June, the feast of SS. John and Paul, the mysterious piper reappeared in Hamelin town. (He) led the way down the street, the children all following, whilst the Hamelin people stood aghast, not knowing what step to take, or what would be the result of this weird piping. He led them from the town towards a hill rising above the Weser. (One lame lad) alone was left; and in after years he was sad. Fathers and mothers rushed to the east gate, but when they came to the mountain, called Koppenberg, into which the train of children had disappeared, nothing was observable except a small hollow, where the sorcerer and their little ones had entered."* The first thing that strikes us about this story is that, dealing as it does with the enchanting power of music, it has many parallels, more or less close, in many languages and among many peoples, both ancient and modern. Perhaps the legend which most resembles this is one the scene of which is laid in the town of Lorch. Here it is said, in three successive years, a hermit charmed away a plague of ants, a charcoal-burner a first plague of crickets, and an old man of the mountain a second. Each of these piped, but was refused his promised reward; whereupon the first charmed away the pigs, the second the sheep, and the third the children. The legend occurs, with slight variations, in the Icelandic sagas and in the fairy-tales of southern Ireland. If we think of the Greek mythology we at once remember how Orpheus with his lute allured birds and beasts and made herbs and trees to grow. The lyre-god Apollo was called Smintheus (sminthos, mouse), because he delivered Phrygia from a plague of mice. The wandering hero Ulysses, tied to the mast, hears the magic lay of the Sirens, and longs to get free so as to rush into their arms and perish. Instances might easily be multiplied. The stories exist; how are we to explain them? It is most probable that, like many another myth, this had its origin in the keen observation and worship of natural forces which characterized primitive man. Thus the wind sighing through the trees was personified and represented as drawing after him with his music the souls of the dead, but the wind making the boughs to wave and the grass to quiver was represented as a piper setting all nature dancing. Such a long history has this simple legend, told in this poem with such re *S. Baring Gould: Curious Myths of Middle Ages. 160 |