the peroration did not follow until 16 June, 1794. Burke had been interested in Indian affairs for fifteen years before the trial began. 328. 53. Moral earthquake. The French Revolution. At the time he was speaking, the Reign of Terror was at its height. 329. 106. The Parliament of Paris. The chief court of the old French monarchy, abolished by the Revolution. REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE The French Revolution, during the period 1789-1792, found many supporters in England. Wordsworth and Coleridge, Charles James Fox, and liberal clergymen among whom Priestly and Price were the most prominent, openly gloried in the deeds that were being done in the name of Liberty. From these enthusiasts Burke was separated by a wide gulf. He did not comprehend the need for change in the French social and economic systems; he saw only the overthrow of an established civilization by hungry peasants and doctrinaire philosophers, and with impassioned earnestness he protested. The Reflections appeared in November, 1790. 330. 43. The civil social man. As distinguished from man in his aboriginal "state of nature," before the existence of society. 332. 233. Liceat perire poetis. Poets have the right to die. 236. Ardentem frigidus, etc. In cold blood he leaped into glowing Ætna. Empedocles, a Sicilian philosopher, is said to have died thus. A slipper, cast out in an eruption, was proof of his act. THOMSON THE SEASONS 334. 311. In vain for him, etc. Gray seems to have had the following three lines in mind when he composed the stanza of the Elegy beginning "For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn." THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE 335. 35. A coil the grasshopper did keep. "To keep a coil" is an Elizabethan expression meaning to make a noise. BLAIR THE GRAVE 337. It was in part, at least, from this poem that Bryant drew the inspiration for his Thanatopsis. 338. 34. Night's foul bird. The owl. THE PROGRESS OF POESY 345. A Pindaric Ode. Gray is adopting the ode form of the Greek poet Pindar. Professor Phelps's note explains the structure of the poem succinctly: "As Hales pointed out, this Ode is really divided into 3 stanzas, with 41 lines in each stanza. Again, each stanza is divided into 3 parts -strophe, antistrophe, and epode-the turn, counter-turn, and after-song, Greek theatrical names. The three strophes, antistrophes, and epodes are similar in construction; hence the architecture of the poem is curiously symmetrical, though one could easily read it without any perception of this fact." (Athenæum Press Edition, p. 149.) 1. Awake, Æolian lyre. Gray is invoking the Æolian harp of Pindar. 3, 4. From Helicon's harmonious springs, etc. The different streams of the world's poetry all have their source in the sacred fountain of the Muses on Mount Helicon. 9. Ceres' golden reign. Fields of grain, in the care of Ceres, goddess of the harvest. 15. Enchanting shell. The lyre, to which the first three sections of the poem are addressed. Hermes, according to the legend, made the first lyre from a tortoise shell. 17. On Thracia's hills the Lord of War. 347. 121-123. Gray is here giving us an idea of his own poetical aspirations. THE BARD The poem as first printed was prefaced by this "ADVERTISEMENT. The following Ode is founded on a Tradition current in Wales, that EDWARD THE FIRST, when he completed the conquest of that country, ordered all the Bards, that fell into his hands, to be put to death." When the poem opens, the last survivor of the Bards is speaking. 8. Cambria. Wales. 10. The first Edward. Edward I invaded Wales in 1282. 13, 14. Glo'ster, Mortimer. in Edward's army. Chieftains 27. Fatal day. The day on which the bards were executed. 28. Hoel, Llewellyn; 29, 31. Cadwallo, Urien. Welsh poets. 33. Modred. Gray uses the name of the 34. Plinlimmon. A Welsh mountain. 49. The whole band of murdered bards Mars was supposed to spend much of his 348. 54. Severn. A Welsh river. time in Thrace. 21. The feathered king. Jove's eagle. 25. Thee. The lyre. 27. Idalia. A town in Cyprus, sacred to Venus, or Cytherea (1. 28). 346. 36. Their Queen. Venus. 47. Justify the ways of Jove. An obvious echo of Milton's Justify the ways of God to men." 48. Has he given in vain the heavenly Muse? Has poetry been of no value to mankind? 53. Hyperion. The sun. 66. Delphi's steep. Delphi's mountain, location of the famous oracle. 68. Ilissus. A river of Attica. 69. Mæander. A river of Asia Minor. 77. The sad Nine. The Muses. 77-82. Poetry left Greece for Rome, and from Rome sought England. 84. Nature's Darling. Shakespeare. 95. Nor second he, that rode sublime. Milton. 56. An agonizing king. "Edward the Second, cruelly butchered in Berkley Castle." (Gray.) 59. Who o'er thy country hangs. "Triumphs of Edward the Third in France." (Gray.) 63. Mighty Victor. Edward III. 65. No pitying heart. "Death of that king, abandoned by his children, and even robbed in his last moments by his courtiers and his mistress." (Gray.) 67. The sable warrior. Edward III's son, the Black Prince, who died before his father. Magnificence of 70. The rising morn. 83-86. The wars of the Roses, between 87. Towers of Julius. According to an old legend, Julius Cæsar is supposed to have begun the Tower of London. 89. His Consort's faith. "Margaret of Anjou (wife of Henry VI), a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled hard to save her husband and her crown." (Gray.) His father. Henry V. 90. The meek usurper. "Henry the Sixth very near being canonized. The line of Lancaster had no right of inheritance to the crown." (Gray.) 91, 2. The rose of snow, etc. The white and red roses, devices of York and 349. 37. They, whom once. The Norsemen. Lancaster." (Gray.) 41. The Earl. Probably Sigurd. 44. A King. Brian. 348. 93. The bristled Boar. "The silver boar was the badge of Richard the Third." 350. 56. Younger King. See note on 1. 32. (Gray.) In infant gore. A reference to Richard's murder of the two young princes. 99. Half of thy heart. "Eleanor of Castile (wife of Edward I), died a few years after the conquest of Wales." (Gray.) 109. Long-lost Arthur. "It was the common belief of the Welsh nation, that King Arthur was still alive in Fairy-Land, and should return again to reign over Britain." (Gray.) SKETCH OF HIS OWN CHARACTER The poem was found in one of Gray's pocket-books, and was not printed till after his death. 6. Charles Townshend. Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1767. Squire. Dr. Samuel Squire, Bishop of St. David's. LETTERS 110. Ye genuine Kings. "Both Merlin 350. 1. We set out. Gray was making "the and Taliessin had prophesied, that the Welsh should regain their sovereignty over this island; which seemed to be accomplished in the House of Tudor." (Gray.) 115. A form divine. Queen Elizabeth. 131. A voice. Milton. 135. Impious man. Edward I. THE FATAL SISTERS One of Gray's notes, the Preface to the The "Fatal Sisters" are here represented grand tour" with his college friend, 351. 19. St. Bruno. The founder of the Car- 1744. 352. 3. Sack and silver. The poet laureate was usually given a money stipend and an annual allowance of wine. Gray had been informally offered the post at the time he wrote this letter to Mason. 24. Rowe. Nicholas Rowe (1674-1718), 26. Settle. Elkanah Settle (1648-1723). MACPHERSON CATH-LODA 352. Macpherson's "Ossianic" poems are important because of the influence they exerted in the development of romanticism during the eighteenth century. Some ancient Celtic fragments are probably embedded in them, but for the form and tone Macpherson alone is responsible. The poems were published between 1760 and 1765. See Dr. Johnson's letter, page 294. FERGUSSON 353. Burns was so conscious of his literary debt to Fergusson that he erected a tombstone over Fergusson's grave. In reading Chatterton's poetry, should pay as little attention as possible to the antiquated spelling. Pronounce the words as in modern English; Chatterton seems to have composed his verse in modern English, before translating it into the pseudo-Middle English dialect in which it appeared. 365. 52. Anson's tear. Cowper based his poem on an account which he found in Anson's Voyage Around the World. BURNS LINES TO JOHN LAPRAIK a 366. The selection is from the first of Burns's three poetical epistles to Lapraik, Scottish poet whose work, in part at least, Burns admired. BRISTOWE TRAGEDIE 356. 141. Goddelyke Henrie. Henry VI, whom the Lancastrians held to have been illegally succeeded by Edward IV. 358. 276. Bataunt. The word is a participle meaning hastening; Chatterton misuses it here, and thinks of it as some sort of a musical instrument. COWPER ON THE LOSS OF THE ROYAL GEORGE 360. The English man-of-war Royal George capsized and sank off Spithead, August 29, 1782, after having been heeled over intentionally in order to expose a leaky section of her bottom. Admiral Kempenfelt was at the time under orders to go to the relief of Gibraltar. THE TASK 362. 390. To hear that ye were fallen at last. The Task was published in 1785, four years before the capture of the Bastille by the revolutionists. MY MOTHER'S PICTURE 364. 97. An incorrect quotation from Garth's Dispensary, iii. 226. 108. My boast is not that I deduce my birth. Cowper traced his descent from Henry III of England; the line means that although his descent is royal, he does not boast of it. SONNET TO MRS. UNWIN Cowper's most intimate friends were the Reverend Morley Unwin, and his wife Mary. Cowper began to live with them as a boarder in 1765; following Mr. Unwin's death in 1767 Cowper and Mrs. Unwin continued together till her death in December, 1796. TO MARY Written to Mrs. Mary Unwin. THE HOLY FAIR 367. 66. Black Bonnet. "The elder who 'officiated' at the collecting-plate, which stood at the entrance, was accustomed to wear a black bonnet." (Centenary Burns, i. 331.) 102 ff. Moodie, Smith, Peebles, Miller, and Russell, were all parish ministers of considerable local importance or notoriety. 368. 226. Clinkumbell. man. The beadle, or bell THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT 370. The editors of the Centenary Burns note 372. 111-113. Dundee's, Martyr's, Elgin. 373. 138. Hope "springs exulting," etc. Slightly misquoted from Pope's Windsor Forest. 166. "An honest man," etc. Slightly misquoted from Pope's Essay on Man, iv. 297. 182. Wallace. William Wallace (c. 12701305), the Scottish patriot. TAM O' SHANTER 375. 102. Kirk Alloway seemed in a bleeze. The editors of the Centenary Burns note (i. 433): "Alloway Kirk was originally The smuggler. THE BOROUGH the church of the quoad civilia parish of 387. 89. The lawless merchant of the main. Alloway; but this parish having been annexed to that of Ayr in 1690, the church fell more or less to ruin, and when Burns wrote had been roofless for half a century. It stands some two hundred yards to the north of the picturesque Auld Brig of Doon. Burns's birthplace is about three-fourths of a mile to the north; so that the ground and its legends were familiar. to him from the first." A good many local traditions centered around the old church; some of them Burns has worked into the poem. SCOTS WHA HAE 377. The poem is often called "Bruce's Address to his Army." AULD LANG SYNE 378. A song of this name, of which various Scottish poets had written versions, was well known in Scotland before Burns composed his verses. OF A' THE AIRTS THE WIND CAN BLAW "The song I composed out of compliment to Mrs. Burns." (Burns's note, quoted in Centenary Burns, iii. 345.) FLOW GENTLY, SWEET AFTON 380. 3. My Mary. If any definite person is referred to here, and this is uncertain, it is not Mary Campbell. See the Centenary Burns, iii. 395. HIGHLAND MARY 381. The poem is reminiscent of Burns's devotion to Mary Campbell. The editors of the Centenary tell what is known of her (ili. 308). BLAKE CRADLE SONG 384. 20. While o'er thee thy mother weep. The line (like 11-12 and 15-16) is ungrammatical, but the reading thy seems to have the weight of authority on its side; certain editions emend thy to doth. CRABBE THE VILLAGE 386. 9. Smooth alternate verse. See Spenser's Shepherd's Calendar, Eclogue second, for an example of "alternate verse," in which first Cuddie and then Thenot speaks. 18. Mantuan song. Virgil's poetry (here his pastorals). 27. Honest Duck. A minor poet of the first half of the 18th century. The story of Peter Grimes forms Letter xxii of the poem. WORDSWORTH PREFACE TO THE LYRICAL BALLADS 389. The first edition of the Lyrical Ballads appeared in 1798; the second edition, in December, 1800, carried a lengthy Preface, from which two passages are here reprinted. LINES WRITTEN IN EARLY SPRING 392. The poem is notable as an expression of Wordsworth's idea that Nature is a conscious, sentient spirit. TINTERN ABBEY 393. 22-49. In this passage Wordsworth states 394. 72-111. This passage, with which one SHE DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYS 396. This and the two following poems are from a group of five which picture the poet's love for "Lucy." No one knows who Lucy was. It has been suggested that she is simply a creation of the poet's imagination, but this does not seem probable. It is significant that when Wordsworth commented on his own verses he remained silent concerning these five poems. THE PRELUDE This poem, one of Wordsworth's two long autobiographical pieces, was written between 1799 and 1805, but was not published till after the poet's death in 1850. |