"Wut's words to them whose faith an' truth On War's red techstone rang true metal, Who ventered life an' love an' youth For the gret prize o' death in battle? To him who, deadly hurt, agen Flashed on afore the charge's thunder, Tippin' with fire the bolt of men Thet rived the Rebel line asunder?"

243. When Moses sent men to "spy out" the Promised Land, they reported a land that "floweth with milk and honey," and they "came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs" (Numbers xiii.)

245. Compare the familiar line in Gray's Elegy:

"The paths of glory lead but to the grave."

and Tennyson's line, in the Ode to the Duke of Wellington:

"The path of duty was the way of glory."

In a letter to T.W. Higginson, who was editing the Harvard Memorial Biographies, in which he was to print the ode, Lowell asked to have the following passage inserted at this point:

"Virtue treads paths that end not in the grave, But through those constellations go That shed celestial influence on the brave. If life were but to draw this dusty breath That doth our wits enslave, And with the crowd to hurry to and fro, Seeking we know not what, and finding death, These did unwisely; but if living be, As some are born to know, The power to ennoble, and inspire In other souls our brave desire For fruit, not leaves, of Time's immortal tree, These truly live, our thought's essential fire, And to the saner," etc.

Lowell's remark in The Cathedral, that "second thoughts are prose," might be fairly applied to this emendation. Fortunately, the passage was never inserted in the ode.

255. Orient: The east, morning; hence youth, aspiration, hope. The figure is continued in l. 271.

262. Who now shall sneer? In a letter to Mr. J.B. Thayer, who had criticized this strophe, Lowell admits "that there is a certain narrowness in it as an expression of the popular feeling as well as my own. I confess I have never got over the feeling of wrath with which (just after the death of my nephew Willie) I read in an English paper that nothing was to be hoped of an army officered by tailors' apprentices and butcher boys." But Lowell asks his critic to observe that this strophe "leads naturally" to the next, and "that I there justify" the sentiment.

265. Roundhead and Cavalier: In a general way, it is said that New England was settled by the Roundheads, or Puritans, of England, and the South by the Cavaliers or Royalists.

272-273. Plantagenets: A line of English kings, founded by Henry II, called also the House of Anjou, from their French origin. The House of Hapsburg is the Imperial family of Austria. The Guelfs were one of the great political parties in Italy in the Middle Ages, at long and bitter enmity with the Ghibelines.

323. With this passage read the last two stanzas of Mr. Hosea Biglow to the Editor of the Atlantic Monthly, beginning:

"Come, Peace! not like a mourner bowed For honor lost and dear ones wasted, But proud, to meet a people proud, With eyes that tell of triumphs tasted!"

328. Helm: The helmet, the part of ancient armor for protecting the head, used here as the symbol of war.

343. Upon receiving the news that the war was ended, Lowell wrote to his friend, Charles Eliot Norton: "The news, my dear Charles, is from Heaven. I felt a strange and tender exaltation. I wanted to laugh and I wanted to cry, and ended by holding my peace and feeling devoutly thankful. There is something magnificent in having a country to love."



EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

The following questions are taken from recent examination papers of the Examination Board established by the Association of Schools and Colleges in the Middle States and Maryland, and of the Regents of the State of New York. Generally only one question on The Vision of Sir Launfal is included in the examination paper for each year.

Under what circumstances did the "vision" come to Sir Launfal? What was the vision? What was the effect upon him?

What connection have the preludes in the Vision of Sir Launfal with the main divisions which they precede? What is their part in the poem as a whole?

Contrast Sir Launfal's treatment of the leper at their first meeting with his treatment at their second.

1. Describe a scene from the Vision of Sir Launfal.

2. Describe the hall of the castle as Sir Launfal saw it on Christmas eve.

"The soul partakes the season's youth ... What wonder if Sir Launfal now Remembered the keeping of his vow?"

Give the meaning of these lines, and explain what you think is Lowell's purpose in the preface from which they are taken. Give the substance of the corresponding preface to the other part of the poem, and account for the difference between the two.

Describe the scene as it might have appeared to one standing just outside the castle gate, as Sir Launfal emerged from his castle in his search for the Holy Grail.

Compare the Ancient Mariner and the Vision of Sir Launfal with regard to the representation of a moral idea in each.

Explain the meaning of Sir Launfal's vision, and show how it affected his conduct.

Describe an ideal summer day as portrayed in the Vision of Sir Launfal.

Quote at least ten lines.

Discuss, with illustrations, Lowell's descriptions in the Vision of Sir Launfal, touching on two of the following points:—(a) beauty, (b) vividness, (c) attention to details.

Write a description of winter as given in Part Second.

Outline in tabular form the story of Sir Launfal's search for the Holy Grail; be careful to include in your outline the time, the place, the leading characters, and the leading events in their order.



Merrill's English Texts

Addison, Steele, and Budgell. The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers In The Spectator. Edited by Edna H. L. Turpin. 269 pages, 12mo, cloth. Prices 30 cents.

Coleridge. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and other Poems. Edited by Julian W. Abernethy, Ph.D, 156 pages, 12 mo, cloth. Price 25 cents.

Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities. Edited by Julian W. Abernethy, Ph.D. 634 pages, 12mo, cloth. Price 50 cents.

Emerson. Essays. (Selected.) Edited by Edna H. L. Turpin. 336 pages, 12mo, cloth. Price 40 cents.

George Eliot. Silas Marner. Edited by Cornelia Beare. 336 pages, 12mo, cloth. Price 40 cents.

Goldsmith. The Deserted Village, and other Poems. Edited by Edna H. L. Turpin. 153 pages, 12mo, cloth. Price 25 cents.

Hawthorne. The House of the Seven Gables. Edited by J. H. Castleman, A.M. 464 pages, 12mo, cloth. Price 40 cents.

Lamb. Essays of Elia. Edited by J. H. Castleman, A.M. 589 pages, 12mo, cloth. Price 50 cents.

Lowell. The Vision of Sir Launfal, and other Poems. Edited by Julian W. Abernethy, Ph.D. 172 pages, 12mo, cloth. Price 25 cents.

Milton. Lycidas, Comus, L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, and other Poems. Edited by Julian W. Abernethy, Ph.D. 198 pages, 12mo, cloth. Price 25 cents.

THE END