Narrative and Lyric Poems (Second Series) for Use in the Lower School
General
Narrative and Lyric Poems (Second Series) for Use in the Lower School
English poetry
319. =wilding.= Wild; a poetical form.
325. =beneath.= Near the ground. =aloft.= Higher up on the wall.
337. When it first returns to Britain in the spring.
346. =Fortune and her wheel.= The wheel, which Fortune is represented as
turning, denotes instability. The substance of the song is that the
singer is indifferent to Fortune and will be content whatever she may
bring.
354. Even if fortune seems against us, yet we will smile, for we are
still able to use our hands to work.
363. =dim brocade.= Faded silk, woven with gold and silver thread or
with ornamental designs.
364. =vermeil-white.= Reddish-white.
368. =rood.= Cross.
386. =costrel.= A wooden or earthenware bottle.
389. =manchet.= Fine white bread.
396. =trencher.= A large wooden plate.
432. =Camelot.= See _Morte D’Arthur_ line 21, and note.
438. =who see but acts of wrong.= The Earl means to say that in this
little village they saw no good deeds. They themselves had suffered from
wrong-doing.
491. =toppling over all antagonism.= Overcoming all opponents.
496. =lay lance in rest.= See _Morte D’Arthur_, line 222, and note.
502. =when at mine uttermost.= In direst need.
513. =prove her heart.= Test her feelings.
519. =kept her off.= Held her at arm’s length so that she could see
Enid’s face.
535. =To quicken to the sun.= To become alive under the influence of the
sun.
537. =jousts.= See _Morte D’Arthur_, line 102, and note.
542. =beyond the rest.= More strongly than the rest.
543. =The chair of Idris.= Cader Idris, the highest mountain in Wales.
547. =lists.= The enclosed ground where tournaments were held.
559. =Yule.= Christmas.
566. =as of phantom hands.= The sound of the echo.
568. =The dew of their great labour.= Their perspiration.
595-6. See introductory note to _Morte D’Arthur_.
641. =sold and sold.= Sold one after another.
661. =turkis.= Turquoise. A garnet is red; a turquoise, blue.
663. =tissue.= Woven cloth.
672. =mixen.= Dunghill.
710. =seneschal.= Chief steward, who superintends the feasts and
ceremonies.
724. =ragged-robin.= A British wild flower.
730-1. =Esther.= ii., 2-17.
743. =Gwydion.= In one of the legends of Welsh mythology, Gwydion, the
nephew of the king, helps his uncle, Math, to create a beautiful maiden
by magic (glamour) out of flowers in order to provide a wife for the
young prince Llew.
744-5. =the Bride of Cassivelaun, Flur.= Cassivelaun was king of Britain
at the time of Cæsar’s second invasion (54 B.C.). The poem suggests that
Cæsar was in love with Flur, the betrothed bride of Cassivelaun.
764. =flaws.= A flaw is a sudden burst of wind.
774. =careful robins.= Watching to see whether there are worms for food
in the ground that is delved.
797-804. Geraint suspected that Enid had allowed herself to be
influenced by her mother’s wishes, or that she had been carried away by
his brightness in contrast with the dimness of her own surroundings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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