13. bastions: sections of fortifications. 18. Parian wreaths were very white because the marble of Paros was pure. 21. Maugre: in spite of. FABLE This fable was written some years before its merits were recognized. Since then it has steadily grown in popularity. BOSTON HYMN 16. fend: defend. 24. boreal: northern. 80. behemoth: very large beast. THE TITMOUSE 76. impregnably: so that it can resist attack. 97. wold: Rood, forest. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL (1819-1891) "As political reformer, as editor, as teacher, above all as an example of the type of scholarly gentleman that the new world was able to produce, he perhaps did more than any of his contemporaries to dignify American literature at home and to win for it respect abroad." --W. B. CAIRNS. Born at Cambridge, Mass., he early showed a love of literature and says that while he was a student at Harvard he read everything except the prescribed textbooks. He opened a law office in Boston, but spent his time largely in reading and writing poetry. He became professor of literature at Harvard in 1854 and later edited the Atlantic Monthly. Later he was minister to Spain and to England. In 1885 he returned to his work at Harvard, where he remained until his death in the very house in which he was born. The poems by Lowell are used by permission of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company, authorized publishers of his works. HAKON's LAY This poem is here given in its original form as published by Lowell in Graham's Magazine in January, 1855. It was afterwards expanded into the second canto of "The Voyage to Vinland." With what other poems in this book may "Hakon's Lay" be compared? 3. Skald. See Longfellow, 'The Skeleton in Armor,' note on I. 19. 10. Hair and beard were both white, we are told. Who is suggested in this line as white? 17. eyried. An eagle builds its aerie or nest upon a crag or inaccessible height above ordinary birds. The simile here begun before the eagle is mentioned, and the minstrel's thoughts are spoken of as born in the aerie of his brain, high above his companions. 20. One of the finest pictures of the singing of a minstrel before his lord is found in Scott's "Waverly." 21. fletcher: arrow-maker. 31. The work of Fate cannot be done by a reed which is proverbially weak or by a stick which is cut cross-grained and hence will split easily. She does not take her arrow at random from all the poor and weak weapons which life offers, but she chooses carefully. 35. sapwood: the new wood next the bark, which is not yet hardened. 37. Much of the value of an arrow lies in its being properly feathered. So when Fate chooses, she removes all valueless feathers which will hinder success. 40. In these ways her aim Would be injured. 43. butt's: target's. 52. frothy: trivial.