=Epipsychidion.= From Gr. _epi_, upon, and _psyche_, the soul. This poem is addressed "to the noble and unfortunate Lady Emilia Viviani, now imprisoned in the Convent of St. Anne, Pisa," and was written in 1821. 1. =halcyons.= Kingfishers. Halcyone was the daughter of Æolus and wife of Ceyx. When her husband died she was changed into a bird,--the kingfisher,--and, floating over the sea, she still calls for the lost Ceyx in tones full of plaining and tears. And "whensoever she makes her nest, a law of nature brings round what is called Halcyon's weather--days distinguishable among all others for their serenity." 2. =Ionian.= Greek. See the expression "Under the roof of blue Ionian weather," below. Explain its meaning. 3. =for.= Since, because. =elysian.= Heavenly. Pertaining to Elysium, the islands of the blest, the Elysian fields. 4. =age of gold.= Compare Milton, "Hymn on the Nativity" (see note 36, page 192. See, also, poem by John Lydgate, page 275). 5. =peopled with sweet airs.= Filled with sweet music. 6. =antenatal dream.= See Wordsworth's "Ode on the Intimations of Immortality" (also, note 13, page 47). "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting." 7. =Lucifer.= Venus when seen in the morning, rising before the sun is called Lucifer, the light-bearer. From Lat. _lux_, light, and _fero_, to bear (see note 18, page 189). The same star when seen in the evening, following the sun, is called Hesperus. 8. =blue oceans of young air.= Explain. 9. =paramour.= See Milton's "Ode on the Nativity," stanza i. "It was no reason then for her To wanton with the sun, her lusty paramour." Milton makes the sun the paramour of the earth; Shelley, the earth the paramour of the sky. A LAMENT. Swifter far than summer's flight, Swifter far than youth's delight, Swifter far than happy night, Art thou come and gone: As the earth when leaves are dead, As the night when sleep is sped, As the heart when joy is fled, I am left alone, alone. The swallow Summer comes again, The owlet Night resumes her reign, But the wild swan Youth is fain To fly with thee, false as thou. My heart each day desires the morrow, Sleep itself is turned to sorrow, Vainly would my winter borrow Sunny leaves from any bough. Lilies for a bridal bed, Roses for a matron's head, Violets for a maiden dead, Pansies let my flowers be: On the living grave I bear, Scatter them without a tear, Let no friend, however dear, Waste one hope, one fear, for me. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.