Lesbos and to the mainland. It would seem that it was amongst their Asiatic colonies that Hellenic genius first found artistic expression. Smyrna, one of the places, which severally claimed to be the birthplace of Homer, was originally an Æolian town, though subsequently possessed by Ionians. Alcæus and Sappho were natives of Lesbos. Hence one of the chief Greek rhythms, or harmonies, was called Æolian. See Pindar's Aloλnidi μodną (Ol. i. 102), év Alodídeoσi xopdaîs (Pyth. ii. 69, ed. Donaldson). It is with reference to these Pindaric phrases that Gray uses the word; see his own note. He calls this ode a Pindaric Ode. So Eolian lyre lyre of Pindar, or lyre such as Pindar struck. [Perhaps the young reader should be cautioned against confounding the Eolian lyre here with the Eolian harp often heard of elsewhere, a blunder made by one of the first "reviewers" of this poem. The Æolian of the latter phrase is derived from Æolus the mythical wind-god, and = wind-blown, wind-played. "The invention of this instrument is ascribed to Kircher, 1653; but it was known at an earlier period," (Haydn). See Thomson's Castle of Indolence; Collins' Ode on the Death of Mr Thompson, and Cowper's Expostulation.] Comp. the beginning of one of Cowley's pieces (in the Golden Treasury): And tell thy silent master's humble tale," &c. 3. Helicon. See note to Lycid. 15. 9. Ceres' golden reign. Comp. Virgil's Flava Ceres (Georg. i. 96), Homer's gave Anunτmp, Iliad, v. 499: “ ὡς δ ̓ ἄνεμος ἄχνας φορέει ἱερὰς κατ ̓ ἀλωὰς ἀνδρῶν λικμώντων, ὅτε τε ξανθὴ Δημήτηρ κρίνῃ ἐπειγομένων ανέμων καρπόν τε καὶ ἄχνας” κ.τ.λ. [What is the meaning of reign here?] 10. amain. See Lycid. 111. See Hor. Od. IV. ii. 8. 83. 12. [What is the force of to here?] 13. "The thoughts are borrowed from the first Pythian of Pindar," (Gray). 15. [What is the power of the here?] sullen is radically connected with sole, solitary, &c. 17. Ares was believed to have his abiding-place in Thrace. [Where exactly was Thrace?] In that country and in Scythia were the chief seats of his worship. Horace speaks of "bello furiosa Thrace," (Od. II. xvi. 5). See also Æn. iii. 35. 18. curb is closely connected with curve. [Can you connect the two words in meaning?] 20. [To what subst, does perching refer?] See Pind. Pyth. i. 9-18: “ εὕδει δ ̓ ἀνὰ σκάπτῳ Διὸς αὐετάς ὠκεῖαν πτέρυγ ̓ ἀμφοτέρωθεν χαλάξαις ἀρχὸς οἰωνῶν, κελαινώπιν δ ̓ ἐπὶ οἱ νεφέλαν ἀγκύλῳ κρατί, γλεφάρων αδὺ κλοΐστρον, κατέχευας· ὁ δὲ κνώσσων ὑγρὸν νῶτον αἰωρεῖ, τεαῖς ῥιπαῖσι κατασχόμενος.” 22. [What part of the sentence is with ruffled plumes?] 26. [Explain tempered.] See Lycid. 32. 27. Gray seems to use Idalia here for Idalium, for that was the name of the town in Cyprus. Idalia was a title given to Aphrodite because of her worship in that town. Comp. her titles of Erycina, Cytherea, and Cythereis. velvet-green occurs in Pope. Johnson censures the phrase, apparently believing it of Gray's invention. 30. antic. See Sams. Agon. 1325, when the word is used as a personal substantive. In Faerie Queene, II. iii. 27, it is used to denote "odd imagery and devices," (Nares). Shak spere uses it as a verb in Ant. and Cleop. II. vii. 132. For the meaning, what is old and old fashioned is liable to be thought odd, grotesque, fantastic. Milton has the word in its primitive sense in Il Pens. 158. 31. Frisk, brisk, fresco, fresh, are all closely connected. frolic. See note to L'Alleg. 18. 35. Gray quotes Hom. Od. ix. 265: μαρμαρυγὰς θηεῖτο ποδῶν· θαύμαζε δὲ θυμῷ." Comp. Catullus' "fulgentem. . . plantam" (lxviii. 70). 38. [What is meant by sublime here?] 41. the purple light of love. See Æn. i. 594: Purpureum." "lumenque juventæ Gray quotes from Phrynichus, the Tragedian, apud Athenæum : λάμπει δ' ἐπὶ πορφυρέῃσι 42. Comp. Hor. Od. I. iii. 29-33. 84. 50. boding. Bode is cognate with bid. xxvii. 11. birds of boding cry what the Latin augurs called oscines. See Hor. Od. III. Cic. ad Fam. VI. vi. 7: "Non igitur ex alitis involatu, nec e cantu sinistro oscinis, ut in nostra disciplina est, nec ex tripudiis sollistimis aut soniviis tibi auguror; sed habeo alia signa quæ observem." 52. Gray refers to Cowley, Brutus, an Ode: "One would have thought 't had heard the morning crow, Or seen her well-appointed star Come marching up the eastern hill afar." 53. Hyperion. Properly the strong accent of this word is upon the penult (see the Latin and the Greek poets, passim); but the English poets, almost universally, throw it back to the ante-penult, as does Gray here (see Hamlet, I. ii. 140, &c.). Classical names were much mis-shapen and mis-pronounced before the Revival of Learning, as it is called; and some of these Romantic irregularities still prevailed even when Classical usages were better known. See the scarcely recognizable Classical names in Chaucer's House of Fame, &c. &c. See note on Delphos in Hymn Nat. 178; add Shakspere's Postúmus, Andrónicus. glittring shafts of war. Comp. Lucretius' tela diei, i. 148, &c. 60. [What is meant by repeating a chief?] 62. feather-cinctur'd = “girt with feather'd cincture" (Par. Lost, ix. 1116). [Has loves an abstract or a concrete signification here? Comp. sable loves, Pope's W. For. 410.] 64. pursue. Observe this use of the plural with the first of a series of subjects. Warton compares Hom. 17. v. 774: " ήχι ῥος Σιμόεις συμβάλλετον ἠδὲ Σκάμανδρος.” 66. See Collins' Ode to Simplicity (by which he seems to mean Poetic Truth and Purity): "By old Cephisus deep Who spread his wavy sweep In warbled wanderings round thy green retreat, On whose enamel'd side When holy Freedom died No equal haunt allur'd thy future feet." 66. Delphi's steep. See Hymn Nat. 178 and note. 67. See Byron's The Isles of Greece, &c. 68. The Ilissus, rising on the north slope of Hymettus, flows through the east side of Athens. See Atlas and Class. Dict. Socrates and Phædrus are represented in the dialogue called after the latter as strolling up its channel, then as now often quite dry. "Aeuр' èктраπόμενοι,” says Socrates, “κατὰ τὸν ̓Ιλισσὸν ἴωμεν, εἶτα ὅπου ἂν δόξῃ ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ καθιζησόμεθα.” (Phædr. Chap. iii.) 69. The first great metropolis of Hellenic intellectual life was Miletus on the Mæander. Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Cadmus, Hecatæus, &c., were all by birth Milesians. See note to l. 1. 70. The lower course of the Mæander lies through a wide plain, where it wanders at will in that remarkable manner which has made it a type of all curving and winding things. See Selden's Illustr. No. 2 of Drayton's Polyolbion: "Intricate turnings, by a transumptive and metonymical kind of speech, are called meanders; for this river did so strangely path itself that the foot seemed to touch the head." Fuller's Worthies, Bedfordshire, apud Richardson: "But this proverb may better be veryfied of Ouse it self in this shire, more mæandrous than Maander, which runneth above eighty miles in eighteen by land." 73. See Hymn Nat. 181-8. 75. hallow'd fountain. See Virg. Ecl. i. 53. 81. See Collins' Ode to Simplicity: "While Rome could none esteem But Virtue's patriot theme, You lov'd her hills, and led her laureate band; To one distinguish'd throne, And turn'd thy face, and fled her alter'd land." The vast interval between the Augustan age and the great Florentine period is here quite unrecognized. Virgil died B.C. 19, Dante was born A.D. 1265. For some thousand years of that interval there had prevailed a deep silence of poetry in Italy; in France and certain neighbouring countries the Troubadours and the Trouvères had sung their songs. But that in his note quoted to 1. 82, Gray mentions Dante, it might have been supposed that like Selvaggi in his memorable distich which Dryden imitated ("Three poets in three distant ages born," &c.), he recognised no great genius between the Augustan and the Elizabethan age; comp. Cowper's Table Talk, 556-9. But Gray was a diligent and admiring student of the Tuscan poets. 82. "Chaucer was not unacquainted with the writings of Dante or of Petrarch. The Earl of Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyatt had travelled in Italy and formed their taste there. Spenser imitated the Italian writers; Milton improved on them." (Gray). [Of what great countries of Europe is nothing said in this survey? Why is Germany not mentioned?] 85. 83. That is, far from the Sunny South. 84. Nature's darling. See L'Alleg. 133, and note. 85. [Who is the mighty Mother?] 87. the dauntless child. Comp. Horace's "non sine dis animosus infans." (Od. III. iv. 20.) 88. Mitford points out that this identical line occurs in Sandys' translation of Ov. Met. iv. 515. 89. Pencil is used here in its proper sense. "Caudam antiqui penem vocabant," says Cicero writing to Paetus, "ex quo est propter similitudinem penicillus." (Ad Fam. ix. 22.) 92-94. [What various plays by Shakspere may Gray have in his mind here?] 95. All Gray's poems show a profound admiration for, and a thorough knowledge of Ꮓ Milton's Works. He was greatly attracted by the high culture that marks them; his own genius was of the same order, though inferior in degree. 96. See Ezek. viii. 1. 97-98. [What books of Paradise Lost are referred to?] See Par. Lost, vii. 12. 98. Gray quotes Lucretius' “flammantia mœnia mundi." (i. 74.) 99. See Isaiah vi. 101. In fact it was Milton's political labours, not his poetical, which destroyed his sight (see Sonnet on his blindness, to Cyriac Skinner); but he too delights to connect that physical malady with the splendour of his inner visions. See Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio Secunda: "Divinus favor..cælestium alarum umbra has nobis fuisse tenebras videtur." Gray quotes Hom. Od. viii. 64, 103. “ ὀφθαλμῶν μὲν ἄμερσε ̇ δίδου δ ̓ ἡδεῖαν ἀοιδήν.” ray "admired Dryden almost beyond bounds." See Mason's Life of Whitehead, quoted by Mitford in his Life of Gray. 105. The Heroic couplet was first introduced from Italy into England by Chaucer. Between Chaucer and Dryden it was adopted by many poets as their metrical form. The general French adoption of it gave it a new popularity in this country in the latter part of the 17th century. In Dryden's hands it assumed a new character; it acquired an amazing power and vigour, and a certain novel rapidity of movement. See Pope's Imit. of Hor. Ep. I. ii. 267-269. 106. See Job xxxix. 19. III. "We have had in our language no other odes of the sublime kind than that of Dryden on St Cecilia's Day; for Cowley, who had his merit, yet wanted judgment, style, and harmony for such a task. That of Pope is not worthy of so great a man. Mr Mason indeed, of late days, has touched the true chords, and with a masterly hand, in some of his choruses; above all in the last of Caractacus: Hark! heard ye not yon footstep dread? &c. (Gray.)” 115. Horace (Od. 1v. ii. 25) calls Pindar the Dircean swan. 114. Pinion, possibly pennant and pennon, pinnacle, pin, pen, are all cognate words. THE BARD. 86. 1. Observe the alliteration. 4. See King John, V. i. 72: "Mocking the air with colours idly spread.” 5. Observe the omission of the first negative here. So sometimes in Greek, as Thuc. viii. 99: καὶ αἱ Φοίνισσαι νῆες οὐδὲ ὁ Τισσαφέρνης τέως που ἧκον. hauberk radically signifies neck-covering armour. Hau is a corruption of the A. S. heals, the neck. Comp. Scotch hawse, hals, &c. Berk is from beorgan to protect. Habergeon is etymologically a dim. from hauberk. See Chaucer's Prologue, 76. The Low Latin form was halsberga. See note to Haburyone in Prompt. Parv. 7. nightly, see note to Hymn Nat. 179. 11. It was in the Spring of 1283, that English troops at last forced their way among the defiles of Snowdon. Llewellyn had preserved those passes and heights intact till his death in the preceding December. The surrender of Dolbadern in the April following that dispiriting event opened a way for the invader'; and William de Beauchamp Earl of Warwick at once advanced by it. See Miss Williams' Hist. of Wales. There is much "poetical license" in the topographical description of this scene. The details cannot be realized. Probably the height on which the bard stands is meant for Pen-maen-mawr. See Lycid. 52. Snowdon is of course used here in a very wide sense. 11. shaggy. See Lycid. 54. 13. Glo'ster. Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hereford, had, in 1282, conducted the war in South Wales; and after overthrowing the enemy near Llandeilo Fawr, had reinforced the King in the North-west. See Miss Williams' Hist. of Wales, chap. xxii. 14. Mortimer. Edward de Mortimer actively co-operated with the King in North Wales. It was by one of his knights, named Adam de Francton, that Llewellyn, not at first known to be he, was slain near Pont Orewyn. word?] [What is meant by couch'd here? Why is a pronounced as t at the end of this 18. haggard. See note to Hymn Nat. 23. 19. [Is loose predicative here, or adjectival?] "The image was taken from a well-known picture of Raphael, representing the Supreme Being in the vision of Ezekiel." (Gray.) 20. See Par. Lost, i. 537: "Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind." hoarser and hoarser; 22. [What is meant by the deep sorrows of his lyre?] 26. hoarser = perhaps, with continually increasing hoarseness, so sometimes the compar, in Latin, as latior in Hor. Ep. ad Pis. 209. Or hoarser may mean with unwonted hoarseness, hoarser than they are wont to be; so also the compar. in Latin sometimes: e. g. senior an elderly person, one that is older than he was, as we say. muse. 27. See Introduction. 28. soft Llewellyn's lay the lay celebrating the mild Llewellyn. 'Many bards celebrated the warlike prowess and princely qualities of the sons of Gruffydd; and, on the death of Llewellyn, Dafydd Benfrus, Bleddyn Fard and Gruffydd ab yr Ynad Coch composed elegies.' (Miss Williams' Hist. Wales). See also Woodward's Hist. Wales. The hard names introduced here, with one exception, are drawn from the old annals or traditions of the Cymric Of Hoel's songs some are said to be extant; of those of Cadwallo and of Urien there is nothing preserved. Of course Gray is not here referring to these old bards; he but appropriates their names. No name Modred is found in the old bard lists; but it is a name only too conspicuous in the old Arthurian story. Malory writes Mordred. Looking at the context, it would be better to take Llewellyn here for a bard. 87. 34. [Where exactly is this mountain?] 35. Arvon. Caernarvon = Caer yn Arvon to the place about the close of the 11th century. Segontium. the camp in Arvon. This name was given The old name was Caer Seiont, the Roman 38. The Welsh name for Snowdon signifies the eagle's crags. 48. tissue. See Rape of the Lock, 212, and note. "See the Norwegian Ode (the Fatal Sisters)." (Gray.) 49. the warp the threads stretched out parallel in the loom, ready to be crossed by the woof or weft (the woven, inserted thread). The phrase here therefore is not quite accurate. Strictly neither the warp nor the woof can be said to be weaved or inwoven. But perhaps 66 weave the warp and weave the woof" is but an emphatic way of saying "weave the warp and woof" "weave the web." Comp. I. 53. 54. See Eng. Hist. s. a. 1327. 57. See Shaksp. 3 Hen. VI. I. iv. 60. [What part of the sentence is the scourge of heaven?] 88. 72. [What is meant by azure realm?] |