the fore. What imagery in the poem is especially effective? What is
the claim of Pheidippides--as Browning presents him--to memory as a
hero? What ideals are most prominent in the poem?

MY STAR. (PAGE 40.)

4. =angled spar=. The Iceland spar has the power of polarizing light
and producing great richness and variety of color.

11. =Saturn=. The planet next beyond Jupiter; here chosen, perhaps,
for its changing aspects. See an encyclopaedia or dictionary.

This dainty love lyric is said to have been written with Mrs. Browning
in mind. It needs, however, no such narrow application for its
interpretation. It is the simple declaration of the lover that the
loved one reveals to him qualities of soul not revealed to others.
Observe the "order of lyric progress" in speaking first of nature,
then of the feelings.

EVELYN HOPE. (PAGE 41.)

The lover denies the evanescence of human love. He implies that in
some future time the love will reappear and be rewarded. Browning's
optimism lays hold sometimes of the present, sometimes of the future,
for the fulfilment of its hope. Especially strong is his "sense of the
continuity of life." "There shall never be one lost good," he makes
Abt Vogler say. The charm of this poem is more, perhaps, in its
tenderness of tone and purity of atmosphere than in its doctrine of
optimism.

LOVE AMONG THE RUINS. (PAGE 43.)

This poem was written in Rome in the winter of 1853-1854. The scene is
the Roman Campagna. The verse has a softness and a melody unusual in
Browning. Compare its structure with that of Holmes's _The Last
Leaf_. Note the elements of pastoral peace and gentleness in the
opening, and in the coloring of the scene. What two scenes are brought
into contrast? Note how the scenes alternate throughout the poem, and
how each scene is gradually developed according to the ordinary laws
of description. What ideals are thus compared? What does the poem
mean?

MISCONCEPTIONS. (PAGE 47.)

11. =Dalmatic=. A robe worn by mediaeval kings on solemn occasions, and
still worn by deacons at the mass in the Roman Catholic church.

The lyric order appears sharply developed here in the parallelism of
the two stanzas. Point out this parallelism of idea. Does it fail
at any point? Note the chivalrous absence of reproach by the lover.
Observe the climax up to which each stanza leads, and the climax
within the last line of each stanza.

NATURAL MAGIC. (PAGE 48.)

5. =Nautch=.