ch in
the background--we are told only that he was
young--and this seems to be in keeping with the
modesty of the poet as shown elsewhere in the
poem. At any rate, we must admit that the
reader was a poet, for he indulges in fancies
of a highly poetical nature.

What are those fancies? Such is the absorbing
interest of the story that even the pines and
cedars seem to stand silent to listen, and the
fir trees gather closer in order that nothing
may escape their hearing.

What is the poetic element in these fancies?
Ascribing to inanimate objects the power of
human interest and sympathy.

What effect does the poet secure by picturing
the trees as listeners? It enhances our idea of
the absorbing interest of the story.

Mention any other illustrations of a poet's use
of this device of attributing human sympathies
to inanimate objects. Many might be given, for
example:

Byron's _Waterloo_:

And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves,
Dewy with Nature's tear-drops, as they pass,
Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves,
Over the unreturning brave.

Longfellow's _Evangeline_ describing the song
of the mocking-bird:

Shook from his little throat such floods of delirious music,
That the whole air and the woods and waves seemed silent to listen.

Mrs. Hemans' _The Landing of the Pilgrim
Fathers_:

Amidst the storm they sang, and the stars heard, and the sea.

What experience of "Nell" is alluded to in the
last two lines of stanza V? She and her
grandfather had been lost on their journey from
London.

Why does the poet say that the whole camp "lost
their way" with "Nell" on English meadows? The
narrative was so vivid that the miners, in
spirit, accompanied her in her wanderings.

Stanza VII

What is meant by "Their cares dropped from
them"? They forgot themselves, their cares and
privations, and realized the hopes and fears,
the joys and sorrows of "Little Nell".

How was this result brought about? It was due
to the fascination of the story.

To what does the poet compare this? To some
"spell divine", some