ll common lives are destined.

5. Robin's-leaf: An allusion to the ballad of the _Babes in the
Wood._

9. Squadron-strophes: The term _strophe_ originally was applied to
a metrical form that was repeated in a certain established way, like
the _strophe_ and _antistrophe_ of the Greek ode, as sung by a divided
chorus; it is now applied to any stanza form. The poem of heroism is a
"battle-ode," whose successive stanzas are marching squadrons, whose
verses are lines of blazing guns, and whose melody is the strenuous
music of "trump and drum."

13. Lethe's dreamless ooze: Lethe is the river of oblivion in Hades;
its slimy depths of forgetfulness are not even disturbed by dreams.

14. Unventurous throng: The vast majority of commonplace beings who
neither achieve nor attempt deeds of "high emprise."

16. Wisest Scholars: Many students who had returned from the war
were in the audience, welcomed back by their revered mother, their
Alma Mater.

20. Peddling: Engaging in small, trifling interests. Lowell's
attitude toward science is that of Wordsworth, when he speaks of the
dry-souled scientist as one who is all eyes and no heart, "One that
would peep and botanize Upon his mother's grave."

21. The pseudo-science of astrology, seeking to tell commonplace
fortunes by the stars.

25-26. Clear fame: Compare Milton's _Lycidas:_

"Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
To scorn delights and live laborious days."

32. Half-virtues: Is Lowell disparaging the virtues of peace and
home in comparison with the heroic virtues of war? Or are these
"half-virtues" contrasted with the loftier virtue, the devotion to
Truth?

34. That stern device: The seal of Harvard College, chosen by its
early founders, bears the device of a shield with the word _Ve-ri-tas_
(truth) upon three open books.

46. Sad faith: Deep, serious faith, or there may be a slight touch
of irony in the word, with a glance at the gloomy faith of early
puritanism and its "lifeless creed" (l. 62).

62. Lifeless creed: Compare Tennyson's:

"Ancient form
Thro' which the spirit breathes no more."

73. The tide of the ocean in its flow and ebb is under the influence
of the moon. To get the sense of the metaphor, "fickle" must be read
with "Fortune"--unless, perchance, we like Juliet regard the moon as
the "inconstant moon."

81. To protect one's self everyone connives against everyone else.
Compare _Sir Launfal_, I.