ith these aspirations he perishes
without having reached the perfection he longed for; and the voice heard
in the air is the promise of immortality and progress ever upward."

Compare with this Tennyson's "Merlin and The Gleam," in which he tells
his own experience.

7. falchion: a sword with a broad and slightly curved blade, used in the
Middle Ages; hence, poetically, any type of sword.

THE DAY IS DOUR

26. In this stanza and the two following Longfellow describes what his
poems have come to mean to us and the place they hold in American life.
Compare with Whittier's "Dedication" to "Songs of Labor," Il. 26-36.

WALTER VON DER VOGELWEIDE

Walter von der Vogelweide: the most celebrated of medieval German lyric
poets, who lived about the year 1200. He belonged to the lower order of
"nobility of service." He livedin Tyrol, then the home of famous
minnesingers from whom he learned his art.

4. Walter von der Vogelweide is buried in the cloisters adjoining the
Neumunster church in Wurtzburg, which dates from the eleventh century.

10. The debt of the poet to the birds has been dwelt upon in many poems,
the best known of which are Shelley's "Skylark" and Wordsworth's "To the
Cuckoo."

27. War of Wartburg. In 1207 there occurred in this German castle, the
Wartburg, a contest of the minstrels of the time. Wagner has
immortalized this contest in "Tannhauser," in which he describes the
victory of Walter von der Vogelweide over all the other singers.

42. Gothic spire. See note on "The Builders" 11. 17-19.

THE BUILDERS

17-19. The perfection of detail in the structure and sculpture of Gothic
cathedrals may be seen in the cathedrals of Chartres and Amiens.
Numerous beautiful illustrations may be found in Marriage, "The
Sculptures of Chartres Cathedral," and in Ruskin, "The Bible of Amiens."

SANTA FILOMENA

Santa Filomena stands for Miss Florence Nightingale, who did remarkable
work among the soldiers wounded in the Crimean War (1854-56). This poem
was published in 1857 while the story of her aid was fresh in the minds
of the world.

42. The palm, the lily, and the spear: St. Filomena is represented in
many Catholic churches and usually with these three emblems to signify
her victory, purity, and martyrdom. Sometimes an anchor replaces the
palm.

THE DISCOVERER OF THE NORTH CAPE

King Alfred's Orosius. Orosius, a Spaniard of the fifth century A.D.,
wrote at the request of the