e English fought for a
Commonwealth. See note on line 219.

270. After the short period of the Commonwealth, Charles II became ruler
of England (1660-1685).

272. Millennium: a period when all government will be free from
wickedness.

AN INDIAN-SUMMER REVERIE

5. Autumn personified as Hebe, the cupbearer of the Greek gods.

11. projected spirit. The poet's own spirit seems to take on material
form in the landscape before him.

28. See the book of Ruth in the Old Testament for this exquisite story.

32. Magellan's Strait: passage discovered by Magellan when he sailed
around the southern end of South America.

51. retrieves: remedies.

59. lapt: wrapped.

77. Explain this simile. Has color any part in it?

83. ensanguined: made blood-red by frost.

92. The Charles is so placid and blue that it resembles a line of the
sky.

99. In connection with this description of the marshes. Lanier's "The
Marshes of Glynn" may well be read, as it is the best description of
marshes in American literature.

133. Compare Bryant's "Robert of Lincoln."

140. Compare this figure with Bryant's in "To a Waterfowl," 1. 2.

157. Compare with the Prelude to the Second Part of "The Vision of Sir
Launfal."

163. The river Charles near its mouth is affected by the ocean tides.

178. Why is the river pictured as dumb and blind?

182. Compare Whittier's "Snow-Bound."

187. gyves: fetters.

190. Druid-like device. At Stonehenge (1. 192) in England is a confused
mass of stones, some of which are in their original positions and which
are supposed to have been placed by the Druids. It is possible that the
sun was worshiped here, but everything about the Druids is conjecture.

201. A view near at hand is usually too detailed to be attractive. But
in the twilight, near-by objects become softened, the distance fades into
the horizon, and a soothing picture is formed.

209. The schools and colleges. Probably Harvard College is here
included, as Lowell graduated there.

217. Compare this idea with that in the following lines from
Wordsworth's "The Daffodils":

"I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought;
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with plea