Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, Save 2 where the beetle wheels his droning 3 flight, Save that, from yonder ivy-mantled tower, 6 Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering' heap, Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,8 9 The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering 1o from the straw-built shed, 12 For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. 1 A solemn stillness holds all the air. The Latin tenet expresses the force of the verb in this passage. 2 Used adverbially and equal to except. 3 An onomato-poëtic word. 4 A.S. bur, a place of retirement. 5 Here the place reigned over. Latin regnum, French royaume. 6 Where the turf rises in many a mouldering heap. A.S. hebban, hence heaven-that which is raised above the earth. 7 A translation of the Latin putris, so often applied by Virgil to the clod or glebe. Parnell's "crumbling," used in a similar passage, is exactly equivalent. 8 The poet has now finished his descriptive introduction, and proceeds to awaken human interest. 9 Uneducated, not necessarily boorish. 10 Onomato-poëtic. 11 Not metaphorical. 12 The object of the care, i.e., task. Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, Let not ambition3 mock their useful toil, The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, Can storied urn, or animated bust,7 Perhaps, in this neglected spot is laid Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; 1 Joyously. Latin jocus, a jest. 2 To the field. Compare ashore, afoot. 3 The abstract for the concrete. The ambitious, the great are meant. 4 Latin annales, primarily records of events classified by years; afterwards simply history. 5 A.S. fretan, to eat, or rub away. 6 Here, as in Milton's "And storied windows richly dight," it signifies inscribed with story. Another and more usual meaning is, celebrated in story. 7 So true to nature as to seem endowed with life. But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page, Full many a gem of purest ray serene Some village Hampden,' that with dauntless breast The applause of listening senates to command,3 Their lot forbade : 6 nor circumscribed alone The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide," 1 Noble impulses and aspirations. 2 The distinguished patriot, in the reign of Charles I. 3 This clause is grammatically under the government of "Their lot forbade." + Is here ambiguous. It may mean fruitful metaphorically; is literally, receiving benefits with grateful smiles. 5 To leave such a history of their own deeds as shall be read by the nation. 6 Each line in the previous stanza is a noun clause, governed in the objective by forbade. 7 Governed in the objective by forbade. Far from the madding1 crowd's ignoble strife, They kept the noiseless tenour2 of their way. Yet even these bones from insult to protect, With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked, Their name, their years, spelt by the unletter'd Muse, And many a holy text around she strews, For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, 4 On some fond breast the parting soul relies, For thee, who, mindful of the unhonour'd dead, 6 Haply some hoary-headed swain may say, 1 The present participle of the old intransitive verb to mad,-the modern expression to be mad. 2 Latin teneo, to hold. Tenour signifies continuous course, or career. 3 Yet existing. 4 Latin pius. Pious drops are tears prompted by affection, and due from a friend, 5 As to thee. The poet here addresses himself. 7 See note 1, p. 29. 6 Perchance. "There at the foot of yonder nodding beech, "Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn, Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love. “The next, with dirges due, in sad array, Slow through the churchway path we saw him borne ; Approach, and read (for thou canst read) the lay, Graved on the stone, beneath yon aged thorn.” THE EPITAPH. Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth, Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, He gained from Heaven ('twas all he wished) a friend. No farther seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode (There they alike in trembling hope repose), The bosom of his Father and his God. 1 The roots of an old beech frequently join the trunk a considerable height above the level of the ground. The "brook" may, in this instance, have worn away a quantity of the earth from the roots. 2 Gaze intently, connected with peer. 3 Another instance of onomato-poeia. Compare droning, twittering. |