Notes on the Ode to Psyche.

PAGE 117. l. 2. sweet . . . dear. Cf. Lycidas, ‘Bitter constraint and sad occasion dear.’

l. 4. soft-conched. Metaphor of a sea-shell giving an impression of exquisite colour and delicate form.

PAGE 118. l. 13. ’Mid . . . eyed. Nature in its appeal to every sense. In this line we have the essence of all that makes the beauty of flowers satisfying and comforting.

l. 14. Tyrian, purple, from a certain dye made at Tyre.

l. 20. aurorean. Aurora is the goddess of dawn. Cf. Hyperion, i. 181.

l. 25. Olympus. Cf. Lamia, i. 9, note.

hierarchy. The orders of gods, with Jupiter as head.

l. 26. Phoebe, or Diana, goddess of the moon.

l. 27. Vesper, the evening star.

PAGE 119. l. 34. oracle, a sacred place where the god was supposed to answer questions of vital import asked him by his worshippers.

l. 37. fond believing, foolishly credulous.

l. 41. lucent fans, luminous wings.

PAGE 120. l. 55. fledge . . . steep. Probably a recollection of what he had seen in the Lakes, for on June 29, 1818, he writes to Tom from Keswick of a waterfall which ‘oozes out from a cleft in perpendicular Rocks, all fledged with Ash and other beautiful trees’.

l. 57. Dryads. Cf. Lamia, l. 5, note.