Notes on Ode on Melancholy.

PAGE 140. l. 1. Lethe. See Lamia, i. 81, note.

l. 2. Wolf’s-bane, aconite or hellebore--a poisonous plant.

l. 4. nightshade, a deadly poison.

ruby . . . Proserpine. Cf. Swinburne’s Garden of Proserpine.

Proserpine. Cf. Lamia, i. 63, note.

l. 5. yew-berries. The yew, a dark funereal-looking tree, is constantly planted in churchyards.

l. 7. your mournful Psyche. See Introduction to the Ode to Psyche, p. 236.

PAGE 141. l. 12. weeping cloud. l. 14. shroud. Giving a touch of mystery and sadness to the otherwise light and tender picture.

l. 16. on . . . sand-wave, the iridescence sometimes seen on the ribbed sand left by the tide.

l. 21. She, i.e. Melancholy--now personified as a goddess. Compare this conception of melancholy with the passage in Lamia, i. 190-200. Cf. also Milton’s personifications of Melancholy in L’Allegro and Il Penseroso.

PAGE 142. l. 30. cloudy, mysteriously concealed, seen of few.