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Page 71
14. =Lokeren=. Twelve miles from Ghent.
15. =Boom=. Sixteen miles from Lokeren.
16. =D�ffeld=. Twelve miles from Boom.
17. 19, 31, etc. =Mecheln= (Fr. Malines), =Aershot=, =Hasselt=, etc.
The reader may trace the direction and length of the ride in any large
atlas. Minute examinations of the route are, however, of no special
value.
Note the rapidity of narration and the galloping movement of the
verse; the time of starting, and the anxious attention to the
_time_ as the journey proceeds. How are we given a sense of the
effort and distress of the horses? How do we see Roland gradually
emerging as the hero? Where is the climax of the story? Note,
especially, the power or beauty of lines 2, 5, 7, 15, 23, 25, 39, 40,
47, 51-53, 54-56.
HERV� RIEL. (PAGE 22.)
(Published in the _Cornhill Magazine_, 1871. Browning gave the
�100 received for the poem to the fund for the relief of the people of
Paris, who were starving after the siege of 1870.)
The cause of James II., who had been removed from the English throne
in 1688, and succeeded by William and Mary, was taken up by the
French. The story is strictly historical, except that Herv� Riel asked
a holiday for the rest of his life.
5. =St. Malo on the Rance=. On the northern coast of France, in
Brittany. See any large atlas.
43. =pressed=. Forced to enter service in the navy.
44. =Croisickese=. A native of Croisic, in Brittany. Browning has used
the legends of Croisic for poetic material in his Gold Hair of Pornic
and in The Two Poets of Croisic.
46. =Malouins=. Inhabitants of St. Malo.
135. =The Louvre=. The great palace and art gallery of Paris.
Note the suggestion of the sea, and of eager hurry, in the movement
of the verse. Compare the directness of the opening with that of the
preceding poem: What is the advantage of such a beginning? How much
is told of the hero? By what means is his heroism emphasized? How is
Browning's departure from the legend a gain? Observe the abrupt energy
of lines 39-40; the repetition, in 79-80; the picture of Herv� Riel in
stanzas viii and x.
PHEIDIPPIDES. (PAGE 30.)
The story is from Herodotus, told there in the third person. See
Herodotus, VI., 105-106. The final incident and the reward asked by
the runner are Browning's addition.
[Greek: =Chairete, nik�men=]. Rejoice, we conquer.
4. =Zeus=. The chief of the Greek gods (Roman Jupiter). =Her of the �gis
and spear=. These were the emblems of Athena (Roman Minerva), the
goddess of wisdom and of warfare.
5. =Ye of the bow and the buskin=. Apollo and Diana.
8. =Pan=. The god of nature, of the fields and their fruits.
9. =Archons=. Rulers. =tettix=, the grasshopper, whose image
symbolized old age, and was worn by the senators of Athens. See the
myth of Tithonus and Tennyson's poem of that name.
13. =Persia= attempted a conquest of Athens in 490 B.C. and was
defeated by the Athenians in the famous battle of Marathon, under
Miltiades.
18. To bring earth and water to an invading enemy was a symbol of
submission.
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