=Jill-o'er-the-ground=: Ground ivy; usually written
_Gill-over-the-ground_.
=Quaker-maid=: Quaker ladies; small blue flowers growing low on the
ground.
=wax-red=: The huckleberry blossom is red and waxy.
SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY
Read the poem slowly through to yourself, getting what you can out of
it, without trying too hard. Note that after the third stanza the earth
is compared to a ship. After you have read the poem through, go back and
study it with the help of the following questions and suggestions:--
The author is out on the moors not far from the sea: What details does
he select to make you feel the beauty of the afternoon? What words in
the first stanza suggest movement and freedom? Why does the author stop
to tell about the flowers, when he has so many important things to say?
Note a change of tone at the beginning of the fourth stanza. What
suggests to the author that the earth is like a ship? Why does he say
that it is not a steadfast place? How does the fifth stanza remind you
of _The Ancient Mariner_? Why does the author speak so passionately at
the beginning of the sixth stanza? Here he wonders whether there is
really any plan in the universe, or whether things all go by chance. Who
are the captains of whom he speaks? What different types of people are
represented in the last two lines of stanza six? What is the "noisome
hold" of the Earth ship? Who are those cursing and sighing? Who are
_they_ in the line, "But they said, 'Thou art not of us!'"? Who are
_they_ in the next line but one? Why does the author turn back to the
flowers in the next few lines? What is omitted from the line beginning
"To be out"? Explain the last three lines of stanza eight.
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