freshets, little streams of fresh water.
[Page 63]. l. [217]. Notice the reticence with which the mere fact of the murder is stated—no details given. Keats wants the prevailing feeling to be one of pity rather than of horror.
ll. [219-20]. Ah . . . loneliness. We perpetually come upon this old belief—that the souls of the murdered cannot rest in peace. Cf. Hamlet, i. v. 8, &c.
l. [221]. break-covert . . . sin. The blood-hounds employed for tracking down a murderer will find him under any concealment, and never rest till he is found. So restless is the soul of the victim.
l. [222]. They . . . water. That water which had reflected the three faces as they went across.
tease, torment.
l. [223]. convulsed spur, they spurred their horses violently and uncertainly, scarce knowing what they did.
l. [224]. Each richer . . . murderer. This is what they have gained by their deed—the guilt of murder—that is all.
l. [229]. stifling: partly literal, since the widow's weed is close-wrapping and voluminous—partly metaphorical, since the acceptance of fate stifles complaint.
l. [230]. accursed bands. So long as a man hopes he is not free, but at the mercy of continual imaginings and fresh disappointments. When hope is laid aside, fear and disappointment go with it.