[149.] the just-pausing Genius. Does the author here allude to death?
[151.] Thou hast not lived (so). That is, as described in preceding stanza.
[152.] Thou hadst one aim, etc. What was the Scholar-Gipsy's one motive in life?
[157-160.] But thou possessest an immortal lot, etc. Explain.
[165.] Which much to have tried, etc. Which many attempts and many failures bring.
[180.] do not we ... await it too? That is, the spark from heaven. See l. 171.
[182-190]. Possibly Carlyle, although the author may have had in mind a type rather than an individual.
[208-209.] Averse, as Dido did, etc. Dido, the mythical queen of Carthage, being deserted by her lover Æneas, slew herself. She afterward met him on his journey through Hades, but turned from him in scorn.
"In vain he thus attempts her mind to move
[p.201] With tears and prayers and late repenting love;
Disdainfully she looked, then turning round
But fixed her eyes unmoved upon the ground,
And what he says and swears regards no more
Than the deaf rocks when the loud billows roar."
—DRYDEN'S Translation.
For entire episode, see Æneid, vi, 450-476.