[24.] Once pass'd I blindfold here. That is, at one time I could have passed here blindfolded, being so familiar with the country. Can you think of any other possible interpretation?
[26-30.] Explain.
[31-40.] Compare the thought here to that of Milton's Lycidas, ll. 23-38. A comparison of the two poems entire, in thought and structure, will be found to be both interesting and profitable. Shepherd-pipe (l. 35). The term pipe, also reed (l. 78), is continually used in pastoral verse as symbolic of poetry and[p.206] song.
[38-45.] Needs must I lose them, etc. That is, I must lose them, etc. Arnold's great ambition was to devote his life to literature, which circumstances largely prevented; while Clough was eager to take a more active part in life, not being content with the uneventful career of a poet, irk'd (l. 40). Annoyed; worried. keep (l. 43). Here used in the sense of remain, silly (l. 45). Harmless; senseless. The word has an interesting history.
[46-50]. Like Arnold, Clough held lofty ideals of life, and grieved to see men living so far below their privileges. This, with his loss of faith in God, tinged his poetry with sadness. The storms (l. 49) allude to the spiritual, political, and social unrest of the last of the first half, and first of the last half, of the nineteenth century.
[51-60.] So ... So.... Just as the cuckoo departs with the bloom of the year, so he (Clough) went, l. 48. With blossoms red and white (l. 55). The white thorn, or hawthorn, very common in English gardens.
[62.] high Midsummer pomps. Explained in the following lines.
[71.] light comer. That is, the cuckoo. Compare
"O blithe New-comer."
—WORDSWORTH, Lines to the Cuckoo.
[77. ]swains. Consult dictionary.