Why is this comparison more appropriate than, for example, like the leaves from the trees in autumn, or, like snow-flakes from the clouds in winter? Because it is drawn from the objects at hand, not from more remote things—an example of local colour.
Explain "gusty pine". A pine exposed to the mountain blasts.
Stanza VIII
Who is referred to by "he" in the second line? Dickens—not the reader of the story.
What is meant by "wrought that spell"? Produced that magic influence.
State the question in full. Is "he who wrought that spell" lost, too?
What tale has the "towering pine" to tell? That the mining camp has disappeared.
And what the "stately Kentish spire"? That Dickens has gone. (Dickens' home was at Gadshill, in Kent.)
What is the one tale that both have to tell? A tale of disappearance and death.