7. vied with each other for places in the rows along the stream.
67. The lily swaying to and fro in the water is perfectly pictured by the rhythm, especially by the recurring five-syllable rhymes.
68. The peculiar effect is largely due to the preponderance of rhymes on a or o which have proved an insurmountable obstacle for every translator. Even Longfellow failed. His rhymes of light, night, change the whole effect.
9. IN ACHT NEHMEN. to watch, in poetry is often construed with the genitive.
14. Refers to the harmony of the spheres.
18. Deceptively remote distance.
20. AUFS NEUE, anew.
69. PINDAR, the greatest of the Greek lyric poets, died according to legend as here described. He is justly famous for his majestic odes, and Platen revered him as his master.
9. SCHAUSPIEL, here theater.
11. It was customary in Greece for an older man to cultivate the friendship of a youth, e.g., Socrates and Alcibiades.