[ [112] 57. The elements are fire, air, earth, and water.
[113] 82. Polar day. What is the length of the day near the poles?
[ [114] 100. Sooth; truth.
[ [115] 107. Lake Leman; another name for Lake Geneva.
[ [116] 133. The moat was the ditch which surrounded a castle. The moat of Chillon Castle, however, was the part of the lake which separated the rock from the shore.
[ [117] 179. Rushing forth in blood. Byron is said to have been fond of the symptoms of violent death. He, a year after writing this poem, saw three robbers guillotined, taking careful notice of his own and their actions. Goethe, the German poet, even thought that Byron must have committed murder, he seemed so interested in sudden death.
[ [118] 230. Selfish death; suicide.
[ [119] 237. Wist; the imperfect tense of wit, to be aware of, to know.
[ [120] 288. Brother's. It was a Mohammedan belief that the souls of the blessed inhabited green birds in paradise.
[ [121] 294. Solitary cloud. This line is one of several very close similarities in this poem to Wordsworth; cf.:—