32. galliard. A lively dance.
39. croupe. The place on the horse’s back, behind the saddle.
41. scaur. A precipitous bank or rock.
42. They’ll have fleet steeds that follow. They that succeed in following us will have to have fleet steeds.
Written and published in 1820.
The skylark is a European bird, and is not found in America. It makes its nest on the ground but rises high in the air, sometimes beyond the point of vision, to sing. The Canadian Horned Lark, which is common in our fields in early spring, sometimes also sings high in the air above its nest.
12. sunken sun. The sun is still below the horizon.
15. unbodied joy. The lark is so high in the air that it no longer appears to him as a bird; but hearing its song he thinks of it only as an ethereal source of joy.