The poems by Lowell are used by permission of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company, authorized publishers of his works.
HAKON's LAY
This poem is here given in its original form as published by Lowell in Graham's Magazine in January, 1855. It was afterwards expanded into the second canto of "The Voyage to Vinland."
With what other poems in this book may "Hakon's Lay" be compared?
3. Skald. See Longfellow, 'The Skeleton in Armor,' note on I. 19.
10. Hair and beard were both white, we are told. Who is suggested in this line as white?
17. eyried. An eagle builds its aerie or nest upon a crag or inaccessible height above ordinary birds. The simile here begun before the eagle is mentioned, and the minstrel's thoughts are spoken of as born in the aerie of his brain, high above his companions.
20. One of the finest pictures of the singing of a minstrel before his lord is found in Scott's "Waverly."
21. fletcher: arrow-maker.
31. The work of Fate cannot be done by a reed which is proverbially weak or by a stick which is cut cross-grained and hence will split easily. She does not take her arrow at random from all the poor and weak weapons which life offers, but she chooses carefully.