"Once more to distant ages of the world."
MANY-FOUNTAIN'D IDA. Many streams took their source in Ida. Homer applies the same epithet to this mountain.
24-32. These lines are in imitation of certain passages from Theocritus. See Stedman, Victorian Poets, pp. 213 f. They illustrate Tennyson's skill in mosaic work.
30. MY EYES—LOVE. Cf. Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI. ii. 3. 17:
"Mine eyes are full of tears, my heart of grief."
36. COLD CROWN'D SNAKE. "Cold crown'd" is not a compound epithet, meaning "with a cold head." Each adjective marks a particular quality. Crown'd has reference to the semblance of a coronet that the hoods of certain snakes, such as cobras, possess.
37. THE DAUGHTER OF A RIVER-GOD. Oenone was the daughter of the river Cebrenus in Phrygia.
39-40. AS YONDER WALLS—BREATHED. The walls of Troy were built by Poseidon (Neptune) and Apollo, whom Jupiter had condemned to serve King Laomedon of Troas for a year. The stones were charmed into their places by the breathing of Apollo's flute, as the walls of Thebes are said to have risen to the strain of Amphion's lyre. Compare Tithonus, 62-63:
"Like that strange song I heard Apollo sing,
When Ilion, like a mist, rose into towers."
And cf. also The Princess, iii. 326.