_ A rod
wreathed
with ivy and crowned with a fir-cone,
used by Bacchus and his followers.
Keats
_osier'd gold._ The gold was woven into baskets, as though it
were osiers.
l. 224. _willow_, the weeping willow, so-called because its branches
with their long leaves droop to the ground, like dropping tears. It has
always been sacred to deserted or unhappy lovers. Cf. _Othello_, IV.
iii. 24 seq.
_adder's tongue._ For was she not a serpent?
l. 226. _thyrsus.
_ A rod
wreathed
with ivy and crowned with a fir-cone,
used by Bacchus and his followers.
l. 228. _spear-grass . . . thistle._ Because of what he is about to do.
PAGE 41. ll. 229-38. Not to be taken as a serious expression of Keats's
view of life. Rather he is looking at it, at this moment, through the
eyes of the chief actors in his drama, and feeling with them.
