the King and the Premier? What
features of this influence are expressed
respectively by the words "shape" and
"whisper"? What action-words in this stanza
suggest the relation (1) of effort, (2) of
time, to the magnitude of the work?

State in a single sentence the thought of this
stanza.

Stanza IV

What is the final test of the value of a law?
Its effects on the people. In what words does
Tennyson show the effect on the people of the
laws made through this man's influence?

Explain how this man became "The pillar of a
people's hope". What words show the
far-reaching extent of his influence? Which
shows the more force in the man, his influence
with the King or his later influence in the
whole nation? In what words does Tennyson show
which he thinks the greater? To which do "high"
and "higher" respectively refer? What does
"Fortune's crowning slope" suggest about (1)
the honour which the man has now gained, (2)
the nature of the road he has travelled?

Stanza V

Picture the man as he looks back after having
reached the height of his ambition. Describe
his mood. At what times does he indulge in
these dreamy memories? What does he seem to see
in these quiet hours? What hill and stream does
the poet mean? What feeling does each awaken?
Why is the "sweetness" called "secret"? Why is
the "dearness" called "distant"?

Stanza VI

What part of his life is meant by "his narrower
fate"? With what is he comparing that early
life, when he calls it "his narrower fate"?
Using similar language, what might his present
position of great influence be called?

Some think that the first line of this stanza
refers to the limitations or restrictions of
his early life, while others say the poet was
thinking simply of the stream, as the limit or
boundary of the things that influenced his
childhood. Which view is to be preferred? Which
meaning agrees with the use of the word "its"
in the next line? Would this man now look back
on those difficulties of his early life as
limitations and hindrances, or as things which
helped to make him what he is?

Now exp