of the ancient fervour, and perhaps never thought
of in the old religion--I am more orthodox than to let a heathen goddess
be so neglected.' _The Ode to Psyche_ follows.

The story of Psyche may be best told in the words of William Morris in
the 'argument' to 'the story of Cupid and Psyche' in his _Earthly
Paradise_:

'Psyche, a king's daughter, by her exceeding beauty caused the
people to forget Venus; therefore the goddess would fain have
destroyed her: nevertheless she became the bride of Love, yet
in an unhappy moment lost him by her own fault, and wandering
through the world suffered many evils at the hands of Venus,
for whom she must accomplish fearful tasks. But the gods and
all nature helped her, and in process of time she was
re-united to Love, forgiven by Venus, and made immortal by the
Father of gods and men.'

Psyche is supposed to symbolize the human soul made immortal through
love.

NOTES ON THE ODE TO PSYCHE.

PAGE 117. l. 2. _sweet . . . dear._ Cf. _Lycidas_, 'Bitter constraint
and sad occasion dear.'

l. 4. _soft-conched._ Metaphor of a sea-shell giving an impression of
exquisite colour and delicate form.

PAGE 118. l. 13. _'Mid . . . eyed._ Nature in its appeal to every sense.
In this line we have the essence of all that makes the beauty of flowers
satisfying and comforting.

l. 14. _Tyrian_, purple, from a certain dye made at Tyre.

l. 20. _aurorean._ Aurora is the goddess of dawn. Cf. _Hyperion_, i.
181.

l. 25. _Olympus._ Cf. _Lamia_, i. 9, note.

_hierarchy._ The orders of gods, with Jupiter as head.

l. 26. _Phoebe_, or Diana, goddess of the moon.

l. 27. _Vesper_, the evening star.

PAGE 119. l. 34. _oracle_, a sacred place where the god was supposed to
answer questions of vital import asked him by his worshippers.

l. 37. _fond believing_, foolishly credulous.

l. 41. _lucent fans_, luminous wings.

PAGE 120. l. 55. _fledge . . . steep._ Probably a recollection of what
he had seen in the Lakes, for on June 29, 1818, he writes to Tom from
Keswick of a waterfall which 'oozes out from a cleft in perpendicular
Rocks, all fledged with Ash and other beautiful trees'.

l. 57. _Dryads._ Cf. _Lamia_, l. 5, note.

INTRODUCTION TO FANCY.

This poem, although so much lighter in spirit, bears a certain relation
in thought to Keats's other odes. In the _Nightingale_ the tragedy of
this life made him long to escape, on the wings of ima