when i set out for lyonnesse

THOMAS HARDY

WHEN I SET OUT FOR LYONNESSE

1. when the poet set out for Lyonnesse it was winter season the foliage of the trees was covered with frost he had to travel very far. The place was hundred miles away

2. No prophet or the wisest wizard could guess what experience the poet would have at Lyonnesse . He himself couldn’t predict his future.

3. When the poet returned from Lyonnesse his eyes were bright with happiness. It was as if he had experienced a revelation of life.everyone silently noticed that the poet’s happiness was of a rare quality and which cannot be mesured.

summary

When I set out for Lyonnesse,

A hundred miles away,

The rime was on the spray,

And starlight lit my lonesomeness

When I set out for Lyonnesse

A hundred miles away.

LYONNESSE : THE MYTHICAL BIRTH PLACE OF SIR TRISTRAM, IN ENGLAND ,BELIVED TO HAVE BEEN SUBMERGED BY THE SEA ;HERE AN IMAGINARY PLACE

Rime :frostThe spray : leaves and branches of trees ;foliage

What would bechance at Lyonnesse

While I should sojourn there

No prophet durst declare,

Nor did the wisest wizard guessWhat would bechance at Lyonnesse

While I should sojourn there.

Bechance : happen/or chance to happen

Sojourn : stay Prophet : priest Durst : dared Wizard : Magician

When I came back from Lyonnesse

With magic in my eyes,All marked with mute surmise

My radiance rare and fathomless,

When I came back from Lyonnesse

With magic in my eyes! 

Mute : Unable to speak

Surmise : guess Radiance : glow Fathomless : deep