Lycidas

Lycidas Glossary

swain

someone who sings love songs in pastoral poetry; a young man serving a knight in chivalric tales; someone who lives in the woods; a young male lover

sanguine

optimistic, particularly in a bad situation

vernal

young; in full bloom; a word often used to describe plants in spring

twain

two things closely tied

wan

pale, sickly

interpose

intervene

quaint

old-fashioned but in a pleasing way

waft

passing gently as if carried on the air

contagion

a disease easily passed from one person to another

hue

a shade of color

forsake

to give up someone or betray them

wanton

free-spirited or promiscuous

dread

to think of something with fear

meed

an appropriate reward

perfidious

lacking trustworthiness

strew

scatter

privy

to be aware of information not generally known

wretched

an unfortunate state of being, deserving of pity

devour

to consume with great hunger

smite

to deal a heavy and violent blow to another

grim

stern and humorless

ere

before

battening

fattening

bier

the stand where the dead are placed before they are buried

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