189-190. DOME OF BRUNELLESCHI. Brunelleschi (Broo-nei-les'-ké) was an
Italian architect (1377-1444), who completed the cathedral of Santa Maria
in Florence. Its dome is of great size and impressiveness.
194. BY--SEAS. Tennyson was fond of quoting this line as one of his
roost successful individual lines. Its rhythm is indeed sonorous.
195-196. AND HOLD--APRIL AUTUMNS. Objection has been taken to the
somewhat pedantic precision of these lines. See, however, the reference
on pp. lxxii.-lxxvii. to Tennyson's employment of science in poetry.
The fact is familiar, of course, that in the Antipodes the seasons are
the reverse of ours.