264-272.  He sees, etc.:  This description is not only beautiful in itself, but it serves an important purpose in the plan of the poem.  It is a kind of condensation or symbolic expression of Sir Launfal’s many years of wandering in oriental lands.  The hint or brief outline is given, which must be expanded by the imagination of the reader.  Otherwise the story would be inconsistent and incomplete.  Notice how deftly the picture is introduced.

272.  Signal of palms:  A group of palm trees seen afar off over the desert is a welcome signal of an oasis with water for the relief of the suffering traveler.  Some critics have objected that so small a spring could not have “waved” so large a signal!

273.  Notice the abruptness with which the leper is here introduced, just as before at the beginning of the story.  The vision of “a sunnier clime” is quickly swept away.  The shock of surprise now has a very different effect upon Sir Launfal.

275.  This line at first read:  “But Sir Launfal sees naught save the grewsome thing.”

278.  White:  “And, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow.” (Numbers xii, 10.)

279.  Desolate horror:  The adjective suggests the outcast, isolated condition of lepers.  They were permitted no contact with other people.  The ten lepers who met Jesus in Samaria “stood afar off and lifted up their voices.”

281.  On the tree:  On the cross.  “Whom they slew and hanged on a tree, Him God raised up the third day.” (Acts x, 39.) This use of the word is common in early literature, especially in the ballads.

285.  See John xx, 25-27.

287.  Through him:  The leper.  Note that the address is changed in these two lines.  Compare Matthew xxv, 34-40.  This gift to the leper differs how from the gift in Part First?

291.  Leprosie:  The antiquated spelling is used for the perfect rhyme and to secure the antique flavor.

292.  Girt:  The original word here was “caged.”

294.  Ashes and dust:  Explain the metaphor.  Compare with “sackcloth and ashes.”  See Esther iv, 3; Jonah iii, 6; Job ii, 8.

300, 301.  The figurative character of the lines is emphasized by the word “soul” at the end.  The miracle of Cana seems to have been in the poet’s mind.

304, 305.  The leper is transfigured and Christ himself appears in the vision of the sleeping Sir Launfal.

307.  The Beautiful Gate:  “The gate of the temple which is called Beautiful,” where Peter healed the lame man. (Acts iii, 2.)

308.  Himself the Gate:  See John x, 7, 9:  “I am the door.”

310.  Temple of God:  “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (I Corinthians iii, 16, 17; vi, 19.)

312.  This line at first began with “which.”

313.  Shaggy:  Is this term applicable to Sir Launfal’s present condition, or is the whole simile carried a little beyond the point of true likeness?