Benedicite: An invocation of blessing. Imperative form of the
James Russell Lowell
Latin _benedicere_, to bless. Longfellow speaks of the power of songs
that--
"Come like the benediction
That follows after prayer."
19-20. Compare these lines with the ninth strophe of Wordsworth's
_Ode_. The "inspiring sea" is Wordsworth's "immortal sea." Both poets
rejoice that some of the impulses and ideals of youth are kept alive
in old age.