Sate: The use of this archaic form adds to the antique flavor
James Russell Lowell
of the poem. So with the use of the word "tree" for cross, in line 281
below. Lowell was passionately fond of the old poets and the quaint
language of the early centuries of English literature, and loved to
introduce into his own poetry words and phrases from these sources. Of
this habit he says:
"If some small savor creep into my rhyme
Of the old poets, if some words I use,
Neglected long, which have the lusty thews
Of that gold-haired and earnest-hearted time,
Whose loving joy and sorrow all sublime
Have given our tongue its starry eminence,--
It is not pride, God knows, but reverence
Which hath grown in me since my childhood's prime."