Part 1 begins with dedicatory and visionary poems about an ancient manor and the Fortunate Islands before turning to memories of former schools, lost companionship, and the quiet disappointments of middle age. Through images of summer, Christmas, Easter, twilight, and a final spring outing, Lang mingles romantic longing with an amused awareness that youth and happiness cannot be recovered. Ronsard’s grave, San Terenzo, Tintagel, and other evocative places connect personal emotion with literary history, legend, and travel. Poems about homeland, cricket, classical learning, and pastoral love reveal a desire to preserve vanished seasons through memory, formal verse, and imaginative play.
