Wings of the Dove Henry James

Rock on the Rhine River associated with a number of legendary tales; in the commonest form, the Lorelei is the spirit of a maiden who drowned herself in despair over a faithless lover and who now acts as a siren luring fishermen to their deaths.

Mountain ridge (French).

Greek god, protector of cattle, sheep, and travelers, who was a messenger of the gods and guided the dead to the underworld; son of Zeus.

Let’s not speak of it further (French).

In Victorian England to have a coach with four horses was a sign of genuine affluence.

Aunt Maud Lowder’s elegant house, a mansion on Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, in an upper-crust section of London.

Latin name for the outermost limit of the inhabited world; hence, barren and cold.

Densher is thinking of Kate’s visit to her father in the novel’s opening scene.

Corruption of the Sanskrit word Jagannatha, the manifestation of the Hindu god Krishna. The deity was honoured at a festival in which wooden images of the god were placed in an extremely heavy, highly carved chariot (car) that was pulled forward by hundreds of followers. Contemporary Europeans erroneously believed that devotees threw themselves under the wheels of the chariot to be crushed; hence, the colloquial usage of “Juggernaut” as a relentless, overpowering, and irrational force.

Tourist guide.

The London firm of John Murray published tourist handbooks.

The “it” refers to Mrs. Stringham’s imagination.

Colloquial term for tools or implements; in this context a reference to Mrs. Stringham’s literary skills being honed and ready. Elsewhere, James uses “nippers” to mean the nosepiece of a pair of eyeglasses.

Boston newspaper of the period.

Literary figures of the nineteenth century: Belgian dramatist and poet Maurice Maeterlinck; British critic Walter Pater; French nobleman and memoirist Jean-Baptiste Antoine Marcellin Marbot; and German historian Ferdinand Adolf Gregorovius.

Allusion to Alfred Tennyson’s poem “Locksley Hall” (1842), in which European cosmopolitanism is ironically contrasted with English provincialism.

Fashion of the day (French).

German publishing house that specialized in reprinting British and American works.

“ ’Till then!” or “Soon!” (French).

Stagecoach.

Former (Latin).

Thomas Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), eminent Scottish-born essayist, philosopher, and man of letters.

Novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, published in 1855.

Beautiful (memorable) moments; perhaps akin to the “spots in time” of poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850). Milly’s speech here comes close to revealing her true condition to Susie for the first time; it is the closest thing to a religious conviction or belief in the afterlife that we hear from Milly.

Fickle; flighty (French).

Milly and Susan are now visiting Lord Mark’s county estate; the scene is a garden party.

Diplomatic 003

Diplomatic reception held by an Indian prince.

Boorish people (French).

Beautiful eyes (French).

Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572), a well-known Venetian portraitist.

More or less (French).

The portrait is of Lucrezia Panciatichi (c.1540); it is in the Uffizi museum in Florence. Lord Mark’s estate is a product of Henry James’s imagination.

Great minds think alike! (French).

Lord Mark’s estate.

Literally, a series of miniature scenes viewed through a pinhole in a special box; in this case, the designs seen in a kaleidoscope.

Peddlers’ carts.

The The term refers to the Eastern Roman Empire prior to the Turkish conquest in the fifteenth century.

Unhoped for; unexpected (French).

Allusion to Aunt Maud’s expensive porcelain from Sèvres, France.

Tawdry beginnings.

French short-story writer and novelist (1850-1893) of the “naturalist” school.

These ladies (French).

Discussions (French).

Paolo Veronese (1528-1588), Venetian painter whose figures wore rich, colourful costumes.

Here, “nippers” refers to the nosepiece of Lord Mark’s eyeglasses.

Means (French); his estate, wealth.

Apartment (Italian).

Water taxi (Italian).

Good, decent (French).

Public squares (Italian).

Arcades (Italian).

Clear Clear judgment (French).

Entrance gate (Italian).

Young lady of the house (Italian); that is, Milly.

Not well; indisposed (Italian).

Main floor in a Renaissance building, usually one level about the ground floor and containing important reception rooms (Italian).

Good-looking (Italian).

Street flanking the canal (Italian).

The gondola’s small cabin (Italian); seen from behind.

Sitting room (Italian).

Brompton Oratory, a Roman Catholic church offering informal services; opened in 1884.

Action (French).