Punctuation marks ending lines 1, 4, 5, 8, 16, 20, and 22 (MS XI)—The commas and period are placed too high, above the baseline,
a difficulty characteristic of
Ruskinʼs early,
1826–27 hand, both in print and cursive, pencil and ink;
see
Editorial and Encoding Rationale and Methodology: Commas, Periods, and Other Punctuation.
“buil” (MS XI), “build”/“built” (MS III)—In the
MS XI version, the terminal letter is erased, whereas in the
MS III version
Ruskin first
wrote “build” and then overwrote the
d to make “built.” Perhaps he erased the terminal letter in the
MS XI version when he recognized the verb tense problem
while fair-copying the poem in the
MS III Second Poetry Anthology.
“the sailors look with” (MS XI)—This segment of line 8 overwrites erased draft, which is certainly not identical
to the current text, but which is illegible.
“when landing safe” (MS XI)—This segment of line 17 overwrites erased draft, which is certainly not identical
to the current text, but which is illegible.
“she rides at anchor” (MS XI)—This segment of line 18 overwrites erased draft, which is certainly not identical
to the current text, but which is illegible.