It occurs to me that the reference in this early poem is probably simpler
and less strained than "dichten = condensare." I'd guess it could have
originated with a poem that almost everybody used to read in high school:
Milton's "Il Penseroso," with its church
With antick Pillars massy proof,
And storied Windows richly dight,
Casting a dimm religious light. (158-60)
In the text I'm copying from, _Samson Agonistes and Shorter Poems_ (Crofts
Classics, 1950), A.E. Barker footnotes "dight" as "decorated."
--
Jonathan Morse
Department of English
University of Hawaii at Manoa
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