"Many a youth and many a maid dancing in the chequered shade."

This is found in the Puritan Period section of the text, specifically under Pastoral Poetry, resting in the middle of John Milton's "L'Allegro" [The banishment of Melancholy.]

He really circled Pluto hard at the end of the poem. That is the section where Orpheus has travelled to Hades to bring his wife back to earth. His music makes Pluto grant his wish, but with the condition that Orpheus cannot look back at Eurydice as he leads her out of Hades. Except he can't and so Milton calls her "half regain'd."

I wonder what the teacher said that made that passage mean so much to him.

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