What is meant by "Their cares dropped from them"? They forgot themselves, their cares and privations, and realized the hopes and fears, the joys and sorrows of "Little Nell".
How was this result brought about? It was due to the fascination of the story.
To what does the poet compare this? To some "spell divine", some supernatural influence, which causes their own troubles to disappear for the time being.
Give, then, the meaning of "o'ertaken as by some spell divine". They are brought, as it were, under the influence of some magician, who, by the exercise of his power, transports them from their own world to that in which "Nell" lives and moves.
Show the beauty of the comparison in the last two lines of this stanza. As the needles of the pine, through the action of the wind, fall silently and almost unperceived, so the cares of the miners were forgotten in the all-compelling interest of the story.
The cares that infest the day Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away.
Why is this comparison more appropriate than, for example, like the leaves from the trees in autumn, or, like snow-flakes from the clouds in winter? Because it is drawn from the objects at hand, not from more remote things--an example of local colour.
Explain "gusty pine". A pine exposed to the mountain blasts.
Who is referred to by "he" in the second line? Dickens--not the reader of the story.
What is meant by "wrought that spell"? Produced that magic influence.
State the question in full. Is "he who wrought that spell" lost, too?
What tale has the "towering pine" to tell? That the mining camp has disappeared.
And what the "stately Kentish spire"? That Dickens has gone. (Dickens' home was at Gadshill, in Kent.)
What is the one tale that both have to tell? A tale of disappearance and death.
Is the question asked in the second line answered? Not directly, though the answer is implied.
State the substantial meaning of the stanza. The "towering pine" of the Sierras tells of the disappearance of the mining camp; the "stately spire" of Kent tells of the death of Dickens; both bear witness to the potent influence of Dickens.
What is the "fragrant story" of the Western mining camp? The tribute that the incident related in the poem pays to the magical power of Dickens as a story writer.