Express away away in the poem …

“A Legend of the Northland” is a traditional, popular story composed in the style of a ballad. It narrates the legend of how St. Peter had once cursed an old lady for being mean and stingy. The poem, thus, imparts the important lesson that greed always gets punished. The poem conveys the message that as human beings, we should have positive qualities like affection, love, fellow-feeling, sympathy, generosity and a sense of sharing.

In the region around the North Pole (Northland), the duration of the day is very less because its position is such that the Sun’s rays reach for a very less time. When this area is experiencing winter season, the duration of night is very long, and the day time hours are very less. In line 4, ‘they’ refers to the people who live in this region. The poet says that the duration of the night time is so long that the people cannot sleep them through. If they go to bed, take a few hours of sleep and then, they wake up, it is still night time. He wants to emphasize on the fact that the duration of the night is very long.