Was that what women hummed at luncheon parties before the war?
In this line, Woolf’s question reflects nostalgia and irony, wondering if women once filled social gatherings with light, carefree conversation “before the war.” Like how World War I disrupted not only public life but also the private, domestic world of women.
This ledme to remember what I could of Lycidas and to amuse myself with guessing which word itcould have been that Milton had altered, and why
In this line, Woolf recalls Milton’s Lycidas and imagines him revising a single word to show the freedom male writers historically had to perfect their art. Her reflection emphasizes that such creative leisure was denied to women, reinforcing her argument about the unequal conditions that shaped literary history.