How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
[…] is the rose naked
or is that her only dress? (1-2)
What is the "truth" of this rose's appearance? It is putting on a show (or dress) for us? If so, what might lie beneath that image?
Quote #2
Why do trees conceal
the splendor of their roots? (3-4)
Things that are somehow hidden seem very important to our speaker. It's as if he's trying to pull back a vast curtain of "reality" in order to understand the mechanisms of how the world works. If that's true, well… yeah, good luck with that, friend.