How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide. (3-4)
Even though "Eastertide" makes us think of spring, rebirth, and all that good stuff, it also makes us think of Jesus' death and resurrection. The poem's first stanza, then, tells us right away that this poem is as much about rebirth as it is about death.
Quote #2
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again, (5-6)
The speaker is still alive, and he's still young, but part of him has already died. He may live to be 70, but the first twenty years of his life are dead and gone, never to return.
Quote #3
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more. (7-8)
The speaker is fixated on death. He's already talked about how the first 20 years of his life are dead and gone, and now he's defining the rest of his life in terms of when it will end (in 50 years).
Quote #4
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow. (9-12)
Snow is pretty and all, but it makes us think of winter, cold temperatures, and death. We're not sure if the speaker is talking about white cherry blossoms here, or actual snow, but that's part of the point. Rebirth and life (the blossoms) and death (snow) are very closely intertwined.