How we cite our quotes: I cite by line number only in this module.
Quote #1
A sunbeam which hath lost its way,
And through the crevice and the cleft
Of the thick wall is fallen and left; (lines 31-3)
The small amount of sunlight that makes its way into the dungeon seems like it doesn't belong there – the speaker thinks it must have gotten "lost." Natural beauty has no place in a dungeon like his!
Quote #2
And truly might it be distress'd
To see such bird in such a nest; (lines 77-78)
The speaker might be banished from the natural world, but he still uses natural metaphors and similes to describe the people he loves.
Quote #3
A polar day, which will not see
A sunset till its summer's gone,
Its sleepless summer of long light (lines 82-84)
The speaker's youngest brother's goodness and beauty remind him of a "polar day" during the summer – a day with no sunset.
Quote #4
He was a hunter of the hills,
Had follow'd there the deer and wolf;
To him his dungeon was a gulf,
And fetter'd feet the worst of ills. (lines 103-6)
The speaker's middle brother is an outdoorsy "hunter." Because he's so used to the freedom of the outdoors, he can't stand being imprisoned and is the first to give up hope and die.
Quote #5
I saw the glimmer of the sun
Creeping as it before had done,
But through the crevice where it came
That bird was perch'd, as fond and tame,
And tamer than upon the tree (lines 263-7)
The "glimmer of the sun" that "creep[s]" into the dungeon is like the first glimmer of hope the speaker sees after his youngest brother dies. The bird, too, could represent the power of the natural world to restore hope.