How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
I to her cottage bent my way,
Beneath an evening-moon. (7-8)
It seems odd that the speaker is making a trip to his beloved at night. As a result, this typically happy reunion is cloaked in darkness. We're off to a grim start.
Quote #2
The sinking moon to Lucy's cot
Came near, and nearer still. (15-16)
The moon is an important and complex symbol here. (See "Symbols" for more on that importance and complexity.) As the speaker gets nearer to his destination, climbing higher on toward Lucy's cottage, the moon gets lower. It's as though the sinking moon symbolizes the pitfalls of being in love, such as the fear of death.
Quote #3
And all the while my eyes I kept
On the descending moon.
[…] When down behind the cottage roof,
At once, the bright moon dropped. (19-24)
The moon continues, then concludes, its downward trajectory. In such a short poem, Wordsworth's focus on this detail gives us a clue as to the symbolic importance of the sinking moon. It fixates our speaker and suggests the ultimate risk of loving Lucy: what if she dies?
Quote #4
What fond and wayward thoughts will slide
Into a Lover's head!
"O mercy!" to myself I cried,
"If Lucy should be dead!" (25-28)
The first time we read this, we admit, this stanza caught us by surprise. Why would a poem about visiting your honey end with thoughts of death? We thought it over, though, and realized that this is kind of Wordsworth's whole point. There's always a price to be paid for love, and this case is no exception. The speaker's suffering in this final stanza is simply the cost of falling in love. If he didn't care about Lucy, her death wouldn't be anything to worry about.