How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
Strange fits of passion have I known:
And I will dare to tell,
But in the Lover's ear alone,
What once to me befell. (1-4)
The speaker starts off by letting us know that he's only going to talk to lovers about his experience. Of course, then he just goes right ahead with all the sordid details—without bothering to ask for a background check from any of his readers. Do you think that he's just assuming that every reader who encounters this poem would have loved someone in their life? If so, how safe do you think that assumption is?
Quote #2
When she I loved looked every day
Fresh as a rose in June, (5-6)
This simile gives us a glimpse of our speaker's love for Lucy. It seems pure, sweet, and simple. It also sets the stage for his journey to the cottage, as well as the horrifying thought at the poem's end. He's on his way to connect with his beloved, but there's a price to be paid for that kind of connection: fear of losing it.
Quote #3
With quickening pace my horse drew nigh
Those paths so dear to me. (11-12)
Even the road to Lucy's cottage is "dear" to the speaker. It seems like he's made this trip many times before—happily so, since his loved one is waiting for him at the end of the journey.
Quote #4
In one of those sweet dreams I slept,
Kind Nature's gentlest boon! (17-18)
Love, according to the speaker, is both a sweet dream and the greatest gift ("gentlest boon") that Nature can give us. He's a huge fan of love, in other words—even if it does result in moments of paralyzing fear from time to time.
Quote #5
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 final stanza of the poem throws us a pretty nasty curveball. While the steadily-sinking moon has lent a growing sense of foreboding to the poem, these last lines really seem to come out of left field. Upon reflection, though, they seem both troubling and fitting. After all, the price to loving someone is the fear of losing them.