How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
Whither, 'midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue
Thy solitary way? (1-4)
The poem's opening lines are filled with references to nature: dew, the heavens (sky), the "rosy depths" of day (the sun). "To a Waterfowl" presents itself as a poem about nature, about the transitions that take place in nature (from dry to wet, from day to night). These foreshadow the impending transition in the speaker's perspective.
Quote #2
Vainly the fowler's eye
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along. (5-8)
Very early on, the speaker starts flirting with images of death. Here the "crimson sky," for example, both describes the deep shade of red that characterizes the sky, but also makes us think of blood and death (it certainly doesn't help that there's a "fowler"—i.e., a bird hunter—in here).
Quote #3
Seek'st thou the plashy brink
Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink
On the chafed ocean side? (9-12)
This might just be the most "natural" stanza in the entire poem. The entire thing is devoted to nature, and nature alone: rivers, lakes, the ocean, and the waterfowl. The speaker, the fowler, and any other people are completely absent.