How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
There is sweet music here that softer falls
Than petals from blown roses on the grass, (46-47)
Okay, we just brought this one up because we think it's a really pretty image. The speakers of these are comparing the sound of the music in this enchanted land to the softness of a rose petal falling on the grass. We can't imagine much of anything more gentle and lovely and calm than a single petal dropping on the ground. It kind of makes us want to hear that music, and maybe try some of that Lotos… No! Bad! Must… not… eat Lotos…
Quote #5
To dream and dream, like yonder amber light,
Which will not leave the myrrh-bush on the height; (102-103)
As the sailors sing their song, they pick up images from the beautiful landscape around them. Here they use the light of the enchanted, endless sunset as an image of the endless dream they want to fall into. Nothing works quite the way it's supposed to in the land of the Lotos-eaters, and even time and light get twisted and stretched in strange and magical ways. Like everything else in this poem, the natural world seems kind of lovely and kind of scary, too.