How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
Whither, 'midst falling dew,
While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, (1-2)
Right off the bat, death is in the air. The heavens still "glow," but the action of the poem takes place in the "last steps of day." Dusk, twilight, the end of a day—these are all potential metaphors for death that tell us that this poem may be a little darker than we thought.
Quote #2
Vainly the fowler's eye
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, (5-6)
Like the first stanza, the second also foreshadows the speaker's more obvious discussions of death later in the poem. A fowler is a bird hunter, which makes this a particularly violent little passage.
Quote #3
As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
Thy figure floats along. (7-8)
The waterfowl seems kind of lifeless here. It is just floating along, as if it were dead. We know it's not dead, and in fact it only appears to be floating. Perhaps things look "dead" to the speaker because he hasn't yet had his spiritual awakening.