The speaker begins in a low mood, crossing a wide plain and brooding on a sister’s suffering. He calls his state “torpid woe” — a numb, heavy sadness. Then a sudden, beautiful panorama breaks through his gloom and, as he puts it, “woke me from the dream” of grief. With each step, the scenery opens further: woods, meadows, green hills, and rugged slopes rush in, filling him with delight until his eye takes in everything at once.
That moment of overwhelming beauty leads to a wish: he hopes his entire life will follow the same pattern. Every stage would reveal new insights, with knowledge growing as he ages, until death finally pours an undarkened light and his sight darts through infinite space. Thought then would pause in a blissful trance. The mood climbs from sorrow into exhilaration and finally a rapt, almost mystical stillness.