The plateau is not one single place, but a spot that each person treasures for a private reason. The speaker remembers what drew someone else there: the gleaming view of a distant sea-line, Laura’s hillside where quartz sparkled in the fading sun, and Danny’s hiding place in high grass where he could quietly watch lovers pass below. But the speaker’s own attachment comes last, and it feels the most personal. He loves the plateau for the big round moon that breaks from the clouds and seems to hang above it, burning with soft intensity and lighting the purple flowers of June. The mood is tender, nostalgic, and quietly romantic — less about describing a landscape than about how a place can hold different memories and desires for different people, each one thinking it belongs especially to them.
The Plateau — Summary
It was the silver, heart-enveloping view Of the mysterious sea-line far away, Seen only on a gleaming gold-white day, That made it dear and beautiful to you. And Laura loved it for the little hill, Where the quartz sparkled fire, barren and dun, Whence in the shadow of the dying sun, She contemplated Hallow’s wooden mill. While Danny liked the sheltering high grass, In which he lay upon a clear dry night, To hear and see, screened skilfully from sight, The happy lovers of the valley pass. But oh! I loved it for the big round moon That swung out of the clouds and swooned aloft, Burning with passion, gloriously soft, Lighting the purple flowers of fragrant June.