Poets

Poets symbolize art. The speaker refers to poets being "inspired" by nature (9). This stands in for a wider acknowledgment of the role of nature in all artistic creation.

Roots

Roots symbolize living in harmony with the natural world. In Line 20, the speaker describes an ideal state of nature in which human beings fed on "roots, not beasts" (20). This imagined vegetarian past depicts humans as living in perfect alignment with all the creatures around them, by foraging their nourishment harmlessly from the earth.

A Cottage

The "cottage" represents a simple lifestyle (34). A cottage is a humble dwelling, without the grandeur of a country manor or a city house. In the poem, it symbolizes the simple life that the speaker believes she is content to live.

Kings

Kings symbolize the height of society. As the legal and spiritual head of the country, the monarch represents the apex of...