Stanza 1: (in dialogue)
The poem begins with dialogue in which one person (most likely a woman with respect to the reference of long locks of hair) is asked where they are going and then answering along a downhill path because it is easy. She then asks the other person to join her and cryptically adds that they can avoid having to trudge back uphill by never turning back.
Stanza 2: (in narrative description)
The second stanza switches from quoted dialogue to narrative description where it is revealed that the conversation above is taking place in August. The downhill path is lined with fields of heather on either side. Imagery is used to convey the lighthearted appeal of the trek down the hill.
Stanza 3: (in dialogue)
One of the two (not directly identified) seems something odd in the darkening sky ahead and asks the other what it might be. The answer comes not just that it is a meteor streaking through the sky, but that the meteor is a portentous sign intended to convey a message requiring help or assistance.
Stanza 4: (In dialogue)
The dialogue has grown increasingly more abstract and ambiguous and here is posed almost as a riddle when the first person asks what glides quickly where flowers grow quickly and the scent is sickly. The answer is equally enigmatic: “a small hooded worm.” Immediately, the questioning seems to return to the literal surroundings when the first person is spooked by something that lies in the hollow and the second person replies it is a dead body waiting for eternity.
Stanza 5: (In dialogue)
No more questions, but instead a fearful request to turn away from the path they are on because of the possibility that it leads to hell. The reply comes as if in answer to a question: no, there is no turning away from the path because the hill is too steep to climb. Then a reminder: the downhill path is easy, but at the cost of there being no turning back.
