It is a beauteous Evening, calm and free; -Fairly straightforward, worsdworth is setting the scene as a beautiful evening.
The holy time is quiet as a Nun - Sunset is a sacred or holy time in many of Wordsworth’s poems. Wordsworth compares the time of day to a holy nun adoring God. And how time seems to stand still in this calmness. The image of a 'nun' indicates how sacred the eveing is.
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun -This suggests that nature possesses underlying energy and power. And also helps create the image of the perfect sunset
Is sinking down in its tranquillity; -Wordsworth is attempting to create the picture in the mind of the reader of the "perfect sunset", and emphasising the calmness
The gentleness of heaven broods on the Sea: -Wordsworth shows the beauty of the evening by suggesting that heaven has nested [(broods) on the sea. He may mean that heaven is hovering over the sea at this time, thinking. Then Wordsworth senses the energy of the sea, maybe thinking that the calm sea has awoken for the night. nesting is about keeping eggs warm could it mean that all though the sun is going down it still provides the perfect warmth?
Listen! the mighty Being is awake -may be interpreted as: God, nature, or God manifested throughout nature, This "mighty being" may be interpreted as: God, nature, or God manifested throughout nature, Wordsworth's ideas in this poem rotating around divinity would back up this concept as Divinity is most definitely evident in God.
And doth with his eternal motion make - 'Eternal motion' means it is constantly changing and evolving
A sound like thunder−everlastingly. -Wordsworth thinks that the motion of the tides makes a sound like thunder on the shore. Thunder is also a symbol of strength and power, so here wordsworth is expressing the eternal might of nature.
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here, -This is wordsworths first reference to the girl that walks with him, his daughter Caroline. The use of the word 'dear' indicates his affection and care for her
If thou appear untouched by solemn thought,-Here wordsworth tells that though she appears untouched by the "solemn thought" that he himself is gripped by, her nature is still divine. He may have ‘solemn thoughts’ about the sacredness of nature, but she is intimately connected to nature. And so she is closer to nature than him.
Thy nature is not therefore less divine: Wordsworth is showing how a childs ignorance is their innocence.
Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year; -this line portrays the trust and innocence of Caroline. Or suggesting that her soul is blessed by God.
And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine, -The ‘Temple’ here represents stands for Caroline’s (Wordsworhts daughter) closeness to nature. She is in the ‘inner shrine’ of the temple. Usually only special people, the high priests, could enter the inner shrine of a Jewish temple.
God being with thee when we know it not. -Wordsworth is stating how God seems to be with Caroline in her childish innocence yet not with him or adults. The line above this he suggests how she is intimately connected to nature, because she is 'natural' she is connected to God als