Metaphor in Solitude

The image of “nectar’d wine” may be a turn of phrase, evoking a wine that is as sweet to the senses as nectar. More broadly, the wine is a metaphor for a pleasant, pleasure-giving demeanour. The idea is that such a demeanour will inevitably attract people.

The figure of one’s song being answered by the hills is poetic—joy begetting joy—but carries a literal meaning as well. Loud sounds emitted in valleys will produce echoes which ring from the surfaces of the hills, a form of “answer.” This phenomenon is further developed two lines later.