The first four lines of the poem set the scene for the reader. The speaker of the poem is a "maiden" (a.k.a. a young, unmarried woman) who lives in a rural town in the countryside (a common setting for Rossetti's poems). She mentions having grown used to being in the "sun and air," suggesting that she works outside in some nearby fields. She also indicates that she has local friends and acquaintances when she references her "cottage mates." (The repetition of the word "cottage," technically an example of diacope, reinforces this image of a quaint, humble environment.)
Notably, she also isn't "mindful [she is] fair." This means she isn't aware of her beauty, or at the least isn't terribly concerned with her looks. It also subtly foreshadows the way that the poem will link desire and lust with danger; before attraction gets involved, the speaker's life is uncomplicated.
For now, though, the speaker is pleased with this simple life; she feels "contented." This word receives quite a lot of emphasis for a few reasons:
- It occurs at the beginning of a line and therefore draws the reader's attention visually.
- It has three syllables, making it the longest word in the poem's opening quatrain. It takes longer to say than any of the surrounding words, attracting further attention.
- It echos nearby sounds via assonance and consonance, namely the /co/ sound that appears twice with "cottage" and the /en/ sound in "maiden" and "hardened."
All that's to say that the speaker's contentment is central to her characterization of her life at this point in time.
The opening lines also set the stage for the abundant consonance that will pervade the rest of the poem. Perhaps most notably, there are many /k/, /t/, /m/, and /f/ sounds:
Contented with my cottage mates,
Not mindful I was fair
This consonance creates a feeling of melody and lyricism, with the hum of the /m/ bouncing off the pop of the /k/ and /t/. The soft /f/ and /l/ of "mindful" and "fair" will also echo throughout the rest of the poem.
While the remainder of the poem sticks closely to common meter, its first two lines are irregular. Common meter has an iambic rhythm, created by an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable in a da-DUM pattern. The lines alternate between four iambs (eight syllables) per line and three iambs (six syllables) per line. Here is a closer look at the meter in the first two lines:
I was | a cot- | tage mai- | den
Hardened | by sun | and air
As you can see, the first line is missing its final stressed syllable, while the first foot of the second line is inverted into a trochee. That is, it begins with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Thus, the iamb seems to stretch across from line 1 into line 2. The enjambment and asyndeton here contribute to this effect, causing the first line to naturally flow into the second. As such, even though things are a bit irregular metrically, they still sound smooth and gentle. The next two lines are then totally regular:
Content- | ed with | my cot- | tage mates,
Not mind- | ful I | was fair.
The rhyme scheme so far follows an ABCB pattern, though the first syllable of "maiden" chimes with "mates" and is also almost assonant with the B rhymes ("air" and "fair"). Altogether, then, these first few lines sound smooth and pleasing—perhaps lulling the reader into a false sense of security.
Finally, it's worth noting that this first quatrain is buffeted on either side by the phrase "I was," placing the setting's tranquility firmly in the past. Indeed, this idyllic scene will serve as a point of comparison for the rest of the poem.