I said this in a reply upthread, but it bears repeating:
I don't think there IS a boat. The hole (around which Margaret is arraying the rocks) is the grave of their stillborn child, who most likely died in utero, due to the punishment Margaret received at the hands of The Rake.
I think that William and Margaret have resigned themselves to the fact that they'll soon be giving themselves to the river, and this is their last act before entering its cold embrace.
"Tell me now, tell me this, a forest's son, a river's daughter?" = William asking the Margaret the sex of their child.
I said this in a reply upthread, but it bears repeating:
I don't think there IS a boat. The hole (around which Margaret is arraying the rocks) is the grave of their stillborn child, who most likely died in utero, due to the punishment Margaret received at the hands of The Rake.
I think that William and Margaret have resigned themselves to the fact that they'll soon be giving themselves to the river, and this is their last act before entering its cold embrace.
"Tell me now, tell me this, a forest's son, a river's daughter?" = William asking the Margaret the sex of their child.