How we cite our quotes: I cite by line number only.
Quote #1
I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful, a fairy's child; (lines 13-14)
These are the lines in which the lady is first introduced. She's in the "meads," or fields when he meets her, and she's "full beautiful." The final description is a strange. Why does he call her a "fairy's child"? Sure, this is a fairy tale, and the lady is possibly a fairy, but why a "child"? The knight seems to infantilize her, or to treat her like a child in a condescending way, right from the get-go.
Quote #2
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild. (lines 15-16)
This description breaks the fairy lady into her component parts, telling us about her "hair," her "foot," and her "eyes." It's like the knight is dissecting her with this description.
Quote #3
I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone; (lines 17-18)
By placing the "garland" of flowers on the lady's head, the knight is symbolically crowning her as queen of his heart. But the "fragrant zone," or flower belt, that he puts around her waist suggests that she's queen of other parts, too.
Quote #4
She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sigh'd full sore, (lines 29-30)
After riding around on the knight's horse all day, the fairy lady invites the knight back to her "elfin grot," or cave. But why does she start crying and sighing? Is it because she regrets having sex with the knight? Or because she's sorry for what she's going to do to him? If she's feeling remorse, why does she abandon him, anyway? This is one of the most ambiguous lines of the poem.
Quote #5
And there I shut her wild wild eyes
With kisses four. (lines 31-32)
Again, the fairy lady's eyes are described as "wild," and this time, the knight calls attention to this wildness through repetition. One of the fairy lady's defining characteristics is her "wild wild eyes," so it's important that the knight tries to neutralize them by "shut[ting]" them.