What was he doing, the great god Pan,
Down in the reeds by the river?
Spreading ruin and scattering ban,
Splashing and paddling with hoofs of a goat,
And breaking the golden lilies afloat
With the dragon-fly on the river.
He tore out a reed, the great god Pan,
This line stresses the bestiality of Pan; through “splashing and paddling” — words that almost work as onomatopoeias — Browning suggests an animal attitude, which is further reinforced by the insistence on the “hoofs of a goat,” characteristics of Pan’s physical attributes. 
 The line also echoes the previous line (3). 
