The general storyline of "Wife's Lament" is that a woman
has been married but, due to some trouble with his family, is now outcast. This is her
lament, as the title suggests, as she is now living in "friendless exile." After being
forced to leave by her husband's family, she is wandering and alone. The line to which
you refer comes right in the middle of the actual setting in which she finds herself
(though it's translated a bit differently in the version to which I'm
referring).
They forced me to live in a forest
grove,
under an oak tree in an earthen
cave.
This earth-hall is old, and I ache with
longing;
the dales are dark, the hills too
high,
harsh hedgesoverhung with
briars,
a home without joy. Here my lord's
leaving
often fiercely seized
me.
Her setting is stark and
cold and lonely; it's not surprising that she finds herself full of nothing but
longing. The next lines tell of her wandering through the forest from dawn to dark,
pining for her lost love. The sterility of her environment matches the sterility (lack
of love) of her heart. She is longing, and her surroundings have nothing to
offer.
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