hasten means be quick or move swiftly rather, so “to hastening ills a prey” means that the bad things are hurrying to the land and it will fall prey to them. The word order is a bit unusual, but that is a poetry. The whole phrase means that a country that has amassed great wealth, but where the character of the people has decayed, should be prepared to face bad luck in the near future.

I am sure there is a story behind this poetry. Perhaps one of the poets among us can answer this on a deeper level for you.

It's wrong. Correction is: "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills at prey, when wealth accumulates, and men decay" to fare well = to do well; succeed (hence the expression "farewell") to fare ill = the opposite of fare well Do you understand it now?

虽然那位作者的句子是两百多年前写的， 我认为他很有先见之明，我看他的诗词, 藉以从想象中看到现在的美国。