All 5 Uses of

ponder
in
To the Lighthouse

Mother and child then—objects of universal veneration, and in this case the mother was famous for her beauty—might be reduced, he pondered, to a purple shadow without irreverence.†
Part 1

pondered = thought deeply or carefully about

And as sometimes happens when a cloud falls on a green hillside and gravity descends and there among all the surrounding hills is gloom and sorrow, and it seems as if the hills themselves must ponder the fate of the clouded, the darkened, either in pity, or maliciously rejoicing in her dismay: so Cam now felt herself overcast, as she sat there among calm, resolute people and wondered how to answer her father about the puppy; how to resist his entreaty—forgive me, care for me; while James the lawgiver, with the tablets of eternal wisdom laid open on his knee (his hand on the tiller had become symbolical to her), said, Resist him.†
Part 3

ponder = think deeply or carefully about

But the dead, thought Lily, encountering some obstacle in her design which made her pause and ponder, stepping back a foot or so, oh, the dead!†
Part 3

She sat musing, pondering (she was in grey that day, Lily thought).†
Part 3

pondering = thinking deeply or carefully about

Definition:

to think deeply or carefully about something