Analysis of To The River Avon

Walter Savage Landor 1775 (Warwick) – 1864



Avon! why runnest thou away so fast?
Rest thee before that Chance! where repose
The bones of him whose spirit moves the world.
I have beheld thy birthplace, I have seen
Thy tiny ripples where they played amid
The golden cups and ever-waving blades.
I have seen mighty rivers, I have seen
Padus, recovered from his firy wound,
And Tiber, prouder than them all to bear
Upon his tawny bosom men who crusht
The world they trod on, heeding not the cries
Of culprit kings and nations many-tongued.
What are to me these rivers, once adorn'd
With crowns they would not wear but swept away?
Worthier art thou of worship, and I bend
My knees upon thy bank, and call thy name,
And hear, or think I hear, thy voice reply.


Scheme ABCDEFDGHAIJKLMNO
Poetic Form
Metre 101110111 110111101 0111110101 11111111 1101011101 0101010101 1111010111 10101111 0101011111 0111010111 0111110101 1101010101 1111110101 1111111101 10011110011 1101110111 0111111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 701
Words 133
Sentences 9
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 17
Lines Amount 17
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 556
Words per stanza (avg) 131
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

40 sec read
118

Walter Savage Landor

Walter Savage Landor (30 January 1775 – 17 September 1864) was an English writer and poet. His best known works were the prose Imaginary Conversations, and the poem Rose Aylmer, but the critical acclaim he received from contemporary poets and reviewers was not matched by public popularity. As remarkable as his work was, it was equalled by his rumbustious character and lively temperament. more…

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