Salmon-Fishing

Robinson Jeffers 1887 (Allegheny) – 1962 (Carmel-by-the-Sea)



The days shorten, the south blows wide for showers now,
The south wind shouts to the rivers,
The rivers open their mouths and the salt salmon
Race up into the freshet.
In Christmas month against the smoulder and menace
Of a long angry sundown,
Red ash of the dark solstice, you see the anglers,
Pitiful, cruel, primeval,
Like the priests of the people that built Stonehengc,
Dark silent forms, performing
Remote solemnities in the red shallows
Of the river's mouth at the year's turn,
Drawing landward their live bullion, the bloody mouths
And scales full of the sunset
Twitch on the rocks, no more to wander at will
The wild Pacific pasture nor wanton and spawning
Race up into fresh water.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

37 sec read
121

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFBGHHBIJDKHL
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 683
Words 123
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 17

Robinson Jeffers

John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. more…

All Robinson Jeffers poems | Robinson Jeffers Books

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