Analysis of Dream River

Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall 1883 (Gunnersbury, London) – 1922 (Vancouver)



WIND-SILVERED willows hedge the stream,
And all within is hushed and cool.
The water, in an endless dream,
Goes sliding down from pool to pool.
And every pool a sapphire is,
From shadowy deep to sunlit edge,
Ribboned around with irises
And cleft with emerald spears of sedge.

O, every morn the winds are stilled,
The sunlight falls in amber bars.
O, every night the pools are filled
With silver brede of shaken stars.
O, every morn the sparrow flings
His elfin trills athwart the hush,
And here unseen at eve there sings
One crystal-throated hermit-thrush.


Scheme ABABCDCD EFEFGHGH
Poetic Form Traditional rhyme
Metre 111101 01011101 01001101 11011111 0100101001 11001111 1011100 01110111 110010111 0110101 110010111 11011101 110010101 11010101 01011111 11010101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 563
Words 98
Sentences 7
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 8
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 221
Words per stanza (avg) 48
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 05, 2023

29 sec read
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Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall

Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall, was a Canadian writer who was born in England but lived in Canada from the time she was seven. She was once "thought to be the best Canadian poet of her generation." more…

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