Analysis of The River of Rivers in Connecticut
Wallace Stevens 1879 (Reading) – 1955 (Hartford)
There is a great river this side of Stygia
Before one comes to the first black cataracts
And trees that lack the intelligence of trees.
In that river, far this side of Stygia,
The mere flowing of the water is a gayety,
Flashing and flashing in the sun. On its banks,
No shadow walks. The river is fateful,
Like the last one. But there is no ferryman.
He could not bend against its propelling force.
It is not to be seen beneath the appearances
That tell of it. The steeple at Farmington
Stands glistening and Haddam shines and sways.
It is the third commonness with light and air,
A curriculum, a vigor, a local abstraction . . .
Call it, one more, a river, an unnamed flowing,
Space-filled, reflecting the seasons, the folk-lore
Of each of the senses; call it, again and again,
The river that flows nowhere, like a sea.
Scheme | AXX AXX XBX XBX XBX XXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101101111 0111101110 01110010011 011011111 01101010101 10010001111 111010110 10111111100 11110110101 1111110100100 11110101100 110001101 110111101 00100010010010 111101010110 11010010011 1110101101001 010111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 811 |
Words | 150 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 18 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 106 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 269 Views
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