Analysis of The Altered River
Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)
Thou lovely river, thou art now
As fair as fair can be,
Pale flowers wreathe upon thy brow,
The rose bends over thee.
Only the morning sun hath leave
To turn thy waves to light,
Cool shade the willow branches weave
When noon becomes too bright.
The lilies are the only boats
Upon thy diamond plain,
The swan alone in silence floats
Around thy charm'd domain.
The moss bank's fresh embroiderie,
With fairy favours starr'd,
Seems made the summer haunt to be
Of melancholy bard.
Fair as thou art, thou wilt be food
For many a thought of pain;
For who can gaze upon thy flood,
Nor wish it to remain
The same pure and unsullied thing
Where heaven's face is as clear
Mirror'd in thy blue wandering
As heaven's face can be here.
Flowers fling their sweet bonds on thy breast,
The willows woo thy stay,
In vain,— thy waters may not rest,
Their course must be away.
In yon wide world, what wilt thou find ?
What all find—toil and care:
Your flowers you have left behind
Far other weight to bear.
The heavy bridge confines your stream,
Through which the barges toil,
Smoke has shut out the sun's glad beam,
Thy waves have caught the soil.
On — on— though weariness it be,
By shoal and barrier cross'd,
Till thou hast reach'd the mighty sea,
And there art wholly lost.
Bend thou, young poet, o'er the stream—
Such fate will be thine own;
Thy lute's hope is a morning dream,
And when have dreams not flown?
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFEFGHBHIFJFKGKGLMLMNGNGOPOPBQBQOROR |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111 111111 11010111 011101 10010111 111111 1101101 110111 01010101 011101 01010101 011101 01111 11011 11010111 11001 11111111 1100111 11110111 111101 01100101 1101111 10011100 1101111 101111111 01111 01110111 111101 01111111 111101 11011101 110111 0101111 110101 11110111 111101 11110011 1101001 11110101 011101 111101001 111111 11110101 011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,490 |
Words | 259 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 44 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,083 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 259 |
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"The Altered River" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/44786/the-altered-river>.
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