The River
Still glides the stream, slow drops the boatUnder the rustling poplars’ shade;Silent the swans beside us float:None speaks, none heeds; ah, turn thy head!
Let those arch eyes now softly shine,That mocking mouth grow sweetly bland;Ah! let them rest, those eyes, on mine!On mine let rest that lovely hand!
My pent-up tears oppress my brain,My heart is swoln with love unsaid.Ah! let me weep, and tell my pain,And on thy shoulder rest my head!
Before I die,--before the soul,Which now is mine, must re-attainImmunity from my control,And wander round the world again;Before this teased, o’er-labored heartForever leaves its vain employ,Dead to its deep habitual smart,And dead to hopes of future joy.
Words in this poem
- pent p. p.
- Penned or shut up; confined; -- often with up. [From Pen, v. t.]
- swoln
- Contraction of Swollen, p. p.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The River is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #54985; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Matthew Arnold, The River, in Poems (1849–1867), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #54985, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/arnold-poems/the-river.html, id L07013.
Form and metre
The River is 20 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 A-A- boatA · shade · floatA · head
- 2 ABAB shineA · blandB · mineA · handB
- 3 ABAB brainA · unsaidB · painA · headB
- 4 ABABCDCD soulA · attainB · controlA · againB · heartC · employD · smartC · joyD
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Still glides the stream, slow drops the boat | 8 | ········ |
| Under the rustling poplars’ shade; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Silent the swans beside us float: | 8 | /˘···/·· |
| None speaks, none heeds; ah, turn thy head! | 8 | ········ |
| Let those arch eyes now softly shine, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That mocking mouth grow sweetly bland; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Ah! let them rest, those eyes, on mine! | 8 | ········ |
| On mine let rest that lovely hand! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My pent-up tears oppress my brain, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| My heart is swoln with love unsaid. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Ah! let me weep, and tell my pain, | 8 | ········ |
| And on thy shoulder rest my head! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Before I die,--before the soul, | 8 | ········ |
| Which now is mine, must re-attain | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Immunity from my control, | 8 | ˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| And wander round the world again; | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Before this teased, o’er-labored heart | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Forever leaves its vain employ, | 8 | ˘/˘···˘/ |
| Dead to its deep habitual smart, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And dead to hopes of future joy. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.