The Stream of Life
Oh silvery streamlet of the fields,That flowest full and free!For thee the rains of spring return,The summer dews for thee;And when thy latest blossoms dieIn autumn's chilly showers,The winter fountains gush for thee,Till May brings back the flowers.
Oh Stream of Life! the violet springsBut once beside thy bed;But one brief summer, on thy path,The dews of heaven are shed.Thy parent fountains shrink away,And close their crystal veins,And where thy glittering current flowedThe dust alone remains.
Words in this poem
- streamlet n.
- A small stream; a rivulet; a rill.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Stream of Life is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by William Cullen Bryant, Project Gutenberg ebook #16341; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Cullen Bryant, The Stream of Life, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/the-stream-of-life.html, id L07370.
Form and metre
The Stream of Life is 16 lines in 2 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% 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-AABAB fields · freeA · return · theeA · dieA · showersB · theeA · flowersB
- 2 -A-A-B-B springs · bedA · path · shedA · away · veinsB · flowed · remainsB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh silvery streamlet of the fields, | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘··· |
| That flowest full and free! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For thee the rains of spring return, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The summer dews for thee; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And when thy latest blossoms die | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| In autumn's chilly showers, | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| The winter fountains gush for thee, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Till May brings back the flowers. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Oh Stream of Life! the violet springs | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| But once beside thy bed; | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| But one brief summer, on thy path, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The dews of heaven are shed. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Thy parent fountains shrink away, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| And close their crystal veins, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And where thy glittering current flowed | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘· |
| The dust alone remains. | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
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.