To the River Arve
Not from the sands or cloven rocks,Thou rapid Arve! thy waters flow;Nor earth, within her bosom, locksThy dark unfathomed wells below.Thy springs are in the cloud, thy streamBegins to move and murmur firstWhere ice-peaks feel the noonday beam,Or rain-storms on the glacier burst.
Born where the thunder and the blast,And morning's earliest light are born,Thou rushest swoln, and loud, and fast,By these low homes, as if in scorn:Yet humbler springs yield purer waves;And brighter, glassier streams than thine,Sent up from earth's unlighted caves,With heaven's own beam and image shine.
Yet stay; for here are flowers and trees;Warm rays on cottage roofs are here,And laugh of girls, and hum of bees--Here linger till thy waves are clear.Thou heedest not--thou hastest on;From steep to steep thy torrent falls,Till, mingling with the mighty Rhone,It rests beneath Geneva's walls.
Rush on--but were there one with meThat loved me, I would light my hearthHere, where with God's own majestyAre touched the features of the earth.By these old peaks, white, high, and vast,Still rising as the tempests beat,Here would I dwell, and sleep, at last,Among the blossoms at their feet.
Words in this poem
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- swoln
- Contraction of Swollen, p. p.
- humbler n.
- One who, or that which, humbles some one.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To the River Arve 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, To the River Arve, in Poems (1821–1876), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16341, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bryant-poems/to-the-river-arve.html, id L07317.
Form and metre
To the River Arve is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABABCDCD rocksA · flowB · locksA · belowB · streamC · firstD · beamC · burstD
- 2 ABABCDCD blastA · bornB · fastA · scornB · wavesC · thineD · cavesC · shineD
- 3 ABAB-C-C treesA · hereB · beesA · clearB · on · fallsC · rhone · wallsC
- 4 ----ABAB me · hearth · majesty · earth · vastA · beatB · lastA · feetB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not from the sands or cloven rocks, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thou rapid Arve! thy waters flow; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Nor earth, within her bosom, locks | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thy dark unfathomed wells below. | 8 | ········ |
| Thy springs are in the cloud, thy stream | 8 | ········ |
| Begins to move and murmur first | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| Where ice-peaks feel the noonday beam, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Or rain-storms on the glacier burst. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Born where the thunder and the blast, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And morning's earliest light are born, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Thou rushest swoln, and loud, and fast, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| By these low homes, as if in scorn: | 8 | ········ |
| Yet humbler springs yield purer waves; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And brighter, glassier streams than thine, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Sent up from earth's unlighted caves, | 8 | ········ |
| With heaven's own beam and image shine. | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Yet stay; for here are flowers and trees; | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Warm rays on cottage roofs are here, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And laugh of girls, and hum of bees-- | 8 | ········ |
| Here linger till thy waves are clear. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thou heedest not--thou hastest on; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| From steep to steep thy torrent falls, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Till, mingling with the mighty Rhone, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| It rests beneath Geneva's walls. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Rush on--but were there one with me | 8 | ········ |
| That loved me, I would light my hearth | 8 | ········ |
| Here, where with God's own majesty | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Are touched the features of the earth. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| By these old peaks, white, high, and vast, | 8 | ········ |
| Still rising as the tempests beat, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Here would I dwell, and sleep, at last, | 8 | ········ |
| Among the blossoms at their feet. | 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.