On the River
The sun is low,The waters flow,My boat is dancing to and fro.The eve is still,Yet from the hillThe killdeer echoes loud and shrill.
The paddles plash,The wavelets dash,We see the summer lightning flash;While now and then,In marsh and fenToo muddy for the feet of men,
Where neither birdNor beast has stirred,The spotted bullfrog's croak is heard.The wind is high,The grasses sigh,The sluggish stream goes sobbing by.
And far awayThe dying dayHas cast its last effulgent ray;While on the landThe shadows standProclaiming that the eve's at hand.
Words in this poem
- killdeer n.
- A small American plover (Ægialitis vocifera). [So named from its notes.]
- croak v. i.
- To make a low, hoarse noise in the throat, as a frog, a raven, or a crow; hence, to make any hoarse, dismal sound. [From the primitive of AS. cracettan to croak as a raven; akin to G. kr to croak, and to E. creak, crake.]
- sobbing n.
- A series of short, convulsive inspirations, the glottis being suddenly closed so that little or no air enters into the lungs.
- effulgent a.
- Diffusing a flood of light; shining; luminous; beaming; bright; splendid. [L. effulgens, -entis, p. pr. of effulgere.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the River is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Project Gutenberg ebook #18338; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Paul Laurence Dunbar, On the River, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/on-the-river.html, id L00895.
Form and metre
On the River is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AAABBB. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 97%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.4 syllables. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 AAABBB lowA · flowA · froA · stillB · hillB · shrillB
- 2 AAABBB plashA · dashA · flashA · thenB · fenB · menB
- 3 AAABBB birdA · stirredA · heardA · highB · sighB · byB
- 4 AAABBB awayA · dayA · rayA · landB · standB · handB
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The sun is low, | 4 | ···· |
| The waters flow, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| My boat is dancing to and fro. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The eve is still, | 4 | ···· |
| Yet from the hill | 4 | ···· |
| The killdeer echoes loud and shrill. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The paddles plash, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The wavelets dash, | 5 | ····· |
| We see the summer lightning flash; | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| While now and then, | 4 | ···· |
| In marsh and fen | 4 | ···· |
| Too muddy for the feet of men, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Where neither bird | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Nor beast has stirred, | 4 | ···· |
| The spotted bullfrog's croak is heard. | 8 | ·/˘/···· |
| The wind is high, | 4 | ···· |
| The grasses sigh, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The sluggish stream goes sobbing by. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And far away | 4 | ··˘/ |
| The dying day | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Has cast its last effulgent ray; | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| While on the land | 4 | ···· |
| The shadows stand | 4 | ·/·· |
| Proclaiming that the eve's at hand. | 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.