The River of Ruin
Along by the river of ruinThey dally--the thoughtless ones,They dance and they dreamBy the side of the stream,As long as the river runs.
It seems all so pleasant and cheery--No thought of the morrow is theirs,And their faces are brightWith the sun of delight,And they dream of no night-brooding cares.
The women wear garlanded tresses,The men have rings on their hands,And they sing in their glee,For they think they are free--They that know not the treacherous sands.
Ah, but this be a venturesome journey,Forever those sands are ashift,And a step to one sideMeans a grasp of the tide,And the current is fearful and swift.
For once in the river of ruin,What boots it, to do or to dare,For down we must goIn the turbulent flow,To the desolate sea of Despair.
Words in this poem
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The River of Ruin 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, The River of Ruin, in The Complete Poems (1893–1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #18338, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/dunbar-poems/the-river-of-ruin.html, id L00866.
Form and metre
The River of Ruin is 25 lines in 5 stanzas of 5 lines each. 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 -ABBA ruin · onesA · dreamB · streamB · runsA
- 2 -ABBA cheery · theirsA · brightB · delightB · caresA
- 3 -ABBA tresses · handsA · gleeB · freeB · sandsA
- 4 -ABBA journey · ashiftA · sideB · tideB · swiftA
- 5 -ABBA ruin · dareA · goB · flowB · despairA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Along by the river of ruin | 9 | ˘/··/˘·/˘ |
| They dally--the thoughtless ones, | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| They dance and they dream | 5 | ····· |
| By the side of the stream, | 6 | ······ |
| As long as the river runs. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| It seems all so pleasant and cheery-- | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| No thought of the morrow is theirs, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| And their faces are bright | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| With the sun of delight, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| And they dream of no night-brooding cares. | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The women wear garlanded tresses, | 9 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| The men have rings on their hands, | 7 | ······· |
| And they sing in their glee, | 6 | ······ |
| For they think they are free-- | 6 | ······ |
| They that know not the treacherous sands. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Ah, but this be a venturesome journey, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Forever those sands are ashift, | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| And a step to one side | 6 | ······ |
| Means a grasp of the tide, | 6 | ······ |
| And the current is fearful and swift. | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| For once in the river of ruin, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| What boots it, to do or to dare, | 8 | ········ |
| For down we must go | 5 | ····· |
| In the turbulent flow, | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| To the desolate sea of Despair. | 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.