By the River
THROUGH the rustling river grassesWarm and sweet the young wind passes,Blowing shyly soft caressesTo their dewy emerald tresses.
All along the silver sandsLittle ripples joining hands,Dance a quaint fantastic measure,Making liquid sounds of pleasure.
While away beyond the weirCalls the cuckoo loud and clear,Something mystic and remote,Ringing in his fairy note.
How I wish that I were small,Swinging on the rushes tall,Just a humble happy thing,Born to live a while in Spring!
Words in this poem
- shyly adv.
- In a shy or timid manner; not familiarly; with reserve.
- quaint a.
- Prudent; wise; hence, crafty; artful; wily. [OE. queint, queynte, coint, prudent, wise, cunning, pretty, odd, OF. cointe cultivated, amiable, agreeable, neat, fr. L. cognitus known, p. p. of cognoscere to ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
By the River is in the public domain. This text is taken from Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #50591; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Radclyffe Hall, By the River, in Songs of Three Counties, and Other Poems (1913), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #50591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hall-three-counties/by-the-river.html, id L26154.
Form and metre
By the River is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB.
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 AABB grassesA · passesA · caressesB · tressesB
- 2 AABB sandsA · handsA · measureB · pleasureB
- 3 AABB weirA · clearA · remoteB · noteB
- 4 AABB smallA · tallA · thingB · springB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| THROUGH the rustling river grasses | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Warm and sweet the young wind passes, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Blowing shyly soft caresses | 8 | /˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| To their dewy emerald tresses. | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| All along the silver sands | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Little ripples joining hands, | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Dance a quaint fantastic measure, | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Making liquid sounds of pleasure. | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| While away beyond the weir | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Calls the cuckoo loud and clear, | 7 | ··/···· |
| Something mystic and remote, | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Ringing in his fairy note. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| How I wish that I were small, | 7 | ······· |
| Swinging on the rushes tall, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Just a humble happy thing, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Born to live a while in Spring! | 7 | ······· |
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.