A River Scene
The river swelleth more and more,Like some sweet influence stealing o’erThe passive town; and for a whileEach tussock makes a tiny isle,Where, on some friendly Ararat,Resteth the weary water-rat.
No ripple shows Musketaquid,Her very current e’en is hid,As deepest souls do calmest rest,When thoughts are swelling in the breast,And she that in the summer’s droughtDoth make a rippling and a rout,Sleeps from Nahshawtuck to the Cliff,Unruffled by a single skiff.But by a thousand distant hillsThe louder roar a thousand rills,And many a spring which now is dumb,And many a stream with smothered hum,Doth swifter well and faster glide,Though buried deep beneath the tide.
Our village shows a rural Venice,Its broad lagoons where yonder fen is;As lovely as the Bay of NaplesYon placid cove amid the maples;And in my neighbour’s field of cornI recognise the Golden Horn.Here Nature taught from year to year,When only red men came to hear;Methinks ’twas in this school of artVenice and Naples learned their part,But still their mistress, to my mind,Her young disciples leaves behind.
Words in this poem
- tussock n.
- A tuft, as of grass, twigs, hair, or the like; especially, a dense tuft or bunch of grass or sedge. [From Tuz.]
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- unruffled a.
- Not ruffled or agitated; smooth; calm; tranquil; quiet. [Pref. un- not + ruffled.]
- skiff n.
- A small, light boat. [F. esquif, fr. OHG. skif, G. schiff. See Ship.]
- swifter v. t.
- To tighten, as slack standing rigging, by bringing the opposite shrouds nearer.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- placid a.
- Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
- cove v. t.
- To brood, cover, over, or sit over, as birds their eggs. [CF. F. couver, It. covare. See Covey.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- recognise v. t.
- To know again; to perceive the identity of, with a person or thing previously known; to recover or recall knowledge of. [From Recognizance; see Cognition, and cf. Reconnoiter.]
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A River Scene is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Nature, Project Gutenberg ebook #59988; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry David Thoreau, A River Scene, in Poems of Nature (1895), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59988, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/thoreau-poems/a-river-scene.html, id L02807.
Form and metre
A River Scene is 32 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 75% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 22% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 --AA-- more · o'er · whileA · isleA · ararat · rat
- 2 --AABBCCDDEEFF musketaquid · hid · restA · breastA · droughtB · routB · cliffC · skiffC · hillsD · rillsD · dumbE · humE · glideF · tideF
- 3 --AABBCCDDEE venice · is · naplesA · maplesA · cornB · hornB · yearC · hearC · artD · partD · mindE · behindE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The river swelleth more and more, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Like some sweet influence stealing o’er | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The passive town; and for a while | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Each tussock makes a tiny isle, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Where, on some friendly Ararat, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Resteth the weary water-rat. | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| No ripple shows Musketaquid, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Her very current e’en is hid, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| As deepest souls do calmest rest, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| When thoughts are swelling in the breast, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And she that in the summer’s drought | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Doth make a rippling and a rout, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Sleeps from Nahshawtuck to the Cliff, | 8 | ········ |
| Unruffled by a single skiff. | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| But by a thousand distant hills | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The louder roar a thousand rills, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And many a spring which now is dumb, | 8 | ·/······ |
| And many a stream with smothered hum, | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Doth swifter well and faster glide, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Though buried deep beneath the tide. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Our village shows a rural Venice, | 9 | //˘··/˘/˘ |
| Its broad lagoons where yonder fen is; | 9 | ··˘/·/˘·· |
| As lovely as the Bay of Naples | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Yon placid cove amid the maples; | 9 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| And in my neighbour’s field of corn | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I recognise the Golden Horn. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Here Nature taught from year to year, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| When only red men came to hear; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Methinks ’twas in this school of art | 8 | ˘/······ |
| Venice and Naples learned their part, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| But still their mistress, to my mind, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Her young disciples leaves behind. | 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.