The Tide River Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABCDDEE FFGGHHEE IIJJKKLMEE| Clear and cool clear and cool | A |
| By laughing shallow and dreaming pool | A |
| Cool and clear cool and clear | B |
| By shining shingle and foaming weir | C |
| Under the crag where the ouzel sings | D |
| And the ivied wall where the church bell rings | D |
| Undefiled for the undefiled | E |
| Play by me bathe in me mother and child | E |
| - | |
| Dank and foul dank and foul | F |
| By the smoky town in its murky cowl | F |
| Foul and dank foul and dank | G |
| By wharf and sewer and slimy bank | G |
| Darker and darker the farther I go | H |
| Baser and baser the richer I grow | H |
| Who dare sport with the sin defiled | E |
| Shrink from me turn from me mother and child | E |
| - | |
| Strong and free strong and free | I |
| The flood gates are open away to the sea | I |
| Free and strong free and strong | J |
| Cleansing my streams as I hurry along | J |
| To the golden sands and the leaping bar | K |
| And the taintless tide that awaits me afar | K |
| As I lose myself in the infinite main | L |
| Like a soul that has sinned and is pardoned again | M |
| Undefiled for the undefiled | E |
| Play by me bathe in me mother and child | E |
Charles Kingsley
(2)
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Write your comment about The Tide River poem by Charles Kingsley
Sayantan Jha: The author seems to hint that sin and filth are related to greed and the accumulation of money. "Baser and baser the richer I grow," the river says, meaning that it gets more disgusting and unclean as it gets "richer." However, the poem seems to have a hopeful message overall: the first and last stanza are about the purity of the river, while the second stanza is about its filth. This structure allows the poem to end on a pure note. Toward the end of the final stanza, the river cries out this description of itself: "Like a soul that has sinned and is pardoned again."
Sayantan Jha: It's a short poem, just three stanzas long. Its central idea is that a river can be symbolic of both cleanliness and filth, and both sin and purity of the soul.
More specifically, a river can be a place for playing, laughing, dreaming, and bathing: a pure place where a mother and child can belong. It can reflect the cleanest, most admirable aspects of the human spirit.
At the same time, a river can be dark, dank, foul, and slimy: a place where a mother and child should naturally feel repulsed. These portions of the river reflect the sinful, unclean aspects of humanity.
The point is that the river is defiled in some places and undefiled in others. It's complex and changing. The same is true of humanity. We're debauched at times, pure at other times.
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