Our River Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BBBBCDCD EFBFGHGH HIHIJHKH LBLBMFMF HFHFBNBN HFHFONON HKHKHPHP QFNF FBF KKKKRIRI| FOR A SUMMER FESTIVAL AT 'THE LAURELS' ON THE MERRIMAC | A |
| - | |
| Once more on yonder laurelled height | B |
| The summer flowers have budded | B |
| Once more with summer's golden light | B |
| The vales of home are flooded | B |
| And once more by the grace of Him | C |
| Of every good the Giver | D |
| We sing upon its wooded rim | C |
| The praises of our river | D |
| - | |
| Its pines above its waves below | E |
| The west wind down it blowing | F |
| As fair as when the young Brissot | B |
| Beheld it seaward flowing | F |
| And bore its memory o'er the deep | G |
| To soothe a martyr's sadness | H |
| And fresco hi his troubled sleep | G |
| His prison walls with gladness | H |
| - | |
| We know the world is rich with streams | H |
| Renowned in song and story | I |
| Whose music murmurs through our dreams | H |
| Of human love and glory | I |
| We know that Arno's banks are fair | J |
| And Rhine has castled shadows | H |
| And poet tuned the Doon and Ayr | K |
| Go singing down their meadows | H |
| - | |
| But while unpictured and unsung | L |
| By painter or by poet | B |
| Our river waits the tuneful tongue | L |
| And cunning hand to show it | B |
| We only know the fond skies lean | M |
| Above it warm with blessing | F |
| And the sweet soul of our Undine | M |
| Awakes to our caressing | F |
| - | |
| No fickle sun god holds the flocks | H |
| That graze its shores in keeping | F |
| No icy kiss of Dian mocks | H |
| The youth beside it sleeping | F |
| Our Christian river loveth most | B |
| The beautiful and human | N |
| The heathen streams of Naiads boast | B |
| But ours of man and woman | N |
| - | |
| The miner in his cabin hears | H |
| The ripple we are hearing | F |
| It whispers soft to homesick ears | H |
| Around the settler's clearing | F |
| In Sacramento's vales of corn | O |
| Or Santee's bloom of cotton | N |
| Our river by its valley born | O |
| Was never yet forgotten | N |
| - | |
| The drum rolls loud the bugle fills | H |
| The summer air with clangor | K |
| The war storm shakes the solid hills | H |
| Beneath its tread of anger | K |
| Young eyes that last year smiled in ours | H |
| Now point the rifle's barrel | P |
| And hands then stained with fruits and flowers | H |
| Bear redder stains of quarrel | P |
| - | |
| But blue skies smile and flowers bloom on | Q |
| And rivers still keep flowing | F |
| The dear God still his rain and sun | N |
| On good and ill bestowing | F |
| His pine trees whisper 'Trust and wait ' | - |
| His flowers are prophesying | F |
| That all we dread of change or fate | B |
| His live is underlying | F |
| - | |
| And thou O Mountain born no more | K |
| We ask the wise Allotter | K |
| Than for the firmness of thy shore | K |
| The calmness of thy water | K |
| The cheerful lights that overlay | R |
| Thy rugged slopes with beauty | I |
| To match our spirits to our day | R |
| And make a joy of duty | I |
John Greenleaf Whittier
(1)
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About Our River
Our River is a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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