Green River Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDD EEFFEEGGHHIIAAEE EEJJGGKKLLMMEEEEEE NOEEPPMMEEQQ JJEERRSSTTWhen breezes are soft and skies are fair | A |
I steal an hour from study and care | A |
And hie me away to the woodland scene | B |
Where wanders the stream with waters of green | B |
As if the bright fringe of herbs on its brink | C |
Had given their stain to the wave they drink | C |
And they whose meadows it murmurs through | D |
Have named the stream from its own fair hue | D |
- | |
Yet pure its waters its shallows are bright | E |
With coloured pebbles and sparkles of light | E |
And clear the depths where its eddies play | F |
And dimples deepen and whirl away | F |
And the plane tree's speckled arms o'ershoot | E |
The swifter current that mines its root | E |
Through whose shifting leaves as you walk the hill | G |
The quivering glimmer of sun and rill | G |
With a sudden flash on the eye is thrown | H |
Like the ray that streams from the diamond stone | H |
Oh loveliest there the spring days come | I |
With blossoms and birds and wild bees' hum | I |
The flowers of summer are fairest there | A |
And freshest the breath of the summer air | A |
And sweetest the golden autumn day | E |
In silence and sunshine glides away | E |
- | |
Yet fair as thou art thou shunnest to glide | E |
Beautiful stream by the village side | E |
But windest away from haunts of men | J |
To quiet valley and shaded glen | J |
And forest and meadow and slope of hill | G |
Around thee are lonely lovely and still | G |
Lonely save when by thy rippling tides | K |
From thicket to thicket the angler glides | K |
Or the simpler comes with basket and book | L |
For herbs of power on thy banks to look | L |
Or haply some idle dreamer like me | M |
To wander and muse and gaze on thee | M |
Still save the chirp of birds that feed | E |
On the river cherry and seedy reed | E |
And thy own wild music gushing out | E |
With mellow murmur and fairy shout | E |
From dawn to the blush of another day | E |
Like traveller singing along his way | E |
- | |
That fairy music I never hear | N |
Nor gaze on those waters so green and clear | O |
And mark them winding away from sight | E |
Darkened with shade or flashing with light | E |
While o'er them the vine to its thicket clings | P |
And the zephyr stoops to freshen his wings | P |
But I wish that fate had left me free | M |
To wander these quiet haunts with thee | M |
Till the eating cares of earth should depart | E |
And the peace of the scene pass into my heart | E |
And I envy thy stream as it glides along | Q |
Through its beautiful banks in a trance of song | Q |
- | |
Though forced to drudge for the dregs of men | J |
And scrawl strange words with the barbarous pen | J |
And mingle among the jostling crowd | E |
Where the sons of strife are subtle and loud | E |
I often come to this quiet place | R |
To breathe the airs that ruffle thy face | R |
And gaze upon thee in silent dream | S |
For in thy lonely and lovely stream | S |
An image of that calm life appears | T |
That won my heart in my greener years | T |
William Cullen Bryant
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