|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE RIVER, by EDWIN MUIR Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: The silent stream flows on and in its glass
Subject(s): War; Rivers
First Line: The silent stream flows on and in its glass
Subject(s): War; Rivers
The silent stream flows on and in its glass
Shows the trained terrors, the well-practised partings,
The old woman standing at the cottage gate,
Her hand upon her grandson's shoulder. He,
A bundle of clouts creased as with tribulations,
Bristling with spikes and spits and bolts of steel,
Bound in with belts, the rifle's snub-nosed horn
Peering above his shoulder, looks across
From this new world to hers and tries to find
Some ordinary words that share her sorrow.
The stream flows on
And shows a blackened field, a burning wood,
A bridge that stops half-way, a hill split open
With scraps of houses clinging to its sides,
Stones, planks and tiles and chips of glass and china
Strewn on the slope as by a wrecking wave
Among the grass and wild-flowers. Darkness falls,
The stream flows through the city. In its mirror
Great oes and capitals and flourishes,
Pillars and towers and fans and gathered sheaves
Hold harvest-home and Judgment Day of fire.
The houses stir and pluck their roofs and walls
Apart as if in play and fling their stones
Against the sky to make a common arc
And fall again. The conflagrations raise
Their mountainous precipices. Living eyes
Glaze instantly in crystal change. The stream
Runs on into the day of time and Europe,
Past the familiar walls and friendly roads,
Now thronged with dumb migrations, gods and altars
That travel towards no destination. Then
The disciplined soldiers come to conquer nothing,
March upon emptiness and do not know
Why all is dead and life has hidden itself.
The enormous winding frontier walls fall down,
Leaving anonymous stone and vacant grass.
The stream flows on into what land, what peace,
Far past the other side of the burning world?
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
RIVERS INTO SEAS by LYNDA HULL
TO A WOMAN GLANCING UP FROM THE RIVER by LARRY LEVIS
TWO-RIVER LEDGER by KHALED MATTAWA
HE FINDS THE MANSION by JAMES MCMICHAEL
THE RIVERS by CLARIBEL ALEGRIA
VERMILION FLYCATCHER, SAN PEDRO RIVER, ARIZONA by MARGARET ATWOOD
THE PORCH OVER THE RIVER by WENDELL BERRY