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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 | |||
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 |
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