Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO LEVEN WATER, by TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: On leven's banks, while free to rove Last Line: The blessings they enjoy to guard. Variant Title(s): Ode To Leven Water Subject(s): Leven (lake), Scotland | ||||||||
ON Leven's banks, while free to rove And tune the rural pipe to love, I envied not the happiest swain That ever trod the Arcadian plain. Pure stream, in whose transparent wave My youthful limbs I wont to lave, No torrents stain thy limpid source, No rocks impede thy dimpling course, That warbles sweetly o'er its bed, With white, round, polished pebbles spread, While, lightly poised, the scaly brood In myriads cleave thy crystal flood -- The springing trout in speckled pride, The salmon, monarch of the tide, The ruthless pike intent on war, The silver eel, and mottled par, Devolving from thy parent lake, A charming maze thy waters make, By bowers of birch and groves of pine, And edges flowered with eglantine. Still on thy banks, so gaily green, May numerous herds and flocks be seen, And lasses, chanting o'er the pail, And shepherds, piping in the dale, And ancient faith, that knows no guile, And Industry, embrowned with toil, And hearts resolved and hands prepared The blessings they enjoy to guard. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOCH LEVEN'S GENTLE STREAM by ELIZA COOK LOCH LEVEN by WILLIAM MCGONAGALL BALANCE A STRAW, FR. REPRISAL by TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT SONG by TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT THE TEARS OF SCOTLAND by TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT THANKSGIVING DAY by LYDIA MARIA CHILD SEVEN TIMES SEVEN [- LONGING FOR HOME] by JEAN INGELOW A DEAD HARVEST (IN KENSINGTON GARDENS) by ALICE MEYNELL |
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