Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE ASSABET, by HENRY DAVID THOREAU Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Up this pleasant stream let's row Last Line: With her simple stanza'd ode. Subject(s): Assabet River, Massachusetts; Rivers | ||||||||
Up this pleasant stream let's row For the livelong summer's day, Sprinkling foam where'er we go In wreaths as white as driven snow -- Ply the oars, away! away! Now we glide along the shore, Chucking lilies as we go, While the yellow-sanded floor Doggedly resists the oar, Like some turtle dull and slow. Now we stem the middle tide Ploughing through the deepest soil, Ridges pile on either side, While we through the furrow glide, Reaping bubbles for our toil. Dew before and drought behind, Onward all doth seem to fly; Nought contents the eager mind, Only rapids now are kind, Forward are the earth and sky. Sudden music strikes the ear, Leaking out from yonder bank, Fit such voyagers to cheer -- Sure there must be naiads here, Who have kindly played this prank. There I know the cunning pack Where yon self-sufficient rill All its telltale hath kept back, Through the meadows held its clack, And now babbleth its fill. Silent flows the parent stream, And if rocks do lie below Smothers with her waves the din, As it were a youthful sin, Just as still and just as slow. But this gleeful little rill, Purling round its storied pebble, Tinkles to the self same tune From December until June, Nor doth any drought enfeeble. See the sun behind the willows, Rising through the golden haze, How he gleams along the billows -- Their white crests the easy pillows Of his dew besprinkled rays. Forward press we to the dawning, For Aurora leads the way, Sultry noon and twilight scorning, In each dew drop of the morning Lies the promise of a day. Rivers from the sun do flow, Springing with the dewy morn, Voyageurs 'gainst time do row, Idle noon nor sunset know, Even even with the dawn. Since that first away! away! Many a lengthy league we've rowed, Still the sparrow on the spray, Hastes to usher in the day With her simple stanza'd ode. | 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 THE RIVER BRIDGED AND FORGOT by WENDELL BERRY |
|