THE RIVER BY VALERIE BLOOM

The River's a wanderer,

A nomad, a tramp,

He doesn't choose one place

To set up his camp.

The River's a winder,

Through valley and hill

He twists and he turns,

He just cannot be still.

The River's a hoarder,

And he buries down deep

Those little treasures

That he wants to keep.

The River's a baby,

He gurgles and hums,

And sounds like he's happily

Sucking his thumbs.

The River's a singer,

As he dances along,

The countryside echoes

The notes of his song.

The River's a monster

Hungry and vexed,

He's gobbled up trees

And he'll swallow you next.

ABOUT THE POEM 

 This poem is about the poet’s appreciation and perception of a river. The river in this poem is always written with capital letter as it is a proper name.

 

THEME

The River is beautiful, but capable of causing destruction. 

SYNOPSIS OF THE POEM 

A) A SINGER : THE RIVER IS LIKE A SINGER AND A DANCER WHO 

                         MAKES MUSIC AND DANCES GRACEFULLY

B) A BABY : THE RIVER IS LIKE A BABY MAKING HAPPY BABY NOISES AND 

                    SOUNDS

C) A HOARDER : THE RIVER IS A COLLECTOR WHO KEEPS AND COLLECTS
                             THINGS

D) A WINDER : THE RIVER ISN'T STRAIGHT AND IT BENDS AS IT FLOWS

E) A WANDERER : THE RIVER IS LIKE A HOMELESS MAN WHO WANDERS
                                AIMLESSLY FROM ONE PLACE TO ANOTHER 

MEANING OF THE POEM

Stanza 1:

The poet perceives the River as a living thing; in this stanza as a wanderer, a nomad, and a tramp, and it never makes a stop.

Stanza 2:

The River will never stop. Not even when there are obstacles in front of it, it will twists and turns and makes its way through valley and hills.

Stanza 3:

The poet perceives the River as a hoarder; which take and keep anything that it wants in the riverbed.

Stanza 4:

The River is being perceived as a baby. By saying that “he gurgles and hums”, the poet makes it clear that the river is happy; but nevertheless, as the River is a baby, it is unpredictable.

Stanza 5:

In this stanza, the poet perceives the River as a singer and a dancer, and she added that the countryside echoes with the notes of “his” song. This might shows that the River promised people with life.

Stanza 6:

In this last stanza, the River is being perceived as a monster—a hungry and vexed monster. The poet warned that “he” gobbled up trees and he will eventually swallow people, too. This shows the sheer destructive power the River has.

SETTING OF THE POEM : REFERS TO THE PLACE WHERE THE STORY IN     

                                            THE POEM HAPPENS

•          The poem is set somewhere in the countryside or village where a river flows.

•          We can conclude this from the word ‘countryside’ in the fifth stanza.

        ( The countryside echoes the notes of his song. ) STANZA 5 LINE 3

PERSONA OF THE POEM

• The voice used in the poem The River is a ‘he’, which is the third person pronoun.

• The persona describes what he sees, feels and hears about the river.

• Some of the descriptions relate to his life’s experiences and knowledge about how a river flows – upstream to downstream.

• The persona provides details about where the river starts; meandering through the hills and valleys and finally, ending up in the sea or ocean.

• Apart from being gentle, the persona also warns that the river can be destructive to both nature and Man.

TONE AND MOOD OF THE POEM

• The general tone of the poem is rather philosophical.

• At times the poem conveys a rather serious tone. On other occasions, the poet conveys the light, happy and gentle side of things where the river is likened to being a singer that dances along, a carefree nomad and tramp.

• The poet also injects a mysterious tone into the poem when he describes the river as having buried ‘little treasures’ deep down the riverbed.

• All six stanzas describe the different moods and facets of the river. The mood is contemplative, serious, deep and perceptive.

LANGUAGE AND STYLE OF THE POEM 

• The poem consists of six stanzas. Each stanza has four lines.

• There is a rhyming scheme in the poem. Every second and fourth line in each stanza rhymes:

                 Stanza 2

                 The River’s a winder,

                 Through valley and hill

                 He twists and he turns,

                 He just cannot be still.

                 From the stanza above, the word ‘hill’ rhymes with ‘still’.

                 Stanza 3

                 The River’s hoarder,

                 And he buries down deep

                 Those little treasures

                 That he wants to keep.

                 From the stanza above, the word ‘deep’ rhymes with ‘keep’.

• The rhyme scheme used by the poet is a-b-c-b. in other words, the last word in Line 2 rhymes with the last word in Line 4.

Moral values  

- Being carefree and happy                       

- Appreciate Nature 

- we should not abuse Nature                  

- Keep our rivers clean.

Literary Devices           

- Metaphor : The River is compared to a wanderer, nomad, tramp, winder,hoarder, baby, singer/dancer, monster. 

            

 - Personafication : The River is given a human qualities so it acts like a human 

 # e.g. set up, twists, hums, dances, gobbled, swallow. 

                        

- The use of the senses.
     * See : valley, hill, river
     * Hear : gurgles, hums, sounds, sucking, echoes and notes.

Imagery

• Imagery refers to images that we can see when we read and understand the poem.

• In this poem, Valerie has successfully painted a vivid picture of the river and these images are clearly imprinted in our minds as we read the poem.

For examples:

Stanza 1

The image we conjure up is that of a wanderer like a nomad or tramp who moves around and cannot sit still.

Stanza 2

The image formed is that of a river slowly winding down hill, twisting and turning.

Stanza 3

The river is described like a hoarder who buries invaluable treasures beneath it.

Stanza 4

The river is described just like a baby who is sucking on his thumbs. The baby also makes happy gurgling and humming sounds.

Stanza 5

The river becomes a singer who dances along to the song which echoes throughout the countryside.

Stanza 6

                    An ugly image of the river is painted. It is described as a monster 

                    that hungrily swallows up trees and human beings. 

Glossary:

tramp (/træmp/)

 a person with no home, job or money who travels around and asks for money from other people

winder (/ˈwaɪn.dər/)

if a road, path or river winds, it follows a route which turns repeatedly in different directions

hoarder (hɔːrd)

to collect large amounts of things and keep it in a safe, often secret, place

vexed (/vekst/)

difficult to deal with and causing a lot of disagreement and argument