THE RIVER BY VALERIE

BLOOM

And sounds like he's happily

The River's a wanderer,

. The River's a singer,

A nomad, a tramp,

As he dances along,

He doesn't choose one place

The countryside echoes

To set up his camp.

The notes of his song.

The River's a winder,

The River's a monster

Through valley and hill

Hungry and vexed,

He twists and he turns,

He's gobbled up trees

He just cannot be still.

And he'll swallow you next.

The River's a hoarder,

And he buries down deep

Sucking his thumbs

ABOUT THE POEM

of a river. The river in this poem is always written with

capital letter as it is a proper name.

Those little treasures

That he wants to keep.
The River's a baby,
He gurgles and hums,

This poem is about the poets appreciation and perception

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 monstera

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 lifes 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 Rivers 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 Rivers hoarder,

And he buries down deep
Those little treasures
That he wants to keep.
From the stanza above,
the word deep rhymes with keep.

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.

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

For examples:
Stanza 1

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

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 (/trmp/)
a person with no home, job or money who travels
around and asks for money from other people
winder (/wan.dr/)
if a road, path or river winds, it follows a route which
turns repeatedly in different directions
hoarder (hrd)
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