To the River Rhone by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The speaker addresses the Rhone as a royal river, tracing its course from snowy Alpine origins to tributary torrents and onward to the sea. Towns, bridges, vineyards, and fleets appear as welcoming attendants in its imagined triumphal procession.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Sonnet, Nature Poetry · 159 words
First lines
Thou Royal River, born of sun and shower / In chambers purple with the Alpine glow, / Wrapped in the spotless ermine of the snow / And rocked by tempests! -- at the appointed hour / Forth, like a steel-clad horseman from a tower, / With clang and clink of harness dost thou go / To meet thy vassal torrents, that below / Rush to receive thee and obey thy power. / And now thou movest in triumphal march, / A king among the rivers! On thy way / A hundred towns await and welcome thee; / Bridges uplift for thee the stately arch, / Vineyards encircle thee with garlands gay, / And fleets attend thy progress to the sea!
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To the River Rhone is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Sonnet, Nature Poetry
- Length: 159 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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- Work identity for To the River Rhone by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhyming lines move from the river's Alpine origins and tributaries to its procession past towns toward the sea.
- Nature Poetry — Snow, storms, mountain light, and flowing tributaries furnish the river's portrait through sustained royal personification.
Tags
rivers · Alpine landscapes · personification · tributaries · vineyards