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Sonnet VIII. To the River Itchin, near Winton From FOURTEEN SONNETS (1789) Itchin, when I behold thy banks again, Thy crumbling margin, and thy silver breast On which the self-same tints still seem to rest, Why feels my heart the shiv'ring sense of pain? Is it that many a summer's day has passedÅ@Å@Å@Å@Å@5 Since in life's morn I carolled on thy side? Is it that oft since then my heart has sighed As youth, and hope's delusive gleams, flew fast? Is it that those who circled on thy shore, Companions of my youth, now meet no more? 10 Whate'er the cause, upon thy banks I bend Sorrowing, yet feel such solace at my heart, As at the meeting of some long-lost friend From whom, in happier hours, we wept to part. This seems to be an elegy by which the poet try to show his view of life. He is staring at one scene, which has a river flowing quietly and banks being eroded by the streams. The river stands for the constant passage of time and the poet's prime time already passed. The ragged banks stands for his look growing old as time passes. He sits meditating on the cause that the scene makes him sad, and only finds it impossible to know that. The still and clear water, however heals something grief in his heart, then he resigns himself to his state as his fate. The poet leaves there with the sorrow of parting from the river. First, a river called Itchin and its banks are depicted. The poet's eyes are only focused on them, and he writes in detail. Thus the scene is portrayed cut off from its around like a landscape. The surface of the river probably does not show many changes in look so that the poet feels as if the river has been at a standstill since his first visit. Though the appearance looks like so, the river flows unceasingly and wears away the banks little by little, in actual. Time also closes in gradually on people and take away their youthfulness. Both "crumbling"(2) and "silver"(2) are the words signifies old age: the former stands for declining of looks or health, and the latter stands for silver hair. Interpreted "the self-same tints"(3) as identical hue, those words mean that the color of the current is kept constant. On the other hand, interpreted "self" as the poet, they mean the nature which is same with him.
Approximate Word count = 1614
Approximate Pages = 6.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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