The River God Flashcards
Subject of The River God by Stevie Smith
The river is personified in this poem as a narrator.
The “River God” is old but should not be underestimated.
He tells us how he passes his time by blessing the swimming of fish.
He likes people, particularly women, to bathe in him.
The poem takes a darker turn as the River God tells us he can drown people when he chooses, even playing with them while he does so.
He tells us about the beautiful lady he drowned and took to his “bed”, saying that no one knows she’s there.
Form and structure of The River God by Stevie Smith
Form:
The poem is a dramatic monologue.
The river is personified (made human) by being given a voice to speak to us.
Structure:
This is one, continuous dramatic monologue.
There is rhyme embedded in the poem, mainly in an a-a-b-b rhyme scheme but it changes at the end.
What is interesting in this poem are the irregular line lengths combined with the lack of breaks.
If you turn the poem on its side, it looks like a bed of reeds at a river’s edge.
Sound of The River God by Stevie Smith
At times the poem sounds childlike due to the simple rhyme scheme and it’s also a bit clumsy because the amount of beats in each line is inconsistent.
For example:
But I can drown the fools
Who bathe too close to the weir, contrary to rules.
And they take a long time drowning
As I throw them up now and then in the spirit of clowning.
The “Hi yih”, which is repeated, adds to this impression and almost gives it a sing-song lilt, like a folk song.
Imagery of The River God by Stevie Smith
The language in the poem is like a river itself - simple but powerful, repetitive yet pleasant.
“Beautiful” is repeated for emphasis several times, and points to a contrast between the River God’s description of himself (“smelly” and “old”) and the woman he drags to his bed with her “beautiful white face” and “golden sleepy head”.
Attitudes, themes and ideas of The River God by Stevie Smith
Attitudes:
The River God is powerful but also insecure and lonely.
He is not respected by people around him and punishes some as a result.
Because he is immortal he can talk about human life in a manner that reveals its brevity.
Themes:
The power of nature: humans do not have power over nature; it’s the other way round.
Don’t take things for granted: just because something is part of our daily lives, don’t forget the qualities it has.
The power of love: the River God, as a personification, falls in love with a human woman. He wants her and is prepared to drown her to get her. He won’t forgive her if she leaves him.
Ideas:
We should take note of things around us and not take them for granted or ignore them.
They might have more to offer (good or bad) than we realise.
Example comparisons to The River God by Stevie Smith
Ozymandias and My Last Duchess:
- All the poems have one clear, distinct voice.
- Each poem is built around a character who has some distinctly unpleasant qualities.
- All the poems are about power in some sense. Ozymandias was incredibly powerful in his time but is now merely a remnant of the past.
The Duke is powerful in the society of his time and perhaps demonstrated his personal power by killing his wife. The River God exerts his power through drowning people.
- None of the characters actually exists in any real sense: Ozymandias is ancient history; the Duke and even his title died out centuries ago; the River God is a mythical creation.
- The characters in each poem clearly display a dark side to their nature.
The Ruined Maid:
- Black humour is used in both poems.
- Both poems use dramatic monologue.
- The theme of women being used and abused for an individual’s personal pleasure is in both poems.
- Don’t judge something on first appearance - there might be much more to the individual or situation than meets the eye.
How is a voice created in The River God?
This is a dramatic monologue and the River God speaks to us, the reader.
The first word of the poem is “I” and this personal pronoun is repeated many times throughout.
The effect of this is that the voice is closely personal as the River God speaks openly about his feelings, actions and beliefs.
The speaker acknowledges his faults in the first two lines:
I may be smelly and I may be old,
Rough in my pebbles, reedy in my pools
When somebody does this, we are more likely to believe what they tell us as they show a sense of self-awareness.
We understand and realise that this is an old voice talking but we soon become aware that we should not underestimate the River God.
The poet uses a short, direct line to change the mood completely:
But I can drown the fools
In doing this, a different, darker, more serious voice is created than the old timer we first thought we might be encountering.
Smith also uses sounds rather than words, sounds which people might say or sing, distractedly:
Hi yih, yippity-yap…
And this adds realism, bringing the voice to life as everyone behaves like this from time to time, humming a tune or melody.
The voice becomes more real when the River God reveals some of his own insecurities:
Oh will she stay with me will she stay
This beautiful lady, or will she go away?
Rather than being the type of god who is all-powerful and mighty, the voice takes on a human frailty and we almost sympathise, forgetting that the River God has drowned a woman.
Context of The River God by Stevie Smith
Florence Margaret ‘Stevie’ Smith (1902-1971) was born in Hull. After her father left home when she was three, she moved to London with her mother, sister and two aunts and lived there for the rest of her life. She got the nickname Stevie from a friend who said she rode a horse like the most famous jockey of her childhood, Steve Donoghue.
Smith made doodles and little sketches which were published alongside the poems and this artwork became a trademark.
Depression affected Smith throughout her life and after 30 years working at the publishing house she suffered a breakdown and retired. She continued to write poems and the writing was a mix of deep sadness and wry amusement, rather like Smith’s own personal life. She was often preoccupied by death and religion but drew on fairy tales, nursery rhymes and legends in her work.
She died from a brain tumour in 1971.
