River God says he likes
it when people go
swimming
especially women
May be old but he's still
powerful
A woman goes swimming
and drowns when she's too
close to the cliffs
Body is tangled in
weeds on the river bed
River God calls her
beautiful and wants to look
after her
Doesn't want her to
leave and says he
will never forgive
her if she does
FORM AND STRUCTURE
Enjambment makes it
flow like water
Dramatic Monolouge
Uses regular rhyming
couplets to give a
songlike quality
At the beginning he is presented
as kind and friendly
Becomes more
threatening and
possessive
emphasised by hidden warnings near
the end and ominous final line
Nota:
OMINOUS: giving the impression that something bad is going to happen
MY IDEAS
It uses a euphemism to describe
how he drowned the woman but
making it sound more innocent that
he is
"So I brought her down here"
The poet creates an image of a
harsh and powerful old God
who is proud and arrogant much
like OZYMANDIAS
He could be presented as a male character
because they had lots of power over
women in the time era of the poem and the
poets life
could be suggesting how
she feels men treat women
I think the poet is saying that in a
heterosexual relationship that men
generally have the most power and can be
seen to be drowning the women in their
ways of life
They can be seen to be taking away the woman's life without actually
killing them
Much like the women in 'my last duchess' and 'les grands siegneurs'
LANGUAGE
contrasts
old smelly river contrasts
with beautiful women
river God uses affectionate language
which contrasts with harsh reality of
women's death making it more shocking
euphemism
river God suggests the woman is
sleeping rather than dead
Uses ambiguous
language and images
of love rather than
death
suggests he's deluded into
thinking she might love him in
return
Like Deborah and God :p
Power and objectification
River God seems
desperate to keep
women on the river
bed
Possessive over her
and doesn't want her
to leave
Calls her beautiful and
focuses on her appearance
showing he values it