“Song of the Chattahoochee,” written by Sidney Lanier in 1877, is a poem where the author expresses his love for nature and values of moral duties through the view of a river. This Georgian author describes the journey a river takes as it travels downward, south of Georgia, after the unpleasant events of the Civil War. As it flows downward from the mountains to the ocean, the river faces obstacles that it overcomes and allows for it to recognize its true devotional duty it was given for life on Earth. The lyrical poem, “Song of the Chattahoochee,” truly demonstrates the traditional elements of nature, music, and accountability to explore the more mature theme of answering to the spiritual call of responsibility. These facets are explored by
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Lanier formed “Song of the Chattahoochee” by five stanzas of ten lines each, filled with several rich literature styles and figurative language. In the first stanza, the river is introduced and begins telling its story at the top of a mountain. The river explains its feelings of wishing to hurry to “reach the plain” (Lanier, 3). Even if it is not easily acknowledged at first, Lanier applies a strong sense of personification as he gives life to a nature element, a river. In addition, the three middle stanzas add description to the river’s travels, the observations and challenges it comes upon. Throughout these three stanzas, the river begins its way to the sea by running down the highland of Habersham in northern Georgia. The river’s thoughts on what it encounters forms creative imagery that highlights the scenery of the poem. It is detained by other natural elements, such as “the willful waterweeds” (14), “the hickory” (23), and “the white quartz shone, and the smooth brook-stone” (33), which warmly help reconstruct its hope and understanding of it obtaining a higher purpose in life. In the last stanza, the river finally reaches its destination and recognizes its duty it was given to “toil and be mixed with the main” (45). Furthermore, the poem has a definite rhyme scheme- abcbcddcab- that adds an engaging tone to Lanier’s work. The rhyming scheme builds a …show more content…
For his love of music and poetry, he created “Song of the Chattahoochee” and provided it with this title to give it a great importance. The title functions as foreshadowing for the reader by indicating that Lanier has created a melodic poem of a river. Therefore, this literary work is structured as a poem, yet, it is also seen as a song. Similar to a song, “Song of the Chattahoochee” holds musical ideas of tuneful tones and structures. This poem holds five different stanzas that can be seen or thought as verses. Each verse tells a different emotion that guides the reader to become more connected to the speaker. In addition, it also holds a chorus. A chorus is a part of a song that is often repeated in a piece of work without adding a change to it. In this case, “The hills of Habersham/ the valleys of Hall” (1-2,9-10,11-12,19-20,21-22,29-30,31-32,39-40,41-42,49-50) would be considered to be the chorus. It reminds the readers that the river is traveling through the beloved hometown of Lanier. Furthermore, this poem has a rhyming style and tone of end rhyme included in it. The ending rhyming words form a harmonizing tone that flows clearly, just like the river. The title, “Song of the Chattahoochee,” gives a great benefit to the poem that helps add a great use of
Lanier formed “Song of the Chattahoochee” by five stanzas of ten lines each, filled with several rich literature styles and figurative language. In the first stanza, the river is introduced and begins telling its story at the top of a mountain. The river explains its feelings of wishing to hurry to “reach the plain” (Lanier, 3). Even if it is not easily acknowledged at first, Lanier applies a strong sense of personification as he gives life to a nature element, a river. In addition, the three middle stanzas add description to the river’s travels, the observations and challenges it comes upon. Throughout these three stanzas, the river begins its way to the sea by running down the highland of Habersham in northern Georgia. The river’s thoughts on what it encounters forms creative imagery that highlights the scenery of the poem. It is detained by other natural elements, such as “the willful waterweeds” (14), “the hickory” (23), and “the white quartz shone, and the smooth brook-stone” (33), which warmly help reconstruct its hope and understanding of it obtaining a higher purpose in life. In the last stanza, the river finally reaches its destination and recognizes its duty it was given to “toil and be mixed with the main” (45). Furthermore, the poem has a definite rhyme scheme- abcbcddcab- that adds an engaging tone to Lanier’s work. The rhyming scheme builds a …show more content…
For his love of music and poetry, he created “Song of the Chattahoochee” and provided it with this title to give it a great importance. The title functions as foreshadowing for the reader by indicating that Lanier has created a melodic poem of a river. Therefore, this literary work is structured as a poem, yet, it is also seen as a song. Similar to a song, “Song of the Chattahoochee” holds musical ideas of tuneful tones and structures. This poem holds five different stanzas that can be seen or thought as verses. Each verse tells a different emotion that guides the reader to become more connected to the speaker. In addition, it also holds a chorus. A chorus is a part of a song that is often repeated in a piece of work without adding a change to it. In this case, “The hills of Habersham/ the valleys of Hall” (1-2,9-10,11-12,19-20,21-22,29-30,31-32,39-40,41-42,49-50) would be considered to be the chorus. It reminds the readers that the river is traveling through the beloved hometown of Lanier. Furthermore, this poem has a rhyming style and tone of end rhyme included in it. The ending rhyming words form a harmonizing tone that flows clearly, just like the river. The title, “Song of the Chattahoochee,” gives a great benefit to the poem that helps add a great use of