The poem “Song of the Chattahoochee” is a poem full of figure of speech and careful word choice to show how Sidney Lanier saw the Northeast Georgia mountains. He uses the eyes and voice of the Chattahoochee river to show the beauty that is in the counties of Habersham and Hall located in Northeast Georgia. He portrays the beauty of the land from the perspective of the river by making the river realize its purpose for leaving Northeast Georgia and making it’s way to the plains of southern Georgia. “Song of the Chattahoochee” is Sidney Lanier’s way of showing how God has a plan for everything through his word patterns, speaker choice, word choice, and dialog.
Lanier starts this poem at the starting point of the river. The Chattahoochee river …show more content…
To do this, he uses the river as the speaker. He starts using first person in line 3 giving the reader little evidence as to who the speaker is. Further into the poem, Lanier uses images of scenery that would typically be around or in a river. “The willful waterweeds held me thrall, the laving laurel turned my tide” (Lanier, lines 14-15). In these lines, he uses terms associated with water such as waterweeds and tide. This helps the reader to better narrow the speaker down to something that has to do with water. It is here that readers can start to connect the speaker to a river. In lines 40-43, Lanier makes the river realize its true purpose, “But oh, not the hills of Habersham, and oh, not the valleys of Hall avail: I am fain for to water the plain. Downward the voices of Duty call--” (Lanier). This is where the river reveals that its true purpose is to bring water to the plains. By making the river realize it’s purpose, Lanier gives the river thoughts and ideas and a personality. This helps the reader to visualize a river that is very much alive. By using a capital “D” in the word duty, he is showing that it is the river’s purpose as set by God. Capitalizing this word shows that it is divine and higher than the thought of the river
Lanier starts this poem at the starting point of the river. The Chattahoochee river …show more content…
To do this, he uses the river as the speaker. He starts using first person in line 3 giving the reader little evidence as to who the speaker is. Further into the poem, Lanier uses images of scenery that would typically be around or in a river. “The willful waterweeds held me thrall, the laving laurel turned my tide” (Lanier, lines 14-15). In these lines, he uses terms associated with water such as waterweeds and tide. This helps the reader to better narrow the speaker down to something that has to do with water. It is here that readers can start to connect the speaker to a river. In lines 40-43, Lanier makes the river realize its true purpose, “But oh, not the hills of Habersham, and oh, not the valleys of Hall avail: I am fain for to water the plain. Downward the voices of Duty call--” (Lanier). This is where the river reveals that its true purpose is to bring water to the plains. By making the river realize it’s purpose, Lanier gives the river thoughts and ideas and a personality. This helps the reader to visualize a river that is very much alive. By using a capital “D” in the word duty, he is showing that it is the river’s purpose as set by God. Capitalizing this word shows that it is divine and higher than the thought of the river