Analysis of The Further Bank
Rabindranath Tagore 1861 (Kolkata) – 1941 (Kolkata)
I long to go over there to the further bank of the river.
Where those boats are tied to the bamboo poles in a line;
Where men cross over in their boats in the morning with
ploughs on their shoulders to till their far-away fields;
Where the cowherds make their lowing cattle swim across to the
riverside pasture;
Whence they all come back home in the evening, leaving the
jackals to howl in the island overgrown with weeds.
Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman
of the ferry when I am grown up.
They say there are strange pools hidden behind that high bank.
Where flocks of wild ducks come when the rains are over, and
thick reeds grow round the margins where water-birds lay their
eggs;
Where snipes with their dancing tails stamp their tiny
footprints upon the clean soft mud;
Where in the evening the tall grasses crested with while
flowers invite the moonbeam to float upon their waves.
Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman
of the ferryboat when I am grown up.
I shall cross and cross back from bank to bank, and all the
boys and girls of the village will wonder at me while they are
bathing.
When the sun climbs the mid sky and morning wears on to noon,
I shall come running to you, saying, "Mother, I am hungry."
When the day is done and the shadows cower under the trees,
I shall come back in the dust.
I shall never go away from you into the town to work like
father.
Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman
of the ferryboat when I am grown up.
Scheme | abcdeaefGhijklmnopGHeqrsmtuvaGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111101101011010 1111110011001 1111001100101 111101111011 10111101010110 1010 1111110010100 11100100111 101111111101010 101011111 1111111001111 1111111011100 1111010110111 1 11111011110 1010111 1001001101011 100101110111 101111111101010 101011111 1110111111010 101101011011111 10 10110110101111 111101110101110 10111001101001 1111001 1110101110101111 10 101111111101010 101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,563 |
Words | 293 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 31 |
Lines Amount | 31 |
Letters per line (avg) | 39 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,199 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 290 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:28 min read
- 114 Views
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"The Further Bank" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/29553/the-further-bank>.
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