Rivers

thumb|Monet, 1897: 'Branch of the Seine Near Giverny / Arm of the Seine Near Giverny', oil-painting on canvas; current location: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston right|thumb|A river is more than an amenity, it is a treasure. It offers a necessity of life that must be rationed among those who have power over it. - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.. A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. Quotes thumb|All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full ~ Ecclesiastes I am the prince who decides the destiny of rolling rivers. Anzud, in Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird, Ur III Period (21st century BCE). And see the rivers how they runThro' woods and meads, in shade and sun!Sometimes swift, sometimes slow,Wave succeeding wave, they goA various journey to the deep,Like human life to endless sleep. John Dyer, "Grongar Hill" (1727), line 93. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. Ecclesiastes 1: 7 You cannot step twice into the same rivers; for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you. Heraclitus, Fragments of Heraclitus, Fragment 12. Let's lie down on the bank of the riverand listen to water's pulse. Linda Hogan Dark. Sweet.: New & Selected Poems (2014) A river is more than an amenity, it is a treasure. It offers a necessity of life that must be rationed among those who have power over it. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., New Jersey v. New York, et al., 283 U.S. 336, 342 (1931). Rivers have been personalized (Old Father Thames), fantasized (Anna Livia Plurabelle), sung to (Ol' Man River), regarded as sacred (Ganges, Alph) invented to symbolize the inevitability of death (Styx), remembered because they marked turning points in human history (Rubicon). If it were not for the winding Maiandros we would not meander; without the Rhine literature and music would be the poorer by the loss of countless legends; Christ was baptized in the Jordan. And when river and city meet, the human race puts down roots of civilization; it is my consciousness of that truth that makes it impossible for me to get used to the idea of invisible rivers, those streams that have been covered over as cities spread, but continue to flow silently and unseen beneath the streets. Bernard Levin, Enthusiasms, Chapter 4 (1983). Les rivières sent des chemins qui marchant et qui portent où l'on veut aller. Rivers are roads which move, and which carry us whither we desire to go. Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1669), Brunschvicg ed., No. 17. I want no more than to speak simply to be granted that grace.Because we've loaded our songs with so much music that they're slowly sinkingand we've decorated our art so much that its features have been eaten away by goldand it's time to say our few words because tomorrow our soul sets sail....I think so much these days about the great river,that symbol which moves forward among herbs and greeneryand beasts that graze and drink, and men who sow and harvest,great tombs even and small habitations of the dead.That current which goes its way and which is not so different from the blood of men... Giorgos Seferis, "An Old Man on the River Bank" (1942) Logbooks I, George Seferis: Collected Poems, 1924-1955 (1967) Tr. Edmund Keeley, Philip Sherrard. There is a river in Macedon, and there is also, moreover, a river at Monmouth. It is called Wye at Monmouth, but it is out of my prains what is the name of the other river. But ’tis all one; ’tis alike as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is salmons in both. William Shakespeare, Henry V, act 4, sc. 7 (Fluellen) All rivers at night are melancholy, sentimental, sad, like emblems of the mystery and unreality of human things. Under their spell we seem to see things larger than our own small selves. Leonard Woolf, The Wise Virgins (1914), Ch. 4. London: Persephone Books, 2003, p. 87 Two Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation right|thumb|The flood carrying all before itlike merchants, caravansloaded with gold, pearls,peacock feathers and rowsof white tusk and fragrant woods. right|thumb|It floods, it runs overits continents like the fameof a great king, upright, infallible, reigning by the Lawsunder cool royal umbrellas. right|thumb|They pour like a generous givergiving all he has,remembering and reckoningall he has. right|thumb|Bending to a curve, the river, surface colored by petals,gold yellow pollen, honey,the ochre flow of elephant lust,looked much like a rainbow. right|thumb|Stealing milk and buttermilk,guzzling on warm ghee and butterstraight from the pots on the ropes,leaning the marutam tree on the kuruntamcarrying away the clothes and braceletsof goatherd girls at water games,like Krsna dancing on the spotted snake,the waters are naughty. Kampan quoted in: A. K. Ramanujan in: Two Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation, UC Press E-Books Collection, 1982-2004 The River The cloud, wearing whiteon white like Siva,making beautiful the skyon his way from the seagrew darkas the face of the Lordwho wears with prideon his right the Goddessof the scented breasts. They pour like a generous givergiving all he has,remembering and reckoningall he has. It floods, it runs overits continents like the fameof a great king, upright, infallible, reigning by the Lawsunder cool royal umbrellas. Concubines caressingtheir lovers' hair, their lovers'bodies, their lovers' limbs,take away whole hillsof wealth yet keep littlein their spendthrift handsas they move on: so toothe waters flow from the peaksto the valleys,beginning high and reaching low. The flood carrying all before itlike merchants, caravansloaded with gold, pearls,peacock feathers and rowsof white tusk and fragrant woods. Bending to a curve, the river, surface colored by petals,gold yellow pollen, honey,the ochre flow of elephant lust,looked much like a rainbow. Ravaging hillsides, uprooting trees,covered with fallen leaves all over,the waters came,like a monkey clanfacing restless seaslooking for a bridge. Thick-faced proud elephantsranged with foaming cavalier horses filling the air with the noise of war,raising banners,the flood rushesas for a battle with the sea. Stream of numberless kingsin the line of the Sun,continuous in virtue:the river branches into deltas,mother's milk to all liveson the salt sea-surrounded land. Scattering a robber camp on the hillswith a rain of arrows,the sacred women beating their belliesand gathering bow and arrow as they run,the waters assault villages like the armies of a king. Stealing milk and buttermilk,guzzling on warm ghee and butterstraight from the pots on the ropes,leaning the marutam tree on the kuruntamcarrying away the clothes and braceletsof goatherd girls at water games,like Krsna dancing on the spotted snake,the waters are naughty. Turning forest into slope,field into wilderness,seashore into fertile land,changing boundaries,exchanging landscapes,the reckless watersroared on like the paststhat hurry close on the heelsof lives. Born of Himalayan stoneand mingling with the seas,it spreads, ceaselessly various,one and many at once,like that Originaleven the measureless Vedas cannot measure with words. Through pollen-dripping groves,clumps of champak,lotus pools,water places with new sands,flowering fields cross-fencedwith creepers,like a life filling and emptyinga variety of bodies,the river flows on. Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations Quotes reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 675-676. The fountains of sacred rivers flow upwards, (i.e. everything is turned topsy turvy). Euripides, Medea, 409. Two ways the riversLeap down to different seas, and as they rollGrow deep and still, and their majestic presenceBecomes a benefaction to the townsThey visit, wandering silently among them,Like patriarchs old among their shining tents. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Christus. The Golden Legend. Part V. By shallow rivers, to whose fallsMelodious birds sing madrigals. Christopher Marlowe, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love; same idea in Merry Wives of Windsor, Act III, Scene 1; said to be written by Shakespeare and Marlowe. Viam qui nescit qua deveniat ad mareEum oportet amnem quærere comitem sibi. He who does not know his way to the sea should take a river for his guide. Plautus, Pœnulus, III. 3. 14. May the river of love always flow from its own lap. Suman Pokhrel, Song of Soul Now scantier limits the proud arch confine,And scarce are seen the prostrate Nile or Rhine;A small Euphrates thro' the piece is roll'd,And little eagles wave their wings in gold. Alexander Pope, Moral Essays. Epistle to Addison. line 27. From Stirling Castle we had seen The mazy Forth unravelled;Had trod the banks of Clyde and Tay, And with the Tweed had travelled;And when we came to Clovenford, Then said "my winsome marrow,""Whate'er betide, we'll turn aside, And see the braes of Yarrow." William Wordsworth, Yarrow Unvisited. Specific rivers For the Nile River, see Nile; for the Rhine, see Rhine. Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes,Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise. Robert Burns, Flow Gently, Sweet Afton, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 12. In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree;Where Alph, the sacred river ran,Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 19. At last the Muses rose, * * * And scattered, * * * as they flew,Their blooming wreaths from fair Valclusa's bowersTo Arno's myrtle border. Mark Akenside, Pleasures of the Imagination II, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 43. Ayr, gurgling, kissed his pebbled shore, O'erhung with wild woods, thickening green;The fragrant birch and hawthorn hoar Twined amorous round the raptured scene. Robert Burns, To Mary in Heaven, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 53. Farewell, my friends! farewell, my foes!My peace with these, my love with those.The bursting tears my heart declare;Farewell, the bonnie banks of Ayr. Robert Burns, The Banks of Ayr, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 53. Yet I will look upon thy face again, My own romantic Bronx, and it will beA face more pleasant than the face of men. Thy waves are old companions, I shall seeA well remembered form in each old treeAnd hear a voice long loved in thy wild minstrelsy. Joseph Rodman Drake, Bronx, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 84. Where stray ye, Muses! in what lawn or grove, * * * * * *In those fair fields where sacred Isis glides,Or else where Cam his winding vales divides? Alexander Pope, Summer, line 23, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 89. Out of the hills of Habersham, Down the valleys of Hall,I hurry amain to reach the plain: Run the rapid and leap the fall,Split at the rock, and together again Accept my bed, or narrow or wide, And flee from folly on every sideWith a lover's pain to attain the plain, Far from the hills of Habersham, Far from the valleys of Hall. Sidney Lanier, The Song of the Chattahoochee, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 109. How sweet to move at summer's eve By Clyde's meandering stream,When Sol in joy is seen to leave The earth with crimson beam;When islands that wandered far Above his sea couch lie,And here and there some gem-like star Re-opes its sparkling eye. Andrew Park, The Banks of Clyde, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 123. Then I saw the Congo, creeping through the black,Cutting through the jungle with a golden track. Nicholas Vachel Lindsay, The Congo, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 129. Flow on, lovely Dee, flow on, thou sweet river,Thy banks' purest stream shall be dear to me ever. John Tait, The Banks of the Dee, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 184. "O Mary, go and call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, Across the sands o' Dee;"The western wind was wild and dank wi' foam And all alone went she. Charles Kingsley, The Sands o' Dee, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 184. Ye banks and braes o' bonny Doon, How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair;How can ye chant, ye little birds, And I sae weary fu' o' care! Robert Burns, The Banks o' Doon, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 200. Oh, my beloved nymph, fair Dove,Princess of rivers, how I love Upon thy flowery banks to lie,And view thy silver stream,When gilded by a summer's beam! And in it all thy wanton fry, Playing at liberty;And with my angle, upon them The all of treacheryI ever learned, industriously to try! Charles Cotton, The Retirement, line 34, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 201. On Linden, when the sun was low,All bloodless lay the untrodden snow,And dark as winter was the flow Of Isar, rolling rapidly. Thomas Campbell, Hohenlinden, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 401. Thou soft-flowing Keedron by thy silver streamOur Saviour at midnight when Cynthia's pale beamShone bright on the waters, would oftentimes strayAnd lose in thy murmurs the toils of the day. Maria de Fleury, Thou soft-flowing Keedron, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 415. On this I ponderWhere'er I wander,And thus grow fonder, Sweet Cork, of thee,—With thy bells of Shandon,That sounds so grand onThe pleasant waters Of the river Lee. Father Prout (Francis Mahoney), The Bells of Shandon, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 415. On Leven's banks, while free to rove,And tune the rural pipe to love,I envied not the happiest swainThat ever trod the Arcadian plain.Pure stream! in whose transparent waveMy youthful limbs I wont to lave;No torrents stain thy limpid source,No rocks impede thy dimpling course,That sweetly warbles o'er its bed,With white, round, polish'd pebbles spread. Tobias Smollett, Ode to Leven Water, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 437. And Potomac flowed calmly, scarce heaving her breast,With her low-lying billows all bright in the west,For a charm as from God lulled the waters to rest Of the fair rolling river. Paul Hamilton Hayne, Beyond the Potomac, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 619. Is it not better, then, to be alone, And love Earth only for its earthly sake?By the blue rushing of the arrowy Rhone Or the pure bosom of its nursing lake. Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto III (1816), Stanza 71, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 673. Thou Royal River, born of sun and showerIn chambers purple with the Alpine glow,Wrapped in the spotless ermine of the snowAnd rocked by tempests! Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, To the River Rhone, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 673. Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow,Or by the lazy Scheld or wandering Po! Oliver Goldsmith, The Traveller (1764), line 1, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 691. Alone by the Schuylkill a wanderer rov'd, And bright were its flowery banks to his eye;But far, very far, were the friends that he lov'd, And he gaz'd on its flowery banks with a sigh. Thomas Moore, Lines Written on Leaving Philadelphia, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 691. Way down upon de Swanee Ribber, Far, far away,Dere's whar ma heart am turning ebber, Dere's whar de old folks stay.All up and down de whole creation, Sadly I roam,Still longing for de old plantation, And for de old folks at home. Stephen Collins Foster, Old Folks at Home. (Swanee Ribber), reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 773. Sweet Teviot! on thy silver tide The glaring bale-fires blaze no more;No longer steel-clad warriors ride Along thy wild and willow'd shore. Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Canto IV, Stanza 1, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 785. O, could I flow like thee! and make thy streamMy great example, as it is my theme;Though deep yet clear, though gentle yet not dull;Strong without rage, without o'erflowing full. Sir John Denham, Cooper's Hill, line 189, regarding the River Thames. Latin prose with same idea found in a letter of Roger Ascham's to Sir William Petre. Epistles. P. 254. (Ed. 1590). reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 785. thumb|right|Serene yet strong, majestic yet sedate,Swift without violence, without terror great. Serene yet strong, majestic yet sedate,Swift without violence, without terror great. Matthew Prior, Carmen Seculare, line 200. Imitation of Denham, regarding the River Thames, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 785. Slow let us trace the matchless vale of Thames;Fair winding up to where the Muses hauntIn Twit'nham bowers, and for their Pope implore. James Thomson, The Seasons, Summer (1727), line 1,425, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 785. Never did sun more beautifully steep In his first splendor, valley, rock, or hill;Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! The river glideth at his own sweet will.Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still! William Wordsworth, Sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, regarding the River Thames, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 785. Thou hast fair forms that move With queenly tread;Thou hast proud fanes above Thy mighty dead.Yet wears thy Tiber's shore A mournful mien:-Rome, Rome, thou art no more As thou hast been. Felicia Hemans, Roman Girl's Song, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 791. Those graceful groves that shade the plain,Where Tiber rolls majestic to the main,And flattens, as he runs, the fair campagne. Ovid, Metamorphoses, Book XIV: Æneas Arrives in Italy, line 8; Sir Samuel Garth's trans, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 791. Oh Tiber, father Tiber, to whom the Romans pray,A Roman's life, a Roman's arms, take thou in charge this day! Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, Horatius. Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tearsInto the channel, till the lowest streamDo kiss the most exalted shores of all. William Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar (1599), Act I. Scene 1, line 63, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 791. Thy braes were bonnie, Yarrow stream,When first on them I met my lover;Thy braes how dreary, Yarrow stream,When now thy waves his body cover! John Logan (minister) The Braes of Yarrow. O lovely river of Yvette! O darling river! like a bride,Some dimpled, bashful, fair Lisette, Thou goest to wed the Orge's tide.O lovely river of Yvette! O darling stream! on balanced wingsThe wood-birds sang the chansonnette That here a wandering poet sings. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, To the River Yvette, Stanza 5, reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 924. I see the winding waters makeA short and then a shorter lakeAs here stand IAnd houseboat-highSurvey the upper Thames. John Betjeman, Henley-on-Thames, from New Bats in Old Belfries (1945) See also Admiralty law Ganges in Hinduism Geography Marsh Navy Nile Oceans Pond Sea Tigris–Euphrates river system Water Wind wave External links River Rivers river