Poetry is sometimes thought of as a rather static, old-fashioned medium that is only read by poets. It doesn’t often emerge into wider thought other than a few canned lines of Yeats or Tennyson recited with suitably stirring music at a supposedly apposite moment of a film. With that in mind, it might be hard to think of poetry having a direct impact on society.
However, that is exactly what this week’s ‘Poem of the Week’ seeks to do. ‘Riversong’ is designed to make us stop, think and take action. That sense of communal purpose is part of the reason that it has been made free to share with or without credit, by writer Robert Macfarlane and artist Nick Hayes. Designed as a poster, the art is as integral as the words. Taking inspiration from broadside ballads of history, you can imagine it pasted onto online groups, shared by messenger and shown on phone screens passed around friends.
But the idea of a physical pamphlet still holds sway, and I would not be surprised to see versions of ‘Riversong’ pasted to lamp posts and walls after the March for Clean Water in central London yesterday (3 November). This is poetry acting as it should. A method of communication that directly reaches an audience, and does not hide behind the conventions and equivocation of so much prose found online.
That is not to say that ‘Riversong’ ignores convention. It plays with it, and uses it, and our expectations of it, to great effect. In particular, the stylistic form and position of text on the page is very effective. Changing the alignment of text provides a marked shift between the second and third stanzas, neatly indicating a change of focus from the rivers’ nature and power to the despoilment of them. The straight edge of the left aligned text of the third stanzas brings to mind the clean edged lines of an embanked river, and contrast with the more naturalistic shaping of the other stanzas that fit a river untrammelled by artificial constraints.
Although designed as a poster, with a careful eye, the words have a musicality to them. Rhyme is not ignored, as it sometimes is in poetry striving to be ‘serious’, and creates a melodic pattern that mirrors a river’s flow. The rhyme links line to line, just as the current of a river flows inexorably onwards, with assonance adding to that sonic effect. But the complexity of water, with its eddies is also neatly caught by the chiastic mirroring of “ebb and flow, flow and ebb” that further gives a sense of tidal rivers in constant flux between gravity and the moon’s pull.
Following on from ‘Heartwood’, a similar broadside ballad focused on protecting trees, ‘Riversong’ has been shared so anyone can use it. Common cause is given greater importance than specific ideas of individual ownership. Rivers are seen to have their own agency and are given a voice by this poem rather than treated as property to be owned, and thus abused, for profit.
So, take heed of the poem’s words, let them flow through you, and act. For like the individual drops of water that make up a river, you might feel powerless but when joined in purpose, become a strong current of change.
Words by Ed Bedford
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.