Analysis of Where Go the Boats?

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)



Dark brown is the river,
Golden is the sand.
It flows along for ever,
With trees on either hand.

Green leaves a-floating,
Castles of the foam,
Boats of mine a-boating -
Where will all come home?

On goes the river
And out past the mill,
Away down the valley,
Away down the hill.

Away down the river,
A hundred miles or more,
Other little children
Shall bring my boats ashore.


Scheme ABAB CDCD AEXE AFXF
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 111010 10101 1101110 111101 11010 10101 111010 11111 11010 01101 011010 01101 011010 010111 101010 111101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 368
Words 72
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 18
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 72
Words per stanza (avg) 18
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

21 sec read
725

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. more…

All Robert Louis Stevenson poems | Robert Louis Stevenson Books

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