Languages

The river is the most important symbol in the poem, and it is introduced very early in the text: “It is a river, this language” (Line 4). In using natural metaphors to describe the nature of language, the speaker manages to vividly convey the dynamism and limitations of language in very few words. A river’s fluid waters suggest the power of a living language in motion, as the speaker describes a language’s river-like ability to “Brea[k] a new course” (Line 6) and to “Chang[e] its way to the ocean” (Line 7) while in active use in human society. The ways in which a language can bring diverse peoples and places together are also embodied in the imagery of the river, as when the speaker describes languages threading their way “from nation to nation / Crossing borders and mixing” (Lines 10-11). But the symbol of the river is also used to describe a language’s death as well as its characteristics while living, for “Languages die like rivers” (Line 12). In other words, languages eventually expend all of their energy and dry up, giving way to new “rivers” (Line 12), or languages, which will take the place of former languages.