In the poem , ” To The Nile ” , how does the poet promote the importance of the river ? Describe taking examples from the poem.
The poem ” To The Nile “ was written by John Keats. The poem tells about the river Nile but here, poetically the river is personified or it has been given life. The poet is addressing the river taking it as a living thing. The poem has been written as a Sonnet. In the Octave of this Sonnet the poet deals with the matter how the Nile has been useful to man so that how it is honored. But in the last six lines, the Nile is compared with the other rivers and it flows to the sea making the land fertile. This poem also can be introduced as an ode as the narrator addresses the river.
First , the poet presents the idea how the Nile flows through the parched desert areas so that this land has been converted into farming land. In the history of the world, the first human civilizations were started mainly on river banks. The Nile is one of them. Using the water in the river people could make the parched land fertile so that they could develop themselves with the farming life. This is mentioned by the poet precisely.
” We call thee fruitful , and that very while,
A desert fills our seeing’s inward span. ”
With these lines, the poet emphasizes the fact that the desert is made a prosperous and nourished land with the water of the Nile. When the land is made fertile , it causes much consolation in the minds of the people therefore the poet takes the river as ‘ a fruitful one ‘ .
Then, the poet focuses at the matter how the river used to serve the mankind since ancient times. He stresses that the black people in the continent of Africa were enormously served by the river.
” Nurse of swart nations since the world began,
Art thou so fruitful? Or dost thou beguile ”
Here, it is quite significant that the poet does not pay any concern towards the natural beauty of the river. He stresses how the Nile has become a crucial factor in the matter of the survival of the mankind. The word ‘ nurse ‘ here is very effective. The river really ‘ nurse ‘ or look after the darkened people in the continent of Africa. They live in a desert so that if not for the river Nile , they would have been killed because of thirst and hunger. There the poet highlights the vital factor that the Nile has become the sole benefactor of these people. It helps them to survive. So , the flow of the river or its passing through the desert is really a bless for them.
On the other hand, the poet also focuses at the important factor how people honour the river. Since ancient times, people have developed their tendency to pay their utmost homage to the elements and forces of nature that contribute for the benefit of the masses. They really took mountains, rivers and even trees as Gods and Goddesses and used to worship them. Even today , one can notice this factor among the people. The poet highlights how the Nile became beneficial so that how people used to worship it.
” Such men to honour thee who worn with toil
Rest for a space ‘ twixt Cairo and Decan ”
The Nile flows between Cairo and Decan. People who live in this land takes the Nile as a God. So they worship it paying it much tribute. Here , once again, the poet emphasizes the fact that the Nile is an important or vital factor in the lives of desert people. In the dry and parched land, they are burnt by the dazzling sun. But, the Nile is a great consolation for them as it provides them with water. So that, they are so grateful to pay it with the due respect. Here, in these lines, the poet uses the phrase, ‘ who worn with toil ‘ to highlight the harsh and robust life they spend in the endless desert. They are really worn out or exhausted with the hard toil. However, the Nile contributes to adorn their lives with contentment and prosperity. So, once again the poet talks about the importance of the river.
The poem begins with two metaphors that are very effective and influencing in the case of supporting the concept that the Nile is vital for the lives of the people.
” Son of the old moon – mountains African !
Chief of the Pyramid and Crocodile ”
The Nile is the son of the old African moon – mountain. On the other hand, it is also considered as the chief of the Pyramid and the crocodiles. With these two metaphors, the poet has been able to build up the visual imagery of the lay out of the river. The river rises from the African mountains so metaphorically it is taken as the son of the mountains. On the other hand , Africa or Egypt has been world famous for its pyramids. Pyramids are tombs that are huge and made the whole world surprised. Crocodiles are found in the river in abundance. In the second metaphor , the poet takes the river as the chief of the pyramids and crocodiles.
With these two metaphors, the poet visualizes two different definitions to describe the river hyperbolically.
The river is taken as the son of the great African mountains because the poet want to convey the idea of how it is born. It is born to the father or mother of great mountains. On the other hand , with the word ‘ chief ‘ the poet conveys the idea that the river dominates all the pyramids and crocodiles. The son of the great mountains now emerge as the most powerful force. With these two metaphors, the poet attributes much more significance to the river.
But in the sestet of the sonnet or in the last four lines, the poet promotes the different idea attributing natural status to the river. The river was worshipped and paid homage
mainly because of the ignorance of the people. The river was possessed with some divine qualities or it was taken as a God mainly because of the faith and honour the people bore in their hearts in the by – gone days. But, the Nile is also a natural water resource that contributed for the civilization of man. In the last line of the Octave the poet purposely mentions about the ignorance of the masses.
” Tis ignorance that makes a barren waste ”
In the next two lines the poet deals with nature.
” Of all beyond itself, thou dost bedew
Green rushes like our rivers, and dost taste ”
It is quite interesting to study the way how the poet deals with the natural state of the river. When a river flows down, the dry and parched soil is ‘ bedewed ‘. So that the desert becomes covered with green colour it covers with plants and trees. The Nile does the same job. Like any other river or water way the Nile too is associated with other nature forces such as ‘ the pleasant sun rise ‘ , ‘ green isles ‘ etc. and finally it arrives at its destination, the sea.
In this descriptive poem, the poet vividly presents the importance of the Nile river and he mainly compares and contrasts the attitudes of the people towards the river in the past and what naturally one sees in the river. As the theme of the poem the poet emphasizes the importance of the river, in 3 ways. First, the service it renders was taken by the ignorant people in high esteem so that they used to venerate the river taking it as a God. Secondly, he does not accept the idea that the Nile is an exception or it possesses some invisible power, instead he compares it with other such water bodies and it flows down feeding the dry soil so that it becomes a bless for the human kind to start new civilizations. Thirdly, the poet also promotes the natural beauty of the river using the terms such as ‘ bedew ‘ , ‘ green rushes ‘ , ‘ the pleasant sunrise ‘ , ‘ green isles ‘ etc.