[652] The Cataract of Lodore

Guest poem sent in by Raghavendra <raghavendra_udupa@>

"How does the water
Come down at Lodore?"
My little boy asked me
Thus, once on a time;
And moreover he tasked me
To tell him in rhyme.
Anon, at the word,
There first came one daughter,
And then came another,
To second and third
The request of their brother,
And to hear how the water
Comes down at Lodore,
With its rush and its roar,
As many a time
They had seen it before.
So I told them in rhyme,
For of rhymes I had store;
And 'twas in my vocation
For their recreation
That so I should sing;
Because I was Laureate
To them and the King.

From its sources which well
In the tarn on the fell;
From its fountains
In the mountains,
Its rills and its gills;
Through moss and through brake,
It runs and it creeps
For a while, till it sleeps
In its own little lake.
And thence at departing,
Awakening and starting,
It runs through the reeds,
And away it proceeds,
Through meadow and glade,
In sun and in shade,
And through the wood-shelter,
Among crags in its flurry,
Helter-skelter,
Hurry-skurry.
Here it comes sparkling,
And there it lies darkling;
Now smoking and frothing
Its tumult and wrath in,
Till, in this rapid race
On which it is bent,
It reaches the place
Of its steep descent.

The cataract strong
Then plunges along,
Striking and raging

As if a war raging
Its caverns and rocks among;
Rising and leaping,
Sinking and creeping,
Swelling and sweeping,
Showering and springing,
Flying and flinging,
Writhing and ringing,
Eddying and whisking,
Spouting and frisking,
Turning and twisting,
Around and around
With endless rebound:
Smiting and fighting,
A sight to delight in;
Confounding, astounding,
Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound.

Collecting, projecting,
Receding and speeding,
And shocking and rocking,
And darting and parting,
And threading and spreading,
And whizzing and hissing,
And dripping and skipping,
And hitting and splitting,
And shining and twining,
And rattling and battling,
And shaking and quaking,
And pouring and roaring,
And waving and raving,
And tossing and crossing,
And flowing and going,
And running and stunning,
And foaming and roaming,
And dinning and spinning,
And dropping and hopping,
And working and jerking,
And guggling and struggling,
And heaving and cleaving,
And moaning and groaning;

And glittering and frittering,
And gathering and feathering,
And whitening and brightening,
And quivering and shivering,
And hurrying and skurrying,
And thundering and floundering;

Dividing and gliding and sliding,
And falling and brawling and sprawling,
And driving and riving and striving,
And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling,
And sounding and bounding and rounding,
And bubbling and troubling and doubling,
And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling,
And clattering and battering and shattering;

Retreating and beating and meeting and sheeting,
Delaying and straying and playing and spraying,
Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing,
Recoiling, turmoiling and toiling and boiling,
And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming,
And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing,
And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping,
And curling and whirling and purling and twirling,
And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping,
And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing;
And so never ending, but always descending,
Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending
All at once and all o'er, with a mighty uproar, -
And this way the water comes down at Lodore.

 	-- Robert Southey

 	[1774-1843]

I find waterfalls fascinating. The sprinkle formed by the water crashing to
the base symbolizes life and energy to me. Reading Southey's "The Cataract
of Lodore" gave me the experience as of watching a spectacular waterfall. I
managed to find a photograph of the waterfall which, however, disappointed
me. I guess it was taken during a dry spell. Southey's description of the
waterfall is a masterpiece. The poem creates a wonderful image of a lively
waterfall. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he spirit of the
waterfall has been captured in words for eternity by Southey.

Check out
http://www.btinternet.com/~lake.district/kes/lodore.htm
for a photograph of the waterfall at Lodore.

regards,
     Raghavendra
raghu_udupa@

Links:

Biography of Southey: poem #203

Also check out Tennyson's somewhat reminiscent 'The Brook' poem #80

From: "Humberto Barrientos" <barrientoshumberto@>

The power of a poem.
There is a Lodore Hotel by the now famous cataract in England
There are several Lodores in the world  from Australia to USA.
Another example that the pen is more powerfull than the sword

HB
hbarrientos@

From: MTSPIDER@

Dear Sir/Madam 
            Can youtellus where ''Lodore'' is in the poem  'The Cataracts of 
Lodore''.  Your help would be appreciated to advise our schoolchildren ,who 
are reading 'Southey'

 Yours in apprecitation    E. Webb

From: "Kent Upshaw" <wkupshaw@>

Recently paddled the Lodore Canyon in Colorado.  The decision to name
the canyon after the poem was appropriate.

From: "Knull's" <knull@>

Is the Cataract of Lodore only located in Colorado, or is there a
similar place in the British Isles?

S. Knull

From: Martin DeMello <martindemello@>

--- Knull's <knull@> wrote:
> Is the Cataract of Lodore only located in Colorado, or is there a similar
> place in the British Isles?

Nope, the original Cataract of Lodore is in England - see
http://www.12travel.com/uk/north_country/cumbria/borrowdale.html
I believe the
Colorado cataract was named thanks to the poem:

  The southern boundary of Brown's Park is the Gates of Lodore, which is in    
  Dinosaur National Monument. According to legend, the canyon entrance received

  its name from a member of Powell's 1869 expedition down the Green River, who
was 
  reminded of Robert Southey's poem, "The Cataract of Lodore.
    -- http://www.cyberwest.com/cw09/v9adwst1.html

m.

From: "Alfred Poggi" <a.poggi@>

 Hi :   Seems to me that this poem has been copied by others,  I recall
reading some so similar but I cannot recall the names of said poems. Can
you offer any to me that are ,well , so alike , especially the rhyming
style. I would certainly appreciate hearing from you. This kind of thing
drives me bonkers. I`m 79 , but poetry has kept my gears from grinding,
-------I think !!
        Thank You ,  Fred

From: Vaveith@

I had a copy of this, lost it about 35 years ago, and have been looking ever 
since.

After many unfruitful web searches I casually mentioned it to a friend,
and she found this link in about 5 minutes.  Don't you hate people like
that?  Now I owe her big time.

From: "marion" <dreyfusmarion@>

Love it and glove it, for it and adore it.

Alliteration and assonance, consonance and onomatopoeia to beat the
gushing and rushing of the fall of the fell.

m d s dreyfs
wuhan, china

From: "Gerhard Richter" <gerhard.obm@>

...and here is the music to:

The Cataract of Lodore

G. Richter
(wait or/and install the scorch plugin, so you can see the score!)

From: "Gerhard Richter" <gerhard.obm@>

sorry, the links not functioned:

the musik:
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid"39209&storeid"-1
the scorch plugin:
http://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/download/get.pl?com"sh&prod"scorch


G. Richter

From: "Gerhard Richter" <gerhard.obm@>

sorry again!!!

music:
http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/cgi-bin/show_score.pl?scoreid"39209
plugin:
http://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/download/get.pl?com"sh&prod"scorch