There is something mesmerising about watching fast-moving water. To see water rushing towards a drop and then tumbling over the edge is both dramatic and soothing. Clearly Robert Southey loved waterfalls and when asked by his young son to describe a famous Lake District cataract, he had a huge amount of fun coming up with words and rhythm that would capture the rush of water and its descent. I hope you enjoy this onamatopoeic poem as much as I do.
The Cataract of Lodore By Robert Southey
“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.
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