Water ballad(poems with explaination)

 "Water Ballad" by Coleridge

About Author ( Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

S.T.Coleridge

Coleridge was born on 21 October 1772.He had thirteen sisters and brothers .His father had two wives.His father died in 1781 when he was eight years old.He admitted in charity school after death of his father.He studied and wrote poetry in school.He liked his father but his terms were not good with his mother. He lived in school and occasionally went home.In 1791 he joined Jesus college ,Cambridge.In 1792 he won the browne gold medal for his poem.He left college in 1793.
 He was failed in love and was much depressed. In 1795 he married but it became also failed. In same year he met the great poet William words worth. In 1798 these two poets published a joint volume of poetry.His most popular poem are "This Lime tree","Frost at Midnight" and Nightingale In 1799, Coleridge and Wordsworth stayed at Thomas Hutchinson's farm.
Coleridge has a most important part in English poetry.He gave many lectures on Shakespeare and Milton and on principals of poetry.His major work was " Biographia Literaria" which was punlished in 1817. He died in London on 25 July 1834 as a result of heart failure

"Water Ballad"(Poem)

Come hither, gently rowing, 
Come, bear me quickly o'er ,
This stream so brightly flowing,
To yonder woodland shore,
vain were my endeavour,
To pay thee, courteous guide,
Row on, row on, for ever ,
I'd have thee by my side. 

Good boatman, prithee haste thee,
 I seek my father-land,
Say, when I there have placed thee,
 Dare I demand thy hand,
A maiden's head can never,
So hard a point decide,
 Row on, row on, for eve,
I'd have thee by my side.

The happy bridal over,
The wanderer ceased to roam,
For, seated by her lover, 
The boat became her home,
And they still sang together,
As steering o'er the tide,
Row on through wind and weathe,
For ever by my side.

"Water Ballad"(Explaination of poem)

"Water Ballad" by Coleridge is both a simple love poem and an allegory of human life. A young girl wishes to go across the stream to her father’s land. She requests a boatman to row her over to the other side. During their short journey, while they are rowing over the brightly flowing stream, they fall in love. The boatman asks her if he could demand her hand when he has taken her to her father’s land. She replies that it is a difficult question. However, she says that she likes his company. 
They get married and the boat becomes their home. The maiden’s restless wandering is over. She has found her dream. Sitting side by side in their boat and singing together they row through rough and calm weather. Seen as an allegory, the poem takes on deeper meanings. The boat is the symbol of human life, the maiden and the boatman stand for mankind. 
Men and women need love to make I'fe happy and successful1. The stream becomes time. She asked the boat man to carry her to the other side.The boatman agreed but refused to take the fare. He proposed to her and was accepted. They got married and the boat became their home.
 In these lines the poet says that after their marriage they continued rowing over the tide of the river. They always used to sing a song which meant that they should go on rowing in fair or foul weather while remaining by the side of each other. Life brought those two strangers together. They rowed over the stream of life joyfully. 
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