Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.

Rivers of England

Rivers of England

By John Milton (1608–1674)

From “At a Vacation Exercise in the College”

RIVERS arise; whether thou be the son

Of utmost Tweed, or Ouse, or gulfy Dun,

Or Trent, who like some earth-born giant spreads

His thirty arms along the indented meads,

Or sullen Mole that runneth underneath,

Or Severn swift, guilty of maiden’s death,

Or rocky Avon, or of sedgy Lee,

Or coaly Tine, or ancient hallowed Dee,

Or Humber land that keeps the Scythian’s name,

Or Medway smooth, or royal towered Thame.