“Silver” Introduction

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“Silver” Summary

“Silver” Themes

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  The Transformative Beauty of Nature

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Silver”

• Lines 1-4

  Slowly, silently, now the moon
  Walks the night in her silver shoon;
  This way, and that, she peers, and sees
  Silver fruit upon silver trees;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-6

  One by one the casements catch
  Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-10

  Couched in his kennel, like a log,
  With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
  From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
  Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-14

  A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
  With silver claws and a silver eye;
  And moveless fish in the water gleam,
  By silver reeds in a silver stream.

  

  

  

  

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“Silver” Symbols

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  Doves

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“Silver” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Diacope

  

  

  

  

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• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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“Silver” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Shoon
• Casements
• Thatch
• Couched
• Cote

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Silver”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Silver” Speaker

“Silver” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Silver”

More “Silver” Resources

• External Resources

  • Peacock Pie — The full text of the 1913 collection in which "Silver" appeared.

  • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to "Silver" read out loud.

  • More Poems and a Biography — A Poetry Foundation feature on the poet's life and work.

  • Anthony Hecht on Walter de la Mare — A short overview of de la Mare's life and work, by American poet Anthony Hecht. 

  • More on the Georgians — An overview of the loose group of poets, including de la Mare, who were known as the Georgians.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Walter De La Mare

  • The Listeners