Topical Guide 783
Mark Dorset
Metaphor: The River Meander, Meandering
Metaphor: River’s End, Life’s End
What a Piece of Work I Am, Chapter 70:
[…] as I’ve wandered, I have generally preferred the winding road, the riskier route, and haven’t allowed myself to plan too much. I’ve known from the start where I’m going, at least I’ve had a destination in mind, but I haven’t wanted to know exactly how I was going to get there. […] So, now and then I invite someone to suggest an excursion. I have taken as my model the course of the river Meander […]
Wikipedia:
The Büyük Menderes River (“Great Meander,” historically the Maeander or Meander, from Ancient Greek: Μαίανδρος, Maíandros; Turkish: Büyük Menderes Irmağı), is a river in southwestern Turkey. It rises in west central Turkey near Dinar before flowing west through the Büyük Menderes graben until reaching the Aegean Sea in the proximity of the ancient Ionian city Miletus. The river was well known for its sinuous, curving pattern, and gives its name to the common term used to describe these characteristic bends in rivers.
What a Piece of Work I Am, Chapter 70:
[…] now I am weary of wandering, and I’m beginning to think that the time is coming when I should wander somewhere to the sea and just stay put.
Algernon Charles Swinburne, “The Garden of Proserpine”:
[…]
I am tired of tears and laughter,
And men that laugh and weep;
Of what may come hereafter
For men that sow to reap:
I am weary of days and hours,
Blown buds of barren flowers,
Desires and dreams and powers
And everything but sleep.
[…]
From too much love of living,
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no life lives for ever;
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea.
See also:
Metaphors and Similes: Wandering the Streets of a Town TG 626; Clam Chowder TG 777
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