ENGLISH

[Michael Anon]

 
Enacting the evolution of the english language seems like a tough task. You mean from old english to the way english is spoken today? I didn't get much of that from the poem.

What was the role of the water metaphor in the poem?

Not water so much as river as a metaphor language formation, growth and development.

So the speaker in this poem is the English language? Since the "I" is the English language personified. And how is river working as the main metaphor? Especially if in other sections of the poem the speaker seems to first refer to itself as rainwater runoff and then a lake.

Yes the speaker in the poem is the English language and I think that's where you misunderstood the poem