The river is one of the most notable symbols in the poem. It serves as both a setting and a mythological motif, and the speaker uses it as a geographical reference point: “the dead come down to the river to drink” (Line 1). It is portrayed as a source of nourishment and as a gathering place where the dead come together in community. The irony is that the dead cannot replicate their past loves or relationships, and so the act of drinking together from the river has little benefit besides nostalgia: The dead come there for a brief escape and to remember the feeling of belonging.

Rivers have long been associated with the afterlife in myth and folklore (See: Background). In Greek mythology, several rivers traverse Hades, the domain of the dead: The Styx serves as a boundary between the Underworld and our world; the Lethe causes oblivion in anyone who drinks from it, allowing the dead to forget the lives they lost; and Cocytus is the river of mourning cries. Each of these is a symbolic representation of bereavement, transposed onto the dead. In the poem, the dead also perform many of the actions of those grieving loved ones: They pour over old photographs and letters, imagine possible futures for those gone, and relive memories.