Analysis of Stars and the Soul
Henry Van Dyke 1852 (Germantown, Pennsylvania) – 1933 (Princeton, New Jersey)
To Charles A. Young, Astronomer
"Two things," the wise man said, "fill me with awe:
The starry heavens and the moral law."
Nay, add another wonder to thy roll, --
The living marvel of the human soul!
Born in the dust and cradled in the dark,
It feels the fire of an immortal spark,
And learns to read, with patient, searching eyes,
The splendid secret of the unconscious skies.
For God thought Light before He spoke the word;
The darkness understood not, though it heard:
But man looks up to where the planets swim,
And thinks God's thoughts of glory after Him.
What knows the star that guides the sailor's way,
Or lights the lover's bower with liquid ray,
Of toil and passion, danger and distress,
Brave hope, true love, and utter faithfulness?
But human hearts that suffer good and ill,
And hold to virtue with a loyal will,
Adorn the law that rules our mortal strife
With star-surpassing victories of life.
So take our thanks, dear reader of the skies,
Devout astronomer, most humbly wise,
For lessons brighter than the stars can give,
And inward light that helps us all to live.
The world has brought the laurel-leaves to crown
The star-discoverer's name with high renown;
Accept the flower of love we lay with these
For influence sweeter than the Pleiades!
Scheme | X XXAA BBCC DDEE FFXC GGHH CCXX IIJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010100 1101111111 0101000101 1101010111 0101010101 100101001 11010110101 0111110101 0101010101 1111011101 010011111 1111110101 0111110101 1101110101 11010101101 1101010001 11110101 1101110101 0111010101 01011110101 1101010011 11101110101 0101001101 1101010111 0101111111 0111010111 01111101 01010111111 1100101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,247 |
Words | 226 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 29 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 124 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:08 min read
- 88 Views
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"Stars and the Soul" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 17 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/18373/stars-and-the-soul>.
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