Analysis of A Home Song

Henry Van Dyke 1852 (Germantown, Pennsylvania) – 1933 (Princeton, New Jersey)



I read within a poet's book
A word that starred the page:
"Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage!"

Yes, that is true; and something more
You'll find, where'er you roam,
That marble floors and gilded walls
Can never make a home.

But every house where Love abides,
And Friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home-sweet-home:
For there the heart can rest.


Scheme XAXA XBXB XCBC
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11010101 011101 11110101 110101 11110101 111011 11010101 110101 110011101 010101 11010111 110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 374
Words 72
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 24
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 95
Words per stanza (avg) 23
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

22 sec read
547

Henry Van Dyke

Henry Jackson van Dyke was an American author, educator, and clergyman. more…

All Henry Van Dyke poems | Henry Van Dyke Books

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