Analysis of Peace

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



Two dwellings, Peace, are thine.
One is the mountain-height,
Uplifted in the loneliness of light
Beyond the realm of shadows,--fine,
And far, and clear,--where advent of the night
Means only glorious nearness of the stars,
And dawn, unhindered, breaks above the bars
That long the lower world in twilight keep.
Thou sleepest not, and hast no need of sleep,
For all thy cares and fears have dropped away;
The night's fatigue, the fever-fret of day,
Are far below thee; and earth's weary wars,
In vain expense of passion, pass
Before thy sight like visions in a glass,
Or like the wrinkles of the storm that creep
Across the sea and leave no trace
Of trouble on that immemorial face,--
So brief appear the conflicts, and so slight
The wounds men give, the things for which they fight.

Here hangs a fortress on the distant steep,--
A lichen clinging to the rock:
There sails a fleet upon the deep,--
A wandering flock
Of snow-winged gulls: and yonder, in the plain,
A marble palace shines,--a grain
Of mica glittering in the rain.
Beneath thy feet the clouds are rolled
By voiceless winds: and far between
The rolling clouds new shores and peaks are seen,
In shimmering robes of green and gold,
And faint aerial hue
That silent fades into the silent blue.
Thou, from thy mountain-hold,
All day, in tranquil wisdom, looking down
On distant scenes of human toil and strife,
All night, with eyes aware of loftier life,
Uplooking to the sky, where stars are sown,
Dost watch the everlasting fields grow white
Unto the harvest of the sons of light,
And welcome to thy dwelling-place sublime
The few strong souls that dare to climb
The slippery crags and find thee on the height.

But in the depth thou hast another home,
For hearts less daring, or more frail.
Thou dwellest also in the shadowy vale;
And pilgrim-souls that roam
With weary feet o'er hill and dale,
Bearing the burden and the heat
Of toilful days,
Turn from the dusty ways
To find thee in thy green and still retreat.
Here is no vision wide outspread
Before the lonely and exalted seat
Of all-embracing knowledge. Here, instead,
A little garden, and a sheltered nook,
With outlooks brief and sweet
Across the meadows, and along the brook,--
A little stream that little knows
Of the great sea towards which it gladly flows,--
A little field that bears a little wheat
To make a portion of earth's daily bread.
The vast cloud-armies overhead
Are marshalled, and the wild wind blows
Its trumpet, but thou canst not tell
Whence the storm comes nor where it goes.

Nor dost thou greatly care, since all is well;
Thy daily task is done,
And though a lowly one,
Thou gavest it of thy best,
And art content to rest
In patience till its slow reward is won.
Not far thou lookest, but thy sight is clear;
Not much thou knowest, but thy faith is dear;
For life is love, and love is always near.
Here friendship lights the fire, and every heart,
Sure of itself and sure of all the rest,
Dares to be true, and gladly takes its part
In open converse, bringing forth its best:
Here is Sweet music, melting every chain
Of lassitude and pain:
And here, at last, is sleep, the gift of gifts,
The tender nurse, who lifts
The soul grown weary of the waking world,
And lays it, with its thoughts all furled,
Its fears forgotten, and its passions still,
On the deep bosom of the Eternal Will.


Scheme ABBABCCDDEEXFFDGGBB DHDHIIIJKKJLLJXMMXBBNNB OPPOPQRRQBQSTQTUUQSSUVU VWWXXWYYYZXZXII1 1 XB2 2
Poetic Form
Metre 110111 110101 1000010011 0101111 010111101 1101001101 0101010101 110101011 111011111 1111011101 0101010111 1101101101 01011101 0111110001 1101010111 01010111 1101101001 1101001011 0111011111 1101010101 01010101 11010101 01001 1111010001 01010101 110100001 01110111 11010101 0101110111 010011101 011001 1101010101 111101 1101010101 1101110101 11110111001 11011111 110010111 1001010111 0101110101 01111111 01001011101 1001110101 11110111 1110001001 010111 110110101 10010001 111 110101 1110110101 1111011 0101000101 1101010101 0101000101 11101 010100101 01011101 10110111101 0101110101 1101011101 01110101 11000111 11011111 10111111 1111011111 110111 010101 111111 011011 0101110111 111111111 111111111 111101111 110101001001 1101011101 1111010111 0101010111 11110101001 1101 0111110111 010111 0111010101 01111111 1101001101 10110100101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 3,272
Words 613
Sentences 15
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 19, 23, 23, 21
Lines Amount 86
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 650
Words per stanza (avg) 149
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

3:05 min read
132

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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