In Memory of a Child
The angels guide him now,And watch his curly head,And lead him in their games,The little boy we led.
He cannot come to harm,He knows more than we know,His light is brighter farThan daytime here below.
His path leads on and on,Through pleasant lawns and flowers,His brown eyes open wideAt grass more green than ours.
With playmates like himself,The shining boy will sing,Exploring wondrous woods,Sweet with eternal spring.
Words in this poem
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In Memory of a Child is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Congo, and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #1021; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Vachel Lindsay, In Memory of a Child, in The Congo and Other Poems (1914), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1021, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lindsay-congo/in-memory-of-a-child.html, id L00950.
Form and metre
In Memory of a Child is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 -A-A now · headA · games · ledA
- 2 -A-A harm · knowA · far · belowA
- 3 -A-A on · flowersA · wide · oursA
- 4 -A-A himself · singA · woods · springA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The angels guide him now, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And watch his curly head, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And lead him in their games, | 6 | ······ |
| The little boy we led. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He cannot come to harm, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| He knows more than we know, | 6 | ······ |
| His light is brighter far | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Than daytime here below. | 6 | ·/···· |
| His path leads on and on, | 6 | ······ |
| Through pleasant lawns and flowers, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| His brown eyes open wide | 6 | ···/˘· |
| At grass more green than ours. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| With playmates like himself, | 6 | ·/··˘/ |
| The shining boy will sing, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Exploring wondrous woods, | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| Sweet with eternal spring. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.