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A Noon Song

Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933) · 1925

anapaestic tetrameter · 32 lines · from The Poems of Henry Van Dyke

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There are songs for the morning and songs for the night,For sunrise and sunset, the stars and the moon;But who will give praise to the fulness of light,And sing us a song of the glory of noon?Oh, the high noon, the clear noon,The noon with golden crest;When the blue sky burns, and the great sun turnsWith his face to the way of the west!

How swiftly he rose in the dawn of his strength!How slowly he crept as the morning wore by!Ah, steep was the climbing that led him at lengthTo the height of his throne in the wide summer sky.Oh, the long toil, the slow toil,The toil that may not rest,Till the sun looks down from his journey's crown,To the wonderful way of the west!

Then a quietness falls over meadow and hill,The wings of the wind in the forest are furled,The river runs softly, the birds are all still,The workers are resting all over the world.Oh, the good hour, the kind hour,The hour that calms the breast!Little inn half-way on the road of the day,Where it follows the turn to the west!

There's a plentiful feast in the maple-tree shade,The lilt of a song to an old-fashioned tune,The talk of a friend, or the kiss of a maid,To sweeten the cup that we drink to the noon.Oh, the deep noon, the full noon,Of all the day the best!When the blue sky burns, and the great sun turnsTo his home by the way of the west!

Words in this poem

lilt v. i.
To do anything with animation and quickness, as to skip, fly, or hop. [Cf. Norw. lilla, lirla, to sing in a high tone.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

A Noon Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Henry Van Dyke, Project Gutenberg ebook #16229; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Henry Van Dyke, A Noon Song, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/a-noon-song.html, id L22771.

Form and metre

A Noon Song is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).

See other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.

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. 1 ABABBC-C nightA · moonB · lightA · noonB · noonB · crestC · turns · westC
  2. 2 ABAB-C-C strengthA · byB · lengthA · skyB · toil · restC · crown · westC
  3. 3 ABAB-C-C hillA · furledB · stillA · worldB · hour · breastC · day · westC
  4. 4 ABABBC-C shadeA · tuneB · maidA · noonB · noonB · bestC · turns · westC
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.

LineSyl.Stress
There are songs for the morning and songs for the night,12·····/˘·····
For sunrise and sunset, the stars and the moon;11·/··/······
But who will give praise to the fulness of light,11·······/˘··
And sing us a song of the glory of noon?11·······/˘··
Oh, the high noon, the clear noon,7·······
The noon with golden crest;6···/˘·
When the blue sky burns, and the great sun turns10··········
With his face to the way of the west!9·········
How swiftly he rose in the dawn of his strength!11·/˘········
How slowly he crept as the morning wore by!11·/˘····/˘··
Ah, steep was the climbing that led him at length11····/˘·····
To the height of his throne in the wide summer sky.12·········/˘·
Oh, the long toil, the slow toil,7·······
The toil that may not rest,6······
Till the sun looks down from his journey's crown,10·······/˘·
To the wonderful way of the west!9··/˘˘····
Then a quietness falls over meadow and hill,10··/˘··/···
The wings of the wind in the forest are furled,11·······/˘··
The river runs softly, the birds are all still,11·/˘·/˘·····
The workers are resting all over the world.10·/˘·/˘····
Oh, the good hour, the kind hour,9···/˘··/˘
The hour that calms the breast!7·/˘····
Little inn half-way on the road of the day,11/˘·········
Where it follows the turn to the west!9··/˘·····
There's a plentiful feast in the maple-tree shade,11··/˘···/˘··
The lilt of a song to an old-fashioned tune,11········/˘·
The talk of a friend, or the kiss of a maid,11···········
To sweeten the cup that we drink to the noon.11·/˘········
Oh, the deep noon, the full noon,7·······
Of all the day the best!6······
When the blue sky burns, and the great sun turns10··········
To his home by the way of the west!9·········

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.

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