After the Pioneers
After the pioneers--Big-hearted, big-handed lords of the axe and the plow and the rifle,Tan-faced tamers of horses and lands, themselves remaining tameless,Full of fighting, labour and romance, lovers of rude adventure--After the pioneers have cleared the way to their homes and graves on theprairies:
After the State-builders--Zealous and jealous men, dreamers, debaters, often at odds with eachother,All of them sure it is well to toil and to die, if need be,Just for the sake of founding a country to leave to their children--After the builders have done their work and written their names upon it:
After the civil war--Wildest of all storms, cruel and dark and seemingly wasteful,Tearing up by the root the vines that were splitting the old foundations,Washing away with a rain of blood and tears the dust of slavery,After the cyclone has passed and the sky is fair to the far horizon;After the era of plenty and peace has come with full hands to Texas,Then--what then?
Is it to be the life of an indolent heir, fat-witted and self-contented,Dwelling at ease in the house that others have builded,Boasting about the country for which he has done nothing?Is it to be an age of corpulent, deadly-dull prosperity,Richer and richer crops to nourish a race of Philistines,Bigger and bigger cities full of the same confusion and sorrow,The people increasing mightily but no increase of the joy?Is this what the forerunners wished and toiled to win for you,This the reward of war and the fruitage of high endeavor,This the goal of your hopes and the vision that satisfies you?
Nay, stand up and answer--I can read what is in your hearts--You, the children of those who followed the wild-bees,You, the children of those who served the Lone Star,Now that the hives are full and the star is fixed in the constellation,I know that the best of you still are lovers of sweetness and light!
You hunger for honey that comes from invisible gardens;Pure, translucent, golden thoughts and feelings and inspirations,Sweetness of all the best that has bloomed in the mind of man.You rejoice in the light that is breaking along the borders of science;The hidden rays that enable a man to look through a wall of stone;The unseen, fire-filled wings that carry his words across the ocean;The splendid gift of flight that shines, half-captured, above him;The gleam of a thousand half-guessed secrets, just ready to bediscovered!You dream and devise great things for the coming race--Children of yours who shall people and rule the domain of Texas;They shall know, they shall comprehend more than their fathers,They shall grow in the vigour of well-rounded manhood and womanhood,Riper minds, richer hearts, finer souls, the only true wealth of anation--The league-long fields of the State are pledged to ensure this harvest!
Your old men have dreamed this dream and your young men have seen thisvision.The age of romance has not gone, it is only beginning;Greater words than the ear of man has heard are waiting to be spoken,Finer arts than the eyes of man have seen are sleeping to be awakened:Science exploring the scope of the world,Poetry breathing the hope of the world,Music to measure and lead the onward march of man!
Come, ye honoured and welcome guests from the elder nations,Princes of science and arts and letters,Look on the walls that embody the generous dream of one of the old menof Texas,Enter these halls of learning that rise in the land of the pioneer'slog-cabin,Read the confessions of faith that are carved on the stones around you:Faith in the worth of the smallest fact and the laws that govern thestarbeams,Faith in the beauty of truth and the truth of perfect beauty,Faith in the God who creates the souls of men by knowledge and love andworship.
This is the faith of the New Democracy--Proud and humble, patiently pressing forward,Praising her heroes of old and training her future leaders,Seeking her crown in a nobler race of men and women--After the pioneers, sweetness and light!
Read at the Dedication of the Rice Institute, Houston, Texas,October, 1912.
Words in this poem 16
- tameless a.
- Incapable of being tamed; wild; untamed; untamable. Bp. Hall.
- odds n.
- Difference in favor of one and against another; excess of one of two things or numbers over the other; inequality; advantage; superiority; hence, excess of chances; probability. [See Odd, a.]
- seemingly adv.
- In appearance; in show; in semblance; apparently; ostensibly.
- indolent a.
- Free from toil, pain, or trouble. [Pref. in- not + L. dolens, -entis, p. pr. of dolere to feel pain: cf. F. indolent. See Dolorous.]
- bigger a.
- , compar. of Big.
- mightily adv.
- In a mighty manner; with might; with great earnestness; vigorously; powerfully. [From Mighty.]
- fruitage n.
- Fruit, collectively; fruit, in general; fruitery. [F. fruitage.]
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
- enable v. t.
- To give strength or ability to; to make firm and strong.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- vigour v. t.
- To invigorate. Feltham.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- ensure v. t.
- To make sure. See Insure.
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
- patiently adv.
- In a patient manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
After the Pioneers 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, After the Pioneers, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/after-the-pioneers.html, id L22921.
Form and metre
After the Pioneers is 77 lines in 10 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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.
- 3 ----A-A war · wasteful · foundations · slavery · horizonA · texas · thenA
- 4 -------A-A contented · builded · nothing · prosperity · philistines · sorrow · joy · youA · endeavor · youA
- 6 --A-AA--BCC-B--- gardens · inspirations · manA · science · stoneA · oceanA · him · be · discoveredB · raceC · texasC · fathers · womanhoodB · a · nation · harvest
- 7 ---A-BBA this · vision · beginning · spokenA · awakened · worldB · worldB · manA
- 8 --A--A------ nations · letters · menA · texas · pioneer's · cabinA · you · the · starbeams · beauty · and · worship
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| After the pioneers-- | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Big-hearted, big-handed lords of the axe and the plow and the rifle, | 17 | ·/˘·/˘·········/˘ |
| Tan-faced tamers of horses and lands, themselves remaining tameless, | 16 | ··/˘·/˘··˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Full of fighting, labour and romance, lovers of rude adventure-- | 16 | ··/˘/˘·˘//˘··˘/˘ |
| After the pioneers have cleared the way to their homes and graves on the | 17 | ····˘/··········· |
| prairies: | 2 | /˘ |
| After the State-builders-- | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Zealous and jealous men, dreamers, debaters, often at odds with each | 17 | /˘·/˘·/˘˘/˘/˘···· |
| other, | 2 | /˘ |
| All of them sure it is well to toil and to die, if need be, | 15 | ··············· |
| Just for the sake of founding a country to leave to their children-- | 16 | ·····/˘·/˘····/˘ |
| After the builders have done their work and written their names upon it: | 17 | ···/˘·····/˘····· |
| After the civil war-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Wildest of all storms, cruel and dark and seemingly wasteful, | 13 | /˘···/···/˘/˘ |
| Tearing up by the root the vines that were splitting the old foundations, | 17 | /˘········/˘··˘/˘ |
| Washing away with a rain of blood and tears the dust of slavery, | 16 | /˘˘/··········/˘ |
| After the cyclone has passed and the sky is fair to the far horizon; | 18 | ···˘/··········˘/˘ |
| After the era of plenty and peace has come with full hands to Texas, | 18 | ···/˘·/˘········/˘ |
| Then--what then? | 3 | ··· |
| Is it to be the life of an indolent heir, fat-witted and self-contented, | 19 | ········/˘··/˘··˘/˘ |
| Dwelling at ease in the house that others have builded, | 13 | /˘······/˘·/˘ |
| Boasting about the country for which he has done nothing? | 14 | /˘···/˘·····/˘ |
| Is it to be an age of corpulent, deadly-dull prosperity, | 16 | ·······/˘˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Richer and richer crops to nourish a race of Philistines, | 15 | /˘·/˘··/˘···/˘· |
| Bigger and bigger cities full of the same confusion and sorrow, | 17 | /˘·/˘/˘····˘/˘·/˘ |
| The people increasing mightily but no increase of the joy? | 15 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘··/···· |
| Is this what the forerunners wished and toiled to win for you, | 14 | ····/·˘······· |
| This the reward of war and the fruitage of high endeavor, | 15 | ··˘/····/˘··˘/˘ |
| This the goal of your hopes and the vision that satisfies you? | 15 | ········/˘·/˘·· |
| Nay, stand up and answer--I can read what is in your hearts-- | 14 | ····/˘········ |
| You, the children of those who followed the wild-bees, | 12 | ··/˘···/˘··· |
| You, the children of those who served the Lone Star, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Now that the hives are full and the star is fixed in the constellation, | 17 | ··············˘/˘ |
| I know that the best of you still are lovers of sweetness and light! | 16 | ·········/˘·/˘·· |
| You hunger for honey that comes from invisible gardens; | 14 | ·/˘·/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| Pure, translucent, golden thoughts and feelings and inspirations, | 15 | ·˘/˘/˘··/˘··˘/˘ |
| Sweetness of all the best that has bloomed in the mind of man. | 14 | /˘············ |
| You rejoice in the light that is breaking along the borders of science; | 18 | ·˘/·····/˘˘/·/˘·/˘ |
| The hidden rays that enable a man to look through a wall of stone; | 17 | ·/˘··˘/˘········· |
| The unseen, fire-filled wings that carry his words across the ocean; | 15 | ·˘//···/˘··˘/·/ |
| The splendid gift of flight that shines, half-captured, above him; | 14 | ·/˘······/˘··· |
| The gleam of a thousand half-guessed secrets, just ready to be | 15 | ····/˘··/˘·/˘·· |
| discovered! | 3 | ˘/˘ |
| You dream and devise great things for the coming race-- | 12 | ···˘/····/˘· |
| Children of yours who shall people and rule the domain of Texas; | 16 | /˘····/˘···˘/·/˘ |
| They shall know, they shall comprehend more than their fathers, | 13 | ······˘/···/˘ |
| They shall grow in the vigour of well-rounded manhood and womanhood, | 17 | ·····/˘··/˘/··/˘· |
| Riper minds, richer hearts, finer souls, the only true wealth of a | 15 | ···/˘·/··/˘···· |
| nation-- | 2 | /˘ |
| The league-long fields of the State are pledged to ensure this harvest! | 15 | ··········˘/·/˘ |
| Your old men have dreamed this dream and your young men have seen this | 14 | ·············· |
| vision. | 2 | /˘ |
| The age of romance has not gone, it is only beginning; | 15 | ···/˘·····/˘˘/˘ |
| Greater words than the ear of man has heard are waiting to be spoken, | 17 | /˘·········/˘··/˘ |
| Finer arts than the eyes of man have seen are sleeping to be awakened: | 17 | /·········/˘··˘/˘ |
| Science exploring the scope of the world, | 10 | /˘˘/˘····· |
| Poetry breathing the hope of the world, | 10 | /˘˘/˘····· |
| Music to measure and lead the onward march of man! | 13 | /˘·/˘···/˘··· |
| Come, ye honoured and welcome guests from the elder nations, | 14 | ··/˘·/˘···/˘/˘ |
| Princes of science and arts and letters, | 10 | /˘·/˘···/˘ |
| Look on the walls that embody the generous dream of one of the old men | 18 | ·····˘/˘·/˘······· |
| of Texas, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Enter these halls of learning that rise in the land of the pioneer's | 17 | /˘···/˘········˘/ |
| log-cabin, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| Read the confessions of faith that are carved on the stones around you: | 16 | ··˘/˘··········· |
| Faith in the worth of the smallest fact and the laws that govern the | 16 | ······/˘·····/˘· |
| starbeams, | 2 | ·· |
| Faith in the beauty of truth and the truth of perfect beauty, | 15 | ···/˘······/·/˘ |
| Faith in the God who creates the souls of men by knowledge and love and | 17 | ·····˘/·····/˘··· |
| worship. | 2 | /˘ |
| This is the faith of the New Democracy-- | 11 | ·······˘/˘˘ |
| Proud and humble, patiently pressing forward, | 11 | ··/˘/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| Praising her heroes of old and training her future leaders, | 15 | /˘·/˘···/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Seeking her crown in a nobler race of men and women-- | 14 | /˘····/˘····/˘ |
| After the pioneers, sweetness and light! | 10 | ····˘//˘·· |
| Read at the Dedication of the Rice Institute, Houston, Texas, | 17 | ····˘/˘···/˘·/˘/˘ |
| October, 1912. | 3 | ˘/˘ |
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.