"America for Me"
'Tis fine to see the Old World, and travel up and downAmong the famous palaces and cities of renown,To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the kings,--But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things.
So it's home again, and home again, America for me!My heart is turning home again, and there I long to be,In the land of youth and freedom beyond the ocean bars,Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.
Oh, London is a man's town, there's power in the air;And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair;And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to study Rome;But when it comes to living there is no place like home.
I like the German fir-woods, in green battalions drilled;I like the gardens of Versailles with flashing fountains filled;But, oh, to take your hand, my dear, and ramble for a dayIn the friendly western woodland where Nature has her way!
I know that Europe's wonderful, yet something seems to lack:The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back.But the glory of the Present is to make the Future free,--We love our land for what she is and what she is to be.
Oh, it's home again, and home again, America for me!I want a ship that's westward bound to plough the rolling sea,To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars,Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars.
Words in this poem
- admire v. t.
- To regard with wonder or astonishment; to view with surprise; to marvel at. [F. admirer, fr. L. admirari; ad + mirari to wonder, for smirari, akin to Gr. smi, and E. smile.]
- crumbly a.
- EAsily crumbled; friable; brittle.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"America for Me" 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, "America for Me", in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/america-for-me.html, id L22915.
Form and metre
"America for Me" is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 AABB downA · renownA · kingsB · thingsB
- 2 AABB meA · beA · barsB · starsB
- 3 AABB airA · hairA · romeB · homeB
- 4 AABB drilledA · filledA · dayB · wayB
- 5 AABB lackA · backA · freeB · beB
- 6 AABB meA · seaA · barsB · starsB
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| 'Tis fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down | 13 | ········/˘··· |
| Among the famous palaces and cities of renown, | 14 | ···/˘/˘˘·/˘·˘/ |
| To admire the crumbly castles and the statues of the kings,-- | 15 | ·˘/·/˘/˘··/···· |
| But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things. | 14 | ······˘/·/˘·˘· |
| So it's home again, and home again, America for me! | 14 | ···˘/··˘/˘/˘·· |
| My heart is turning home again, and there I long to be, | 14 | ···/˘·˘/······ |
| In the land of youth and freedom beyond the ocean bars, | 14 | ······/˘···/˘· |
| Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars. | 15 | ······/········ |
| Oh, London is a man's town, there's power in the air; | 13 | ·/˘·····/˘··· |
| And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair; | 14 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to study Rome; | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| But when it comes to living there is no place like home. | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| I like the German fir-woods, in green battalions drilled; | 14 | ···/˘····˘/˘·˘ |
| I like the gardens of Versailles with flashing fountains filled; | 14 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘/˘· |
| But, oh, to take your hand, my dear, and ramble for a day | 14 | ·········/˘··· |
| In the friendly western woodland where Nature has her way! | 14 | ··/˘/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| I know that Europe's wonderful, yet something seems to lack: | 14 | ···/˘/˘˘·/˘··· |
| The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back. | 14 | ·········/˘/˘· |
| But the glory of the Present is to make the Future free,-- | 15 | ··/˘··/˘····/˘· |
| We love our land for what she is and what she is to be. | 14 | ··/··········· |
| Oh, it's home again, and home again, America for me! | 14 | ···˘/··˘/˘/˘·· |
| I want a ship that's westward bound to plough the rolling sea, | 14 | ·····/˘····/˘· |
| To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars, | 14 | ······˘/···/˘· |
| Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars. | 15 | ······/········ |
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.