America's Prosperity
They tell me thou art rich, my country: goldIn glittering flood has poured into thy chest;Thy flocks and herds increase, thy barns are pressedWith harvest, and thy stores can hardly holdTheir merchandise; unending trains are rolledAlong thy network rails of East and West;Thy factories and forges never rest;Thou art enriched in all things bought and sold!
But dost thou prosper? Better news I crave.O dearest country, is it well with theeIndeed, and is thy soul in health?A nobler people, hearts more wisely brave,And thoughts that lift men up and make them free,--These are prosperity and vital wealth!
Words in this poem
- prosper v. t.
- To favor; to render successful. [F. prospérer v. i., or L. prosperare, v. i., or L. prosperare, v. t., fr. prosper or prosperus. See Prosperous.]
- crave v. t.
- To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
America's Prosperity 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's Prosperity, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/america-s-prosperity.html, id L22936.
Form and metre
America's Prosperity is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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.
- 1 ABBAABBA goldA · chestB · pressedB · holdA · rolledA · westB · restB · soldA
- 2 ABCABC craveA · theeB · healthC · braveA · freeB · wealthC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| They tell me thou art rich, my country: gold | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In glittering flood has poured into thy chest; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Thy flocks and herds increase, thy barns are pressed | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| With harvest, and thy stores can hardly hold | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Their merchandise; unending trains are rolled | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Along thy network rails of East and West; | 10 | ˘/·/······ |
| Thy factories and forges never rest; | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘/˘· |
| Thou art enriched in all things bought and sold! | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| But dost thou prosper? Better news I crave. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| O dearest country, is it well with thee | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Indeed, and is thy soul in health? | 8 | ˘/······ |
| A nobler people, hearts more wisely brave, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| And thoughts that lift men up and make them free,-- | 10 | ·········· |
| These are prosperity and vital wealth! | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘· |
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.