America's Way
But thou, my country, though no fault be thineFor that red horror far across the sea;Though not a tortured wretch can point to thee,And curse thee for the selfishness supineOf those great Powers that cowardly combineTo shield the Turk in his iniquity;Yet, since thy hand is innocent and free,Arise, and show the world the way divine!Thou canst not break the oppressor's iron rod,But thou canst help and comfort the oppressed;Thou canst not loose the captive's heavy chain,But thou canst bind his wounds and soothe his pain.Armenia calls thee, Sovereign of the West,To play the Good Samaritan for God.
Words in this poem
- supine a.
- Lying on the back, or with the face upward; -- opposed to prone. [L. supinus, akin to sub under, super above. Cf. Sub-, Super-.]
- turk n.
- A member of any of numerous Tartar tribes of Central Asia, etc.; esp., one of the dominant race in Turkey. [Per. Turk; probably of Tartar origin: cf. F. Turc.]
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
- samaritan a.
- Of or pertaining to Samaria, in Palestine. [L. Samaritanus.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
America's Way 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 Way, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/america-s-way.html, id L22909.
Form and metre
America's Way is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ABBAA-BACDEEDC thineA · seaB · theeB · supineA · combineA · iniquity · freeB · divineA · rodC · oppressedD · chainE · painE · westD · godC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| But thou, my country, though no fault be thine | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For that red horror far across the sea; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Though not a tortured wretch can point to thee, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And curse thee for the selfishness supine | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| Of those great Powers that cowardly combine | 11 | ···/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| To shield the Turk in his iniquity; | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| Yet, since thy hand is innocent and free, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Arise, and show the world the way divine! | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| Thou canst not break the oppressor's iron rod, | 10 | ·····˘/˘/· |
| But thou canst help and comfort the oppressed; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Thou canst not loose the captive's heavy chain, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| But thou canst bind his wounds and soothe his pain. | 10 | ·········· |
| Armenia calls thee, Sovereign of the West, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| To play the Good Samaritan for God. | 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.