American Flag Song
O dark the night and dim the dayWhen first our flag arose;It fluttered bravely in the frayTo meet o'erwhelming foes.Our fathers saw the splendor shine,They dared and suffered all;They won our freedom by the sign--The holy sign, the radiant sign--Of the stars that never fall.
All hail to thee, Young Glory!Among the flags of earthWe'll ne'er forget the storyOf thy heroic birth.
O wild the later storm that shookThe pillars of the State,When brother against brother tookThe final arms of fate.But union lived and peace divineEnfolded brothers all;The flag floats o'er them with the sign--The loyal sign, the equal sign--Of the stars that never fall.
All hail to thee, Old Glory!Of thee our heart's desireForetells a golden story,For thou hast come through fire.
O fiercer than all wars beforeThat raged on land or sea,The Giant Robber's world-wide warFor the things that shall not be!Thy sister banners hold the line;To thee, dear flag, they call;And thou hast joined them with the sign--The heavenly sign, the victor sign--Of the stars that never fall.
All hail to thee, New Glory!We follow thee unfurledTo write the larger storyOf Freedom for the World.
Words in this poem
- bravely adv.
- In a brave manner; courageously; gallantly; valiantly; splendidly; nobly.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
American Flag 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, American Flag Song, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/american-flag-song.html, id L22945.
Form and metre
American Flag Song is 39 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCCD, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in iambic 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 ABABCDCCD dayA · aroseB · frayA · foesB · shineC · allD · signC · signC · fallD
- 2 ABAB gloryA · earthB · storyA · birthB
- 3 ABABCDCCD shookA · stateB · tookA · fateB · divineC · allD · signC · signC · fallD
- 4 ABAB gloryA · desireB · storyA · fireB
- 5 ABABCDCCD beforeA · seaB · warA · beB · lineC · callD · signC · signC · fallD
- 6 ABAB gloryA · unfurledB · storyA · worldB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O dark the night and dim the day | 8 | ········ |
| When first our flag arose; | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| It fluttered bravely in the fray | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To meet o'erwhelming foes. | 6 | ······ |
| Our fathers saw the splendor shine, | 9 | /˘/˘··/˘· |
| They dared and suffered all; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| They won our freedom by the sign-- | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| The holy sign, the radiant sign-- | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Of the stars that never fall. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| All hail to thee, Young Glory! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Among the flags of earth | 6 | ······ |
| We'll ne'er forget the story | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| Of thy heroic birth. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| O wild the later storm that shook | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The pillars of the State, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| When brother against brother took | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The final arms of fate. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But union lived and peace divine | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Enfolded brothers all; | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| The flag floats o'er them with the sign-- | 8 | ········ |
| The loyal sign, the equal sign-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Of the stars that never fall. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| All hail to thee, Old Glory! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Of thee our heart's desire | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Foretells a golden story, | 7 | ˘/·/˘/˘ |
| For thou hast come through fire. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| O fiercer than all wars before | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That raged on land or sea, | 6 | ······ |
| The Giant Robber's world-wide war | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| For the things that shall not be! | 7 | ······· |
| Thy sister banners hold the line; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To thee, dear flag, they call; | 6 | ······ |
| And thou hast joined them with the sign-- | 8 | ········ |
| The heavenly sign, the victor sign-- | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘· |
| Of the stars that never fall. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| All hail to thee, New Glory! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| We follow thee unfurled | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| To write the larger story | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Of Freedom for the World. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.