At a Birthday Feast
With memories old and wishes newWe crown our cups again,And here's to you, and here's to youWith love that ne'er shall wane!And may you keep, at sixty-seven,The joy of earth, the hope of heaven,And fame well-earned, and friendship true,And peace that comforts every pain,And faith that fights the battle through,And all your heart's unbounded wealth,And all your wit, and all your health,--Yes, here's a hearty health to you,And here's to you, and here's to you,Long life to you, Mark Twain.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
At a Birthday Feast 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, At a Birthday Feast, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/at-a-birthday-feast.html, id L22874.
Form and metre
At a Birthday Feast is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCCABADDAAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABABCCABADDAAB newA · againB · youA · waneB · sevenC · heavenC · trueA · painB · throughA · wealthD · healthD · youA · youA · twainB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| With memories old and wishes new | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| We crown our cups again, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| And here's to you, and here's to you | 8 | ········ |
| With love that ne'er shall wane! | 6 | ······ |
| And may you keep, at sixty-seven, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| The joy of earth, the hope of heaven, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| And fame well-earned, and friendship true, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And peace that comforts every pain, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And faith that fights the battle through, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And all your heart's unbounded wealth, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| And all your wit, and all your health,-- | 8 | ········ |
| Yes, here's a hearty health to you, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And here's to you, and here's to you, | 8 | ········ |
| Long life to you, Mark Twain. | 6 | ······ |
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