Dulciora
A tear that trembles for a little whileUpon the trembling eyelid, till the worldWavers within its circle like a dream,Holds more of meaning in its narrow orbThan all the distant landscape that it blurs.
A smile that hovers round a mouth beloved,Like the faint pulsing of the Northern Light,And grows in silence to an amber dawnBorn in the sweetest depths of trustful eyes,Is dearer to the soul than sun or star.
A joy that falls into the hollow heartFrom some far-lifted height of love unseen,Unknown, makes a more perfect melodyThan hidden brooks that murmur in the dusk,Or fall athwart the cliff with wavering gleam.
Ah, not for their own sake are earth and skyAnd the fair ministries of Nature dear,But as they set themselves unto the tuneThat fills our life; as light mysteriousFlows from within and glorifies the world.
For so a common wayside blossom, touchedWith tender thought, assumes a grace more sweetThan crowns the royal lily of the South;And so a well-remembered perfume seemsThe breath of one who breathes in Paradise.
Words in this poem
- trustful a.
- Full of trust; trusting.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- wayside n.
- The side of the way; the edge or border of a road or path.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Dulciora 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, Dulciora, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/dulciora.html, id L22746.
Form and metre
Dulciora is 25 lines in 5 stanzas of 5 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A tear that trembles for a little while | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Upon the trembling eyelid, till the world | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| Wavers within its circle like a dream, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Holds more of meaning in its narrow orb | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Than all the distant landscape that it blurs. | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| A smile that hovers round a mouth beloved, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Like the faint pulsing of the Northern Light, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| And grows in silence to an amber dawn | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Born in the sweetest depths of trustful eyes, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Is dearer to the soul than sun or star. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| A joy that falls into the hollow heart | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| From some far-lifted height of love unseen, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Unknown, makes a more perfect melody | 10 | ˘/···/·/˘˘ |
| Than hidden brooks that murmur in the dusk, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Or fall athwart the cliff with wavering gleam. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Ah, not for their own sake are earth and sky | 10 | ·········· |
| And the fair ministries of Nature dear, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| But as they set themselves unto the tune | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| That fills our life; as light mysterious | 11 | ··/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| Flows from within and glorifies the world. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For so a common wayside blossom, touched | 10 | ···/˘/·/˘· |
| With tender thought, assumes a grace more sweet | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Than crowns the royal lily of the South; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And so a well-remembered perfume seems | 10 | ····˘/˘˘/· |
| The breath of one who breathes in Paradise. | 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.