Envoy
The legend of Felix is ended, the toiling of Felix is done;The Master has paid him his wages, the goal of his journey is won;He rests, but he never is idle; a thousand years pass like a day,In the glad surprise of that Paradise where work is sweeter than play.
Yet often the King of that country comes out from His tireless host,And walks in this world of the weary as if He loved it the most;For here in the dusty confusion, with eyes that are heavy and dim,He meets again the labouring men who are looking and longing for Him.
He cancels the curse of Eden, and brings them a blessing instead:Blessed are they that labour, for Jesus partakes of their bread.He puts His hand to their burdens, He enters their homes at night:Who does his best shall have as a guest the Master of life and light.
And courage will come with His presence, and patience return at Histouch,And manifold sins be forgiven to those who love Him much;The cries of envy and anger will change to the songs of cheer,The toiling age will forget its rage when the Prince of Peace draws near.
This is the gospel of labour, ring it, ye bells of the kirk!The Lord of Love came down from above, to live with the men who work.This is the rose that He planted, here in the thorn-curst soil:Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but the blessing of Earth is toil.
Words in this poem
- labouring a.
- That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
- 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,]
- kirk n.
- A church or the church, in the various senses of the word; esp., the Church of Scotland as distinguished from other reformed churches, or from the Roman Catholic Church. Jamieson. [Scot.; cf. Icel. kirkja, of Greek origin. See Church.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Envoy 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, Envoy, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/envoy.html, id L22782.
Form and metre
Envoy is 21 lines in 5 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 4 of its 5 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 AABB doneA · wonA · dayB · playB
- 2 AABB hostA · mostA · dimB · himB
- 3 AABB insteadA · breadA · nightB · lightB
- 4 -AABB his · touchA · muchA · cheerB · nearB
- 5 AABB kirkA · workA · soilB · toilB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The legend of Felix is ended, the toiling of Felix is done; | 17 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| The Master has paid him his wages, the goal of his journey is won; | 17 | ·/˘····/˘····/˘·· |
| He rests, but he never is idle; a thousand years pass like a day, | 16 | ····/·/˘·/˘····· |
| In the glad surprise of that Paradise where work is sweeter than play. | 17 | ···˘/··/˘····/˘·· |
| Yet often the King of that country comes out from His tireless host, | 16 | ·/˘····/˘····/˘· |
| And walks in this world of the weary as if He loved it the most; | 16 | ·······/˘······· |
| For here in the dusty confusion, with eyes that are heavy and dim, | 17 | ····/˘˘/˘····/˘·· |
| He meets again the labouring men who are looking and longing for Him. | 17 | ··˘/·/˘···/˘·/˘·· |
| He cancels the curse of Eden, and brings them a blessing instead: | 16 | ·/˘···/˘····/˘˘/ |
| Blessed are they that labour, for Jesus partakes of their bread. | 14 | ····/˘·/˘˘/··· |
| He puts His hand to their burdens, He enters their homes at night: | 15 | ······/˘·/˘···· |
| Who does his best shall have as a guest the Master of life and light. | 16 | ··········/˘···· |
| And courage will come with His presence, and patience return at His | 16 | ·/˘····/˘·/˘˘/·· |
| touch, | 1 | · |
| And manifold sins be forgiven to those who love Him much; | 15 | ·/˘···˘/˘······ |
| The cries of envy and anger will change to the songs of cheer, | 15 | ···/˘·/˘······· |
| The toiling age will forget its rage when the Prince of Peace draws near. | 16 | ·/˘··˘/········· |
| This is the gospel of labour, ring it, ye bells of the kirk! | 15 | ···/˘·/········ |
| The Lord of Love came down from above, to live with the men who work. | 16 | ················ |
| This is the rose that He planted, here in the thorn-curst soil: | 14 | ······/˘······ |
| Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but the blessing of Earth is toil. | 15 | /···˘/···/˘···· |
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.