Epigrams, Greetings, and Inscriptions
For Katrina's Sun-DialFor Katrina's WindowFor the Friends at HurstmontThe Sun-Dial at MorvenThe Sun-Dial at Wells CollegeTo Mark TwainStars and the SoulTo Julia MarloweTo Joseph JeffersonThe Mocking-BirdThe Empty QuatrainPan Learns MusicThe Shepherd of NymphsEchoes from the Greek AnthologyOne WorldJoy and DutyThe Prison and the AngelThe WayLove and LightFacta non VerbaFour ThingsThe Great RiverInscription for a Tomb in EnglandThe TalismanThorn and Rose"The Signs"
Words in this poem
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
- quatrain n.
- A stanza of four lines rhyming alternately. [F., fr. quatre four, L. quattuor, quatuor. See Four.]
- anthology n.
- A discourses on flowers.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Epigrams, Greetings, and Inscriptions 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, Epigrams, Greetings, and Inscriptions, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/epigrams-greetings-and-inscriptions.html, id L22739.
Form and metre
Epigrams, Greetings, and Inscriptions is 26 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 ---A-A--A-A--------------- dial · window · hurstmont · morvenA · college · twainA · soul · marlowe · jeffersonA · bird · quatrainA · music · nymphs · anthology · world · duty · angel · way · light · verba · things · river · england · talisman · rose · signs
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| For Katrina's Sun-Dial | 7 | ·˘/˘·/˘ |
| For Katrina's Window | 6 | ·˘/˘/˘ |
| For the Friends at Hurstmont | 6 | ······ |
| The Sun-Dial at Morven | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| The Sun-Dial at Wells College | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| To Mark Twain | 3 | ··· |
| Stars and the Soul | 4 | ···· |
| To Julia Marlowe | 5 | ···/· |
| To Joseph Jefferson | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| The Mocking-Bird | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The Empty Quatrain | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Pan Learns Music | 4 | ··/˘ |
| The Shepherd of Nymphs | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Echoes from the Greek Anthology | 9 | /˘···˘/˘˘ |
| One World | 2 | ·· |
| Joy and Duty | 4 | ··/˘ |
| The Prison and the Angel | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| The Way | 2 | ·· |
| Love and Light | 3 | ··· |
| Facta non Verba | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Four Things | 2 | ·· |
| The Great River | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Inscription for a Tomb in England | 9 | ˘/˘····/˘ |
| The Talisman | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Thorn and Rose | 3 | ··· |
| "The Signs" | 2 | ·· |
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.