For the Smart Set
Fair Phyllis is another's bride:Therefore I like to sit besideHer at a very smart set dinner,And whisper love, and try to win her.
The little-necks,--in number six,--That from their pearly shells she picksAnd swallows whole,--ah, is it selfishTo wish my heart among those shell-fish?
"But Phyllis is another's wife;And if she should absorb thy life'Twould leave thy bosom vacant."--Well,I'd keep at least the empty shell!
About this text
For the Smart Set 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, For the Smart Set, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/for-the-smart-set.html, id L22995.
Form and metre
For the Smart Set is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 AA-- brideA · besideA · dinner · her
- 2 AABB sixA · picksA · selfishB · fishB
- 3 AABB wifeA · lifeA · wellB · shellB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Fair Phyllis is another's bride: | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Therefore I like to sit beside | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Her at a very smart set dinner, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And whisper love, and try to win her. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| The little-necks,--in number six,-- | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That from their pearly shells she picks | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And swallows whole,--ah, is it selfish | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| To wish my heart among those shell-fish? | 9 | ········· |
| "But Phyllis is another's wife; | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| And if she should absorb thy life | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| 'Twould leave thy bosom vacant."--Well, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| I'd keep at least the empty shell! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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.