Gratitude
"Do you give thanks for this?--or that?" No, God be thankedI am not gratefulIn that cold, calculating way, with blessings rankedAs one, two, three, and four,--that would be hateful.
I only know that every day brings good aboveMy poor deserving;I only feel that in the road of Life true LoveIs leading me along and never swerving.
Whatever gifts and mercies to my lot may fall,I would not measureAs worth a certain price in praise, or great or small;But take and use them all with simple pleasure.
For when we gladly eat our daily bread, we blessThe Hand that feeds us;And when we tread the road of Life in cheerfulness,Our very heart-beats praise the Love that leads us.
Words in this poem
- hateful a.
- Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
- gladly adv.
- Preferably; by choice. [From Glad, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Gratitude 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, Gratitude, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/gratitude.html, id L22841.
Form and metre
Gratitude is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
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 ABAB thankedA · gratefulB · rankedA · hatefulB
- 2 ABAB aboveA · deservingB · loveA · swervingB
- 3 ABAB fallA · measureB · smallA · pleasureB
- 4 AAAA blessA · usA · cheerfulnessA · usA
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 hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "Do you give thanks for this?--or that?" No, God be thanked | 12 | ············ |
| I am not grateful | 5 | ···/˘ |
| In that cold, calculating way, with blessings ranked | 12 | ···/˘·˘··/˘· |
| As one, two, three, and four,--that would be hateful. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| I only know that every day brings good above | 12 | ·/˘··/˘····· |
| My poor deserving; | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| I only feel that in the road of Life true Love | 12 | ·/˘········· |
| Is leading me along and never swerving. | 11 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Whatever gifts and mercies to my lot may fall, | 12 | ·/˘··/˘····· |
| I would not measure | 5 | ···/˘ |
| As worth a certain price in praise, or great or small; | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| But take and use them all with simple pleasure. | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| For when we gladly eat our daily bread, we bless | 12 | ···/˘·//˘··· |
| The Hand that feeds us; | 5 | ····· |
| And when we tread the road of Life in cheerfulness, | 12 | ·········/˘˘ |
| Our very heart-beats praise the Love that leads us. | 12 | /˘/˘········ |
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.