Hymn of Joy
Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,God of glory, Lord of love;Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee,Praising Thee their sun above.Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;Drive the dark of doubt away;Giver of immortal gladness,Fill us with the light of day!
All Thy works with joy surround Thee,Earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,Stars and angels sing around Thee,Centre of unbroken praise:Field and forest, vale and mountain,Blooming meadow, flashing sea,Chanting bird and flowing fountain,Call us to rejoice in Thee.
Thou art giving and forgiving,Ever blessing, ever blest,Well-spring of the joy of living,Ocean-depth of happy rest!Thou our Father, Christ our Brother,--All who live in love are Thine:Teach us how to love each other,Lift us to the Joy Divine.
Mortals join the mighty chorus,Which the morning stars began;Father-love is reigning o'er us,Brother-love binds man to man.Ever singing march we onward,Victors in the midst of strife;Joyful music lifts us sunwardIn the triumph song of life.
Words in this poem
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- giver n.
- One who gives; a donor; a bestower; a grantor; one who imparts or distributes.
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- forgiving a.
- Disposed to forgive; inclined to overlook offenses; mild; merciful; compassionate; placable; as, a forgiving temper.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- sunward adv.
- Toward the sun.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Hymn of Joy 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, Hymn of Joy, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/hymn-of-joy.html, id L22848.
Form and metre
Hymn of Joy is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDCD, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 96%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 ABABCDCD theeA · loveB · theeA · aboveB · sadnessC · awayD · gladnessC · dayD
- 2 ABABCACA theeA · raysB · theeA · praiseB · mountainC · seaA · fountainC · theeA
- 3 ABABCDCD forgivingA · blestB · livingA · restB · brotherC · thineD · otherC · divineD
- 4 ABAB-C-C chorusA · beganB · usA · manB · onward · strifeC · sunward · lifeC
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, | 8 | /˘/˘·˘/· |
| God of glory, Lord of love; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, | 8 | ·˘/·/··· |
| Praising Thee their sun above. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Drive the dark of doubt away; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Giver of immortal gladness, | 8 | /˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Fill us with the light of day! | 7 | ······· |
| All Thy works with joy surround Thee, | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Earth and heaven reflect Thy rays, | 8 | ··/˘˘/·· |
| Stars and angels sing around Thee, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Centre of unbroken praise: | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Field and forest, vale and mountain, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Blooming meadow, flashing sea, | 7 | /˘/·/˘· |
| Chanting bird and flowing fountain, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Call us to rejoice in Thee. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Thou art giving and forgiving, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Ever blessing, ever blest, | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Well-spring of the joy of living, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Ocean-depth of happy rest! | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Thou our Father, Christ our Brother,-- | 9 | ·//˘·/˘/˘ |
| All who live in love are Thine: | 7 | ······· |
| Teach us how to love each other, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Lift us to the Joy Divine. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Mortals join the mighty chorus, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Which the morning stars began; | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Father-love is reigning o'er us, | 8 | /˘··/˘·· |
| Brother-love binds man to man. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Ever singing march we onward, | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| Victors in the midst of strife; | 7 | /˘····· |
| Joyful music lifts us sunward | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| In the triumph song of life. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
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.