In the Blue Heaven
In the blue heaven the clouds will come and go,Scudding before the gale, or drifting slowAs galleons becalmed in Sundown Bay:And through the air the birds will wing their waySoaring to far-off heights, or flapping low,Or darting like an arrow from the bow;And when the twilight comes the stars will show,One after one, their tranquil bright arrayIn the blue heaven.
But ye who fearless flew to meet the foe,Eagles of freedom,--nevermore, we know,Shall we behold you floating far away.Yet clouds and birds and every starry rayWill draw our heart to where your spirits glowIn the blue Heaven.For the American Aviators who died in the war.
Words in this poem
- sundown n.
- The setting of the sun; sunset.
- nevermore adv.
- Never again; at no time hereafter. Testament of Love. Tyndale.
- 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,]
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Blue Heaven 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, In the Blue Heaven, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/in-the-blue-heaven.html, id L22952.
Form and metre
In the Blue Heaven is 16 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 62% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBAAAB- goA · slowA · bayB · wayB · lowA · bowA · showA · arrayB · heaven
- 2 AABBA-- foeA · knowA · awayB · rayB · glowA · heaven · war
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In the blue heaven the clouds will come and go, | 10 | ···/······ |
| Scudding before the gale, or drifting slow | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| As galleons becalmed in Sundown Bay: | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/·/·· |
| And through the air the birds will wing their way | 10 | ·········· |
| Soaring to far-off heights, or flapping low, | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Or darting like an arrow from the bow; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And when the twilight comes the stars will show, | 10 | ···/······ |
| One after one, their tranquil bright array | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| In the blue heaven. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| But ye who fearless flew to meet the foe, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Eagles of freedom,--nevermore, we know, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Shall we behold you floating far away. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| Yet clouds and birds and every starry ray | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Will draw our heart to where your spirits glow | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| In the blue Heaven. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| For the American Aviators who died in the war. | 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.