Invocation
Where wilt thou lead me first?In what still regionOf thy domain,Whose provinces are legion,Wilt thou restore me to myself again,And quench my heart's long thirst?I pray thee lay thy golden girdle down,And put away thy starry crown:For one dear restful hourAssume a state more mild.Clad only in thy blossom-broidered gownThat breathes familiar scent of many a flower,Take the low path that leads through pastures green;And though thou art a Queen,Be Rosamund awhile, and in thy bower,By tranquil love and simple joy beguiled,Sing to my soul, as mother to her child.
Words in this poem
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- restful a.
- Being at rest; quiet.
- clad v.
- To clothe. Holland.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Invocation 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, Invocation, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/invocation.html, id L22970.
Form and metre
Invocation is 17 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABCBCADDEFDEGGEFF. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See 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 ABCBCADDEFDEGGEFF firstA · regionB · domainC · legionB · againC · thirstA · downD · crownD · hourE · mildF · gownD · flowerE · greenG · queenG · bowerE · beguiledF · childF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Where wilt thou lead me first? | 6 | ······ |
| In what still region | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Of thy domain, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Whose provinces are legion, | 7 | ·/˘˘·/˘ |
| Wilt thou restore me to myself again, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘/ |
| And quench my heart's long thirst? | 6 | ······ |
| I pray thee lay thy golden girdle down, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| And put away thy starry crown: | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| For one dear restful hour | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Assume a state more mild. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Clad only in thy blossom-broidered gown | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| That breathes familiar scent of many a flower, | 11 | ··˘/˘··/·/˘ |
| Take the low path that leads through pastures green; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And though thou art a Queen, | 6 | ······ |
| Be Rosamund awhile, and in thy bower, | 11 | ·˘˘/˘/···/˘ |
| By tranquil love and simple joy beguiled, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| Sing to my soul, as mother to her child. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
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.