Light Between the Trees
Long, long, long the trailThrough the brooding forest-gloom,Down the shadowy, lonely valeInto silence, like a roomWhere the light of life has fled,And the jealous curtains closeRound the passionless reposeOf the silent dead.
Plod, plod, plod away,Step by step in mouldering moss;Thick branches bar the dayOver languid streams that crossSoftly, slowly, with a soundLike a smothered weeping,In their aimless creepingThrough enchanted ground.
"Yield, yield, yield thy quest,"Whispers through the woodland deep;"Come to me and be at rest;I am slumber, I am sleep."Then the weary feet would fail,But the never-daunted willUrges "Forward, forward still!Press along the trail!"
Breast, breast, breast the slopeSee, the path is growing steep.Hark! a little song of hopeWhere the stream begins to leap.Though the forest, far and wide,Still shuts out the bending blue,We shall finally win through,Cross the long divide.
On, on, on we tramp!Will the journey never end?Over yonder lies the camp;Welcome waits us there, my friend.Can we reach it ere the night?Upward, upward, never fear!Look, the summit must be near;See the line of light!
Red, red, red the shineOf the splendour in the west,Glowing through the ranks of pine,Clear along the mountain-crest!Long, long, long the trailOut of sorrow's lonely vale;But at last the traveller seesLight between the trees!
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- passionless a.
- Void of passion; without anger or emotion; not easily excited; calm.
- plod v. i.
- To travel slowly but steadily; to trudge. [Gf. Gael. plod a clod, a pool; also, to strike or pelt with a clod or clods.]
- aimless a.
- Without aim or purpose; as, an aimless life.
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- 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,]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Light Between the Trees 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, Light Between the Trees, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/light-between-the-trees.html, id L22772.
Form and metre
Light Between the Trees is 48 lines in 6 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCDDC, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABABCDDC trailA · gloomB · valeA · roomB · fledC · closeD · reposeD · deadC
- 2 ABABCDDC awayA · mossB · dayA · crossB · soundC · weepingD · creepingD · groundC
- 3 ABABCDDC questA · deepB · restA · sleepB · failC · willD · stillD · trailC
- 4 ABABCDDC slopeA · steepB · hopeA · leapB · wideC · blueD · throughD · divideC
- 5 ABABCDDC trampA · endB · campA · friendB · nightC · fearD · nearD · lightC
- 6 ABABCCDD shineA · westB · pineA · crestB · trailC · valeC · seesD · treesD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Long, long, long the trail | 5 | ····· |
| Through the brooding forest-gloom, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Down the shadowy, lonely vale | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Into silence, like a room | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Where the light of life has fled, | 7 | ······· |
| And the jealous curtains close | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Round the passionless repose | 7 | ··/˘˘˘/ |
| Of the silent dead. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Plod, plod, plod away, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Step by step in mouldering moss; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Thick branches bar the day | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Over languid streams that cross | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Softly, slowly, with a sound | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Like a smothered weeping, | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| In their aimless creeping | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Through enchanted ground. | 5 | ·˘/˘· |
| "Yield, yield, yield thy quest," | 5 | ····· |
| Whispers through the woodland deep; | 7 | /˘··/·· |
| "Come to me and be at rest; | 7 | ······· |
| I am slumber, I am sleep." | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Then the weary feet would fail, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| But the never-daunted will | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Urges "Forward, forward still! | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Press along the trail!" | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| Breast, breast, breast the slope | 5 | ····· |
| See, the path is growing steep. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Hark! a little song of hope | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Where the stream begins to leap. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Though the forest, far and wide, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Still shuts out the bending blue, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| We shall finally win through, | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Cross the long divide. | 5 | ···˘/ |
| On, on, on we tramp! | 5 | ····· |
| Will the journey never end? | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Over yonder lies the camp; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Welcome waits us there, my friend. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Can we reach it ere the night? | 7 | ······· |
| Upward, upward, never fear! | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| Look, the summit must be near; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| See the line of light! | 5 | ····· |
| Red, red, red the shine | 5 | ····· |
| Of the splendour in the west, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Glowing through the ranks of pine, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Clear along the mountain-crest! | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Long, long, long the trail | 5 | ····· |
| Out of sorrow's lonely vale; | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| But at last the traveller sees | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Light between the trees! | 5 | ····· |
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.