Master of Music
Glory architect, glory of painter, and sculptor, and bard,Living forever in temple and picture and statue and song,--Look how the world with the lights that they lit is illumined andstarred;Brief was the flame of their life, but the lamps of their art burnlong!
Where is the Master of Music, and how has he vanished away?Where is the work that he wrought with his wonderful art in the air?Gone,--it is gone like the glow on the cloud at the close of the day!The Master has finished his work and the glory of music is--where?
Once, at the wave of his wand, all the billows of musical soundFollowed his will, as the sea was ruled by the prophet of old:Now that his hand is relaxed, and his rod has dropped to the ground,Silent and dark are the shores where the marvellous harmonies rolled!
Nay, but not silent the hearts that were filled by that life-giving sea;Deeper and purer forever the tides of their being will roll,Grateful and joyful, O Master, because they have listened to thee;The glory of music endures in the depths of the human soul.
Words in this poem
- sculptor n.
- One who sculptures; one whose occupation is to carve statues, or works of sculpture. [L. sculptor, fr. sculpere, sculptum, to carve; cf. scalpere to cut, carve, scratch, and Gr. sculpteur.]
- starred a.
- Adorned or studded with stars; bespangled. [From Star.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Master of Music 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, Master of Music, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/master-of-music.html, id L22979.
Form and metre
Master of Music is 18 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. 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 AB-A-B bardA · songB · and · starredA · burn · longB
- 2 ABAB awayA · airB · dayA · whereB
- 3 ABAB soundA · oldB · groundA · rolledB
- 4 ABAB seaA · rollB · theeA · soulB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Glory architect, glory of painter, and sculptor, and bard, | 15 | /˘/˘·/˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Living forever in temple and picture and statue and song,-- | 16 | /˘˘/˘·/˘·/˘·/··· |
| Look how the world with the lights that they lit is illumined and | 16 | ···········˘/˘˘· |
| starred; | 1 | · |
| Brief was the flame of their life, but the lamps of their art burn | 14 | ·············· |
| long! | 1 | · |
| Where is the Master of Music, and how has he vanished away? | 16 | ···/˘·/˘····/˘˘/ |
| Where is the work that he wrought with his wonderful art in the air? | 16 | ·········/˘˘···· |
| Gone,--it is gone like the glow on the cloud at the close of the day! | 16 | ················ |
| The Master has finished his work and the glory of music is--where? | 17 | ·/˘·/˘····/˘·/˘·· |
| Once, at the wave of his wand, all the billows of musical sound | 16 | ·········/˘·/˘˘· |
| Followed his will, as the sea was ruled by the prophet of old: | 16 | /˘˘·········/˘·· |
| Now that his hand is relaxed, and his rod has dropped to the ground, | 16 | ·····˘/˘········ |
| Silent and dark are the shores where the marvellous harmonies rolled! | 16 | /˘··········/˘˘· |
| Nay, but not silent the hearts that were filled by that life-giving sea; | 16 | ···/˘········/˘· |
| Deeper and purer forever the tides of their being will roll, | 16 | /˘·/˘˘/˘····/˘·· |
| Grateful and joyful, O Master, because they have listened to thee; | 16 | /˘·/˘·/˘····/˘·· |
| The glory of music endures in the depths of the human soul. | 16 | ·/˘·/˘˘/·····/˘· |
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.