"Rencontre"
Oh, was I born too soon, my dear, or were you born too late,That I am going out the door while you come in the gate?For you the garden blooms galore, the castle is en fete;You are the coming guest, my dear,--for me the horses wait.
I know the mansion well, my dear, its rooms so rich and wide;If you had only come before I might have been your guide,And hand in hand with you explore the treasures that they hide;But you have come to stay, my dear, and I prepare to ride.
Then walk with me an hour, my dear, and pluck the reddest roseAmid the white and crimson store with which your garden glows,--A single rose,--I ask no more of what your love bestows;It is enough to give, my dear,--a flower to him who goes.
The House of Life is yours, my dear, for many and many a day,But I must ride the lonely shore, the Road to Far Away:So bring the stirrup-cup and pour a brimming draught, I pray,And when you take the road, my dear, I'll meet you on the way.
Words in this poem
- galore n.
- Plenty; abundance; in abundance. [Scot. gelore, gilore, galore, fr. Gael. gu leòr, enough; gu- to, also an adverbial prefix + leòr, leòir, enough; or fr. Ir. goleor, the same word.]
- mansion n.
- A dwelling place, -- whether a part or whole of a house or other shelter. [OF. mansion, F. maison, fr. L. mansio a staying, remaining, a dwelling, habitation, fr. manere, mansum, to stay, dwell; akin to Gr. Manse, Manor, Menagerie, Men]
- explore v. t.
- To seek for or after; to strive to attain by search; to look wisely and carefully for. [L. explorare to explore; ex out+plorare to cry out aloud,prob. orig., to cause to flow; perh. akin to E. flow: cf. F. explorer.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- brimming a.
- Full to the brim; overflowing.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
"Rencontre" 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, "Rencontre", in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/rencontre.html, id L22809.
Form and metre
"Rencontre" is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 AAAA lateA · gateA · feteA · waitA
- 2 AAAA wideA · guideA · hideA · rideA
- 3 AAAA roseA · glowsA · bestowsA · goesA
- 4 AAAA dayA · awayA · prayA · wayA
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Oh, was I born too soon, my dear, or were you born too late, | 14 | ·············· |
| That I am going out the door while you come in the gate? | 14 | ···/˘········· |
| For you the garden blooms galore, the castle is en fete; | 14 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘··· |
| You are the coming guest, my dear,--for me the horses wait. | 14 | ···/˘······/˘· |
| I know the mansion well, my dear, its rooms so rich and wide; | 14 | ···/˘········· |
| If you had only come before I might have been your guide, | 14 | ···/˘········· |
| And hand in hand with you explore the treasures that they hide; | 14 | ······˘/·/˘··· |
| But you have come to stay, my dear, and I prepare to ride. | 14 | ··········˘/·· |
| Then walk with me an hour, my dear, and pluck the reddest rose | 14 | ·····/·····/˘· |
| Amid the white and crimson store with which your garden glows,-- | 14 | ˘/···/˘····/˘· |
| A single rose,--I ask no more of what your love bestows; | 14 | ·/˘·········˘/ |
| It is enough to give, my dear,--a flower to him who goes. | 14 | ··˘/·····/···· |
| The House of Life is yours, my dear, for many and many a day, | 14 | ·········/·/·· |
| But I must ride the lonely shore, the Road to Far Away: | 14 | ·····/˘·····˘/ |
| So bring the stirrup-cup and pour a brimming draught, I pray, | 14 | ···/˘····/˘··· |
| And when you take the road, my dear, I'll meet you on the way. | 14 | ·············· |
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.