Rendezvous
I count that friendship little worthWhich has not many things untold,Great longings that no words can hold,And passion-secrets waiting birth.
Along the slender wires of speechSome message from the heart is sent;But who can tell the whole that's meant?Our dearest thoughts are out of reach.
I have not seen thee, though mine eyesHold now the image of thy face;In vain, through form, I strive to traceThe soul I love: that deeper lies.
A thousand accidents controlOur meeting here. Clasp hand in hand,And swear to meet me in that landWhere friends hold converse soul to soul.
Words in this poem
- untold a.
- Not told; not related; not revealed; as, untold secrets.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Rendezvous 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, Rendezvous, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/rendezvous.html, id L22840.
Form and metre
Rendezvous is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABBA. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in iambic 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 ABBA worthA · untoldB · holdB · birthA
- 2 ABBA speechA · sentB · meantB · reachA
- 3 ABBA eyesA · faceB · traceB · liesA
- 4 ABBA controlA · handB · landB · soulA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I count that friendship little worth | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Which has not many things untold, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Great longings that no words can hold, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And passion-secrets waiting birth. | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Along the slender wires of speech | 8 | ˘/·/˘/·· |
| Some message from the heart is sent; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| But who can tell the whole that's meant? | 8 | ········ |
| Our dearest thoughts are out of reach. | 8 | //˘····· |
| I have not seen thee, though mine eyes | 8 | ········ |
| Hold now the image of thy face; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| In vain, through form, I strive to trace | 8 | ········ |
| The soul I love: that deeper lies. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| A thousand accidents control | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| Our meeting here. Clasp hand in hand, | 8 | //˘····· |
| And swear to meet me in that land | 8 | ········ |
| Where friends hold converse soul to soul. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.