Song of a Pilgrim-Soul
March on, my soul, nor like a laggard stay!March swiftly on. Yet err not from the wayWhere all the nobly wise of old have trod,--The path of faith, made by the sons of God.
Follow the marks that they have set besideThe narrow, cloud-swept track, to be thy guide:Follow, and honour what the past has gained,And forward still, that more may be attained.
Something to learn, and something to forget:Hold fast the good, and seek the better yet:Press on, and prove the pilgrim-hope of youth:The Creeds are milestones on the road to Truth.
Words in this poem
- laggard a.
- Slow; sluggish; backward. [Lag + -ard.]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song of a Pilgrim-Soul 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, Song of a Pilgrim-Soul, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/song-of-a-pilgrim-soul.html, id L22849.
Form and metre
Song of a Pilgrim-Soul is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 AABB stayA · wayA · trodB · godB
- 2 AABB besideA · guideA · gainedB · attainedB
- 3 AABB forgetA · yetA · youthB · truthB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| March on, my soul, nor like a laggard stay! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| March swiftly on. Yet err not from the way | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Where all the nobly wise of old have trod,-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The path of faith, made by the sons of God. | 10 | ·········· |
| Follow the marks that they have set beside | 10 | /˘·······/ |
| The narrow, cloud-swept track, to be thy guide: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Follow, and honour what the past has gained, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| And forward still, that more may be attained. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Something to learn, and something to forget: | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| Hold fast the good, and seek the better yet: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Press on, and prove the pilgrim-hope of youth: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The Creeds are milestones on the road to Truth. | 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.