Stars and the Soul (To Charles A. Young, Astronomer)
"Two things," the wise man said, "fill me with awe:The starry heavens and the moral law."Nay, add another wonder to thy roll,--The living marvel of the human soul!
Born in the dust and cradled in the dark,It feels the fire of an immortal spark,And learns to read, with patient, searching eyes,The splendid secret of the unconscious skies.
For God thought Light before He spoke the word;The darkness understood not, though it heard:But man looks up to where the planets swim,And thinks God's thoughts of glory after Him.
What knows the star that guides the sailor's way,Or lights the lover's bower with liquid ray,Of toil and passion, danger and distress,Brave hope, true love, and utter faithfulness?
But human hearts that suffer good and ill,And hold to virtue with a loyal will,Adorn the law that rules our mortal strifeWith star-surpassing victories of life.
So take our thanks, dear reader of the skies,Devout astronomer, most humbly wise,For lessons brighter than the stars can give,And inward light that helps us all to live.
Words in this poem
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Stars and the Soul (To Charles A. Young, Astronomer) 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, Stars and the Soul (To Charles A. Young, Astronomer), in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/stars-and-the-soul-to-charles-a-young-astronomer.html, id L22876.
Form and metre
Stars and the Soul (To Charles A. Young, Astronomer) is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
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 aweA · lawA · rollB · soulB
- 2 AABB darkA · sparkA · eyesB · skiesB
- 3 AABB wordA · heardA · swimB · himB
- 4 AABB wayA · rayA · distressB · faithfulnessB
- 5 AABB illA · willA · strifeB · lifeB
- 6 AABB skiesA · wiseA · giveB · liveB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Two things," the wise man said, "fill me with awe: | 10 | ·········· |
| The starry heavens and the moral law." | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Nay, add another wonder to thy roll,-- | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| The living marvel of the human soul! | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Born in the dust and cradled in the dark, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| It feels the fire of an immortal spark, | 10 | ···/··˘/˘· |
| And learns to read, with patient, searching eyes, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| The splendid secret of the unconscious skies. | 11 | ·/˘/˘···/˘· |
| For God thought Light before He spoke the word; | 10 | ·········· |
| The darkness understood not, though it heard: | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| But man looks up to where the planets swim, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And thinks God's thoughts of glory after Him. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What knows the star that guides the sailor's way, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Or lights the lover's bower with liquid ray, | 10 | ···/˘/·/˘· |
| Of toil and passion, danger and distress, | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Brave hope, true love, and utter faithfulness? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But human hearts that suffer good and ill, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And hold to virtue with a loyal will, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Adorn the law that rules our mortal strife | 10 | ˘/····//˘· |
| With star-surpassing victories of life. | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| So take our thanks, dear reader of the skies, | 10 | ··/··/˘··· |
| Devout astronomer, most humbly wise, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| For lessons brighter than the stars can give, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And inward light that helps us all to live. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
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