The Child in the Garden
When to the garden of untroubled thoughtI came of late, and saw the open door,And wished again to enter, and exploreThe sweet, wild ways with stainless bloom inwrought,And bowers of innocence with beauty fraught,It seemed some purer voice must speak beforeI dared to tread that garden loved of yore,That Eden lost unknown and found unsought.
Then just within the gate I saw a child,--A stranger-child, yet to my heart most dear;He held his hands to me, and softly smiledWith eyes that knew no shade of sin or fear:"Come in," he said, "and play awhile with me;I am the little child you used to be."
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- stainless a.
- Free from stain; immaculate.
- inwrought p. p.
- Wrought or worked in or among other things; worked into any fabric so as to from a part of its texture; wrought or adorned, as with figures. [Pref. in- + wrought. Cf. Inwork.]
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- eden n.
- The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence. [Heb. eden delight, pleasure; also, a place of pleasure, Eden.]
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Child in the Garden 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, The Child in the Garden, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/the-child-in-the-garden.html, id L22805.
Form and metre
The Child in the Garden is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 ABBAABBA thoughtA · doorB · exploreB · inwroughtA · fraughtA · beforeB · yoreB · unsoughtA
- 2 ABABCC childA · dearB · smiledA · fearB · meC · beC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When to the garden of untroubled thought | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| I came of late, and saw the open door, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And wished again to enter, and explore | 10 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/ |
| The sweet, wild ways with stainless bloom inwrought, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| And bowers of innocence with beauty fraught, | 10 | ·/·/˘˘·/˘· |
| It seemed some purer voice must speak before | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I dared to tread that garden loved of yore, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That Eden lost unknown and found unsought. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Then just within the gate I saw a child,-- | 10 | ·········· |
| A stranger-child, yet to my heart most dear; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| He held his hands to me, and softly smiled | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| With eyes that knew no shade of sin or fear: | 10 | ·········· |
| "Come in," he said, "and play awhile with me; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| I am the little child you used to be." | 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.