The Monument of Francis Makemie
To thee, plain hero of a rugged race,We bring the meed of praise too long delayed!Thy fearless word and faithful work have madeFor God's Republic firmer resting-placeIn this New World: for thou hast preached the graceAnd power of Christ in many a forest glade,Teaching the truth that leaves men unafraidOf frowning tyranny or death's dark face.
Oh, who can tell how much we owe to thee,Makemie, and to labour such as thine,For all that makes America the shrineOf faith untrammelled and of conscience free?Stand here, gray stone, and consecrate the sodWhere rests this brave Scotch-Irish man of God!
Words in this poem
- meed v. t.
- To reward; to repay. Waytt.
- republic n.
- Common weal. B. Jonson. [F. république, L. respublica commonwealth; res a thing, an affair + publicus, publica, public. See Real, a., and Public.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- glade n.
- An open passage through a wood; a grassy open or cleared space in a forest. [Prob. of Scand. origin, and akin to glad, a.; cf. also W. golead, goleuad, a lighting, illumination, fr. goleu light, clear, bright, goleu fwlch glade, lit., a ]
- conscience n.
- Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Monument of Francis Makemie 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 Monument of Francis Makemie, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/the-monument-of-francis-makemie.html, id L22913.
Form and metre
The Monument of Francis Makemie is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 raceA · delayedB · madeB · placeA · graceA · gladeB · unafraidB · faceA
- 2 ABBACC theeA · thineB · shrineB · freeA · sodC · godC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To thee, plain hero of a rugged race, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| We bring the meed of praise too long delayed! | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Thy fearless word and faithful work have made | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| For God's Republic firmer resting-place | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| In this New World: for thou hast preached the grace | 10 | ·········· |
| And power of Christ in many a forest glade, | 10 | ·/···/·/˘· |
| Teaching the truth that leaves men unafraid | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Of frowning tyranny or death's dark face. | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| Oh, who can tell how much we owe to thee, | 10 | ·········· |
| Makemie, and to labour such as thine, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| For all that makes America the shrine | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| Of faith untrammelled and of conscience free? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Stand here, gray stone, and consecrate the sod | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Where rests this brave Scotch-Irish man of God! | 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.