The Red Flower and Golden Stars

Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933) · 1925

iambic dimeter · 29 lines · from The Poems of Henry Van Dyke

The Red FlowerA Scrap of PaperStand FastLights OutRemarks About KingsMight and RightThe Price of PeaceStorm-MusicThe Bells of MalinesJeanne d'Arc ReturnsThe Name of FranceAmerica's ProsperityThe Glory of ShipsMare Liberum"Liberty Enlightening the World"The Oxford ThrushesHomeward BoundThe Winds of War-NewsRighteous WrathThe Peaceful WarriorFrom Glory Unto GloryBritain, France, AmericaThe Red CrossEaster RoadAmerica's Welcome HomeThe Surrender of the German FleetGolden StarsIn the Blue HeavenA Shrine in the Pantheon

Words in this poem

scrap n.
Something scraped off; hence, a small piece; a bit; a fragment; a detached, incomplete portion. [OE. scrappe, fr. Icel. skrap trifle, cracking. See Scrape, v. t.]
jeanne n.
A twilled cotton cloth. Satin jean, a kind of jean woven smooth and glossy, after the manner of satin. [Prob. named from Genoa. See Jane.]
homeward a.
Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
pantheon n.
A temple dedicated to all the gods; especially, the building so called at Rome. [L. pantheon, pantheum, Gr. panthéon. See Pan-, and Theism.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Red Flower and Golden Stars 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 Red Flower and Golden Stars, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/the-red-flower-and-golden-stars.html, id L22741.

Form and metre

The Red Flower and Golden Stars is 29 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).

See other poems in iambic dimeter.

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. 1 --------AA-----B-B--------CCC flower · paper · fast · out · kings · right · peace · music · malinesA · returnsA · france · prosperity · ships · liberum · world · thrushesB · bound · newsB · wrath · warrior · glory · america · cross · road · home · fleet · starsC · heavenC · pantheonC
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 dimeter. How this is done.

LineSyl.Stress
The Red Flower4··/˘
A Scrap of Paper5···/˘
Stand Fast2··
Lights Out2··
Remarks About Kings5˘/···
Might and Right3···
The Price of Peace4····
Storm-Music3·/˘
The Bells of Malines5···/˘
Jeanne d'Arc Returns4··˘/
The Name of France4····
America's Prosperity8˘/˘˘˘/˘˘
The Glory of Ships5·/˘··
Mare Liberum4····
"Liberty Enlightening the World"9/˘˘˘/˘˘··
The Oxford Thrushes5·/˘/˘
Homeward Bound3/˘·
The Winds of War-News5·····
Righteous Wrath3/˘·
The Peaceful Warrior6·/˘/˘˘
From Glory Unto Glory7·/˘··/˘
Britain, France, America7/˘·˘/˘˘
The Red Cross3···
Easter Road3/˘·
America's Welcome Home7˘/˘˘/˘·
The Surrender of the German Fleet9·˘/˘··/˘·
Golden Stars3/˘·
In the Blue Heaven5···/˘
A Shrine in the Pantheon7····/˘·

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.

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