The Turk's Way
Stand back, ye messengers of mercy! StandFar off, for I will save my troubled folkIn my own way. So the false Sultan spoke;And Europe, hearkening to his base command,Stood still to see him heal his wounded land.Through blinding snows of winter and through smokeOf burning towns, she saw him deal the strokeOf cruel mercy that his hate had planned.Unto the prisoners and the sick he gaveNew tortures, horrible, without a name;Unto the thirsty, blood to drink; a swordUnto the hungry; with a robe of shameHe clad the naked, making life abhorred;He saved by slaughter, and denied a grave.
Words in this poem
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- 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.]
- clad v.
- To clothe. Holland.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Turk's Way 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 Turk's Way, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/the-turk-s-way.html, id L22908.
Form and metre
The Turk's Way is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDEDEC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABBAABBACDEDEC standA · folkB · spokeB · commandA · landA · smokeB · strokeB · plannedA · gaveC · nameD · swordE · shameD · abhorredE · graveC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Stand back, ye messengers of mercy! Stand | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Far off, for I will save my troubled folk | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In my own way. So the false Sultan spoke; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And Europe, hearkening to his base command, | 11 | ·/˘······˘/ |
| Stood still to see him heal his wounded land. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Through blinding snows of winter and through smoke | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Of burning towns, she saw him deal the stroke | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Of cruel mercy that his hate had planned. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Unto the prisoners and the sick he gave | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| New tortures, horrible, without a name; | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| Unto the thirsty, blood to drink; a sword | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Unto the hungry; with a robe of shame | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| He clad the naked, making life abhorred; | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| He saved by slaughter, and denied a grave. | 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.