The Veery
The moonbeams over Arno's vale in silver flood were pouring,When first I heard the nightingale a long-lost love deploring.So passionate, so full of pain, it sounded strange and eerie;I longed to hear a simpler strain,--the wood-notes of the veery.
The laverock sings a bonny lay above the Scottish heather;It sprinkles down from far away like light and love together;He drops the golden notes to greet his brooding mate, his dearie;I only know one song more sweet,--the vespers of the veery.
In English gardens, green and bright and full of fruity treasure,I heard the blackbird with delight repeat his merry measure:The ballad was a pleasant one, the tune was loud and cheery,And yet, with every setting sun, I listened for the veery.
But far away, and far away, the tawny thrush is singing;New England woods, at close of day, with that clear chant are ringing:And when my light of life is low, and heart and flesh are weary,I fain would hear, before I go, the wood-notes of the veery.
Words in this poem
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- eerie a.
- Serving to inspire fear, esp. a dread of seeing ghosts; wild; weird; as, eerie stories. [Scotch, fr. AS. earh timid.]
- veery n.
- An American thrush (Turdus fuscescens) common in the Northern United States and Canada. It is light tawny brown above. The breast is pale buff, thickly spotted with brown. Called also Wilson's thrush.
- laverock n.
- The lark. [Old Eng. & Scot.] Gower. [See Lark the bird.]
- bonny a.
- Handsome; beautiful; pretty; attractively lively and graceful. [OE. boni, prob. fr. F. bon, fem. bonne, good, fr. L. bonus good. See Bounty, and cf. Bonus, Boon.]
- fruity a.
- Having the odor, taste, or appearance of fruit; also, fruitful.
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Veery 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 Veery, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/the-veery.html, id L22761.
Form and metre
The Veery is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic octameter.
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 pouringA · deploringA · eerieB · veeryB
- 2 AA-- heatherA · togetherA · dearie · veery
- 3 AABB treasureA · measureA · cheeryB · veeryB
- 4 AABB singingA · ringingA · wearyB · veeryB
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 octameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The moonbeams over Arno's vale in silver flood were pouring, | 15 | ·/···/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| When first I heard the nightingale a long-lost love deploring. | 15 | ·····/˘˘····˘/˘ |
| So passionate, so full of pain, it sounded strange and eerie; | 15 | ·/˘˘·····/˘··/˘ |
| I longed to hear a simpler strain,--the wood-notes of the veery. | 16 | ·····/˘˘······/˘ |
| The laverock sings a bonny lay above the Scottish heather; | 16 | ·/˘˘··/˘····/˘/˘ |
| It sprinkles down from far away like light and love together; | 15 | ·/˘···˘/····˘/˘ |
| He drops the golden notes to greet his brooding mate, his dearie; | 15 | ···/˘····/˘··/˘ |
| I only know one song more sweet,--the vespers of the veery. | 15 | ·/˘······/˘··/˘ |
| In English gardens, green and bright and full of fruity treasure, | 15 | ·/˘/˘······/˘/˘ |
| I heard the blackbird with delight repeat his merry measure: | 15 | ···/˘·˘/˘/·/˘/˘ |
| The ballad was a pleasant one, the tune was loud and cheery, | 15 | ·/˘··/˘······/˘ |
| And yet, with every setting sun, I listened for the veery. | 16 | ···/˘˘/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| But far away, and far away, the tawny thrush is singing; | 15 | ··˘/··˘/·/˘··/˘ |
| New England woods, at close of day, with that clear chant are ringing: | 15 | ·/˘··········/˘ |
| And when my light of life is low, and heart and flesh are weary, | 15 | ·············/˘ |
| I fain would hear, before I go, the wood-notes of the veery. | 15 | ·············/˘ |
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.