The Winds of War-News
The winds of war-news change and veer:Now westerly and full of cheer,Now easterly, depressing, sourWith tidings of the Teutons' power.
But thou, America, whose heartWith brave Allies has taken part,Be not a weathercock to changeWith these wild winds that shift and range.
Be thou a compass ever true,Through sullen clouds or skies of blue,To that great star which rules the night,--The star of Liberty and Right.
Lover of peace, oh set thy soul,Thy strength, thy wealth, thy conscience whole,To win the peace thine eyes foresee,--The triumph of Democracy.
Words in this poem
- westerly a.
- Of or pertaining to the west; toward the west; coming from the west; western.
- easterly a.
- Coming from the east; as, it was easterly wind.
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- 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.]
- foresee v. i.
- To have or exercise foresight.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Winds of War-News 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 Winds of War-News, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/the-winds-of-war-news.html, id L22942.
Form and metre
The Winds of War-News 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 tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 veerA · cheerA · sourB · powerB
- 2 AABB heartA · partA · changeB · rangeB
- 3 AABB trueA · blueA · nightB · rightB
- 4 AA-- soulA · wholeA · foresee · democracy
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The winds of war-news change and veer: | 8 | ········ |
| Now westerly and full of cheer, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Now easterly, depressing, sour | 9 | ·/˘˘˘/˘/˘ |
| With tidings of the Teutons' power. | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| But thou, America, whose heart | 8 | ··˘/˘˘·· |
| With brave Allies has taken part, | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Be not a weathercock to change | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| With these wild winds that shift and range. | 8 | ········ |
| Be thou a compass ever true, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Through sullen clouds or skies of blue, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To that great star which rules the night,-- | 8 | ········ |
| The star of Liberty and Right. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Lover of peace, oh set thy soul, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Thy strength, thy wealth, thy conscience whole, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| To win the peace thine eyes foresee,-- | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The triumph of Democracy. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
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.