Transformation
Only a little shrivelled seed,It might be flower, or grass, or weed;Only a box of earth on the edgeOf a narrow, dusty window-ledge;Only a few scant summer showers;Only a few clear shining hours;That was all. Yet God could makeOut of these, for a sick child's sake,A blossom-wonder, fair and sweetAs ever broke at an angel's feet.
Only a life of barren pain,Wet with sorrowful tears for rain,Warmed sometimes by a wandering gleamOf joy, that seemed but a happy dream;A life as common and brown and bareAs the box of earth in the window there;Yet it bore, at last, the precious bloomOf a perfect soul in that narrow room;Pure as the snowy leaves that foldOver the flower's heart of gold.
Words in this poem
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Transformation 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, Transformation, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/transformation.html, id L22839.
Form and metre
Transformation is 20 lines in 2 stanzas of 10 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABBCCDDEE. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 AABBCCDDEE seedA · weedA · edgeB · ledgeB · showersC · hoursC · makeD · sakeD · sweetE · feetE
- 2 AABBCCDDEE painA · rainA · gleamB · dreamB · bareC · thereC · bloomD · roomD · foldE · goldE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Only a little shrivelled seed, | 9 | /˘·/˘/˘˘· |
| It might be flower, or grass, or weed; | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Only a box of earth on the edge | 9 | /˘······· |
| Of a narrow, dusty window-ledge; | 9 | ··/˘/˘/˘· |
| Only a few scant summer showers; | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| Only a few clear shining hours; | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| That was all. Yet God could make | 7 | ······· |
| Out of these, for a sick child's sake, | 8 | ········ |
| A blossom-wonder, fair and sweet | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| As ever broke at an angel's feet. | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Only a life of barren pain, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Wet with sorrowful tears for rain, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Warmed sometimes by a wandering gleam | 10 | ·˘/···/˘˘· |
| Of joy, that seemed but a happy dream; | 10 | ····˘··/˘· |
| A life as common and brown and bare | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| As the box of earth in the window there; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Yet it bore, at last, the precious bloom | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Of a perfect soul in that narrow room; | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Pure as the snowy leaves that fold | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Over the flower's heart of gold. | 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.