Work
Let me but do my work from day to day,In field or forest, at the desk or loom,In roaring market-place or tranquil room;Let me but find it in my heart to say,When vagrant wishes beckon me astray,"This is my work; my blessing, not my doom;Of all who live, I am the one by whomThis work can best be done in the right way."
Then shall I see it not too great, nor small,To suit my spirit and to prove my powers;Then shall I cheerful greet the labouring hours,And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fallAt eventide, to play and love and rest,Because I know for me my work is best.
Words in this poem
- beckon v. t.
- To make a significant sign to; hence, to summon, as by a motion of the hand.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- labouring a.
- That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.
- eventide n.
- The time of evening; evening. [AS. æfentid. See Tide.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Work 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, Work, in The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1925), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #16229, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/van-dyke-poems/work.html, id L22800.
Form and metre
Work is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
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 ABBAABBA dayA · loomB · roomB · sayA · astrayA · doomB · whomB · wayA
- 2 ABBACC smallA · powersB · hoursB · fallA · restC · bestC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Let me but do my work from day to day, | 10 | ·········· |
| In field or forest, at the desk or loom, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In roaring market-place or tranquil room; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Let me but find it in my heart to say, | 10 | ·········· |
| When vagrant wishes beckon me astray, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| "This is my work; my blessing, not my doom; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Of all who live, I am the one by whom | 10 | ·········· |
| This work can best be done in the right way." | 10 | ·········· |
| Then shall I see it not too great, nor small, | 10 | ·········· |
| To suit my spirit and to prove my powers; | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Then shall I cheerful greet the labouring hours, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘/ |
| And cheerful turn, when the long shadows fall | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| At eventide, to play and love and rest, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Because I know for me my work is best. | 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.