{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/the-glory-of-ships",
 "title": "The Glory of Ships",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 117,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16134",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10679",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3525",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9372",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29314",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43094",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsoutofdoors0000vand",
   "https://archive.org/details/thyseaisgreatour00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/chosenpoems0000vand"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 54,
  "n_stanzas": 9,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 54,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "The glory of ships is an old, old song,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "since the days when the sea-rovers ran,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In their open boats through the roaring surf,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and the spread of the world began;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The glory of ships is a light on the sea,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and a star in the story of man.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "When Homer sang of the galleys of Greece",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "that conquered the Trojan shore,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And Solomon lauded the barks of Tyre",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "that brought great wealth to his door,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twas little they knew, those ancient men,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "what would come of the sail and the oar.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The Greek ships rescued the West from the East,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "when they harried the Persians home;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the Roman ships were the wings of strength",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "that bore up the empire, Rome;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the ships of Spain found a wide new world,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "far over the fields of foam.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then the tribes of courage at last saw clear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "that the ocean was not a bound,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But a broad highway, and a challenge to seek",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "for treasure as yet unfound;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "So the fearless ships fared forth to the search,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in joy that the globe was round.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Their hulls were heightened, their sails spread out,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "they grew with the growth of their quest;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They opened the secret doors of the East,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and the golden gates of the West;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And many a city of high renown",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "was proud of a ship on its crest.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The fleets of England and Holland and France",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "were at strife with each other and Spain;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And battle and storm sent a myriad ships",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to sleep in the depths of the main;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But the seafaring spirit could never be drowned,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and it filled up the fleets again.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "They greatened and grew, with the aid of steam,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to a wonderful, vast array,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That carries the thoughts and the traffic of men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "into every harbor and bay;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And now in the world-wide work of the ships",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’tis England that leads the way.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O well for the leading that follows the law",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of a common right on the sea!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But ill for the leader who tries to hold",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "what belongs to mankind in fee!",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The way of the ships is an open way,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and the ocean must ever be free!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Remember, O first of the maritime folk,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "how the rise of your greatness began.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "It will live if you safeguard the round-the-world road",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "from the shame of a selfish ban;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For the glory of ships is a light on the sea,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and a star in the story of man!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}