Drinking-Song of Munich
Sweet Iser! were thy sunny realmAnd flowery gardens mine,Thy waters I would shade with elmTo prop the tender vine;My golden flagons I would fillWith rosy draughts from every hill;And under every myrtle bower,My gay companions should prolongThe laugh, the revel, and the song,To many an idle hour.
Like rivers crimsoned with the beamOf yonder planet bright,Our balmy cups should ever streamProfusion of delight;No care should touch the mellow heart,And sad or sober none depart;For wine can triumph over woe,And Love and Bacchus, brother powers,Could build in Iser’s sunny bowersA paradise below.
Words in this poem
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- balmy a.
- Having the qualities of balm; odoriferous; aromatic; assuaging; soothing; refreshing; mild.
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Drinking-Song of Munich is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell, Project Gutenberg ebook #59788; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Thomas Campbell, Drinking-Song of Munich, in The Pleasures of Hope, and Other Poems (1824), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #59788, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/campbell-poems/drinking-song-of-munich.html, id L24450.
Form and metre
Drinking-Song of Munich is 20 lines in 2 stanzas of 10 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCCDEED. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 ABABCCDEED realmA · mineB · elmA · vineB · fillC · hillC · bowerD · prolongE · songE · hourD
- 2 ABABCCDEED beamA · brightB · streamA · delightB · heartC · departC · woeD · powersE · bowersE · belowD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet Iser! were thy sunny realm | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And flowery gardens mine, | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| Thy waters I would shade with elm | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To prop the tender vine; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| My golden flagons I would fill | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With rosy draughts from every hill; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And under every myrtle bower, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| My gay companions should prolong | 8 | ··˘/˘·˘/ |
| The laugh, the revel, and the song, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To many an idle hour. | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Like rivers crimsoned with the beam | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Of yonder planet bright, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Our balmy cups should ever stream | 8 | //˘··/˘· |
| Profusion of delight; | 6 | ˘/˘·˘/ |
| No care should touch the mellow heart, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And sad or sober none depart; | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| For wine can triumph over woe, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And Love and Bacchus, brother powers, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| Could build in Iser’s sunny bowers | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| A paradise below. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
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.