Three Rhineland Drinking Songs I
If our life is the life of a flower(And that's what some sages are thinking),We should moisten the bud with a health-giving floodAnd 'twill bloom all the sweeter--Yes, life's the completerFor drinking,and drinking,and drinking!
If it be that our life is a journey(As many wise folks are opining),We should sprinkle the way with the rain while we may;Though dusty and dreary,'Tis made cool and cheeryWith wining,and wining,and wining!
If this life that we live be a dreaming(As pessimist people are thinking),To induce pleasant dreams there is nothing, me seems,Like this sweet prescription,That baffles description--This drinking,and drinking,and drinking!
Words in this poem
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- opining n.
- Opinion. Jer. Taylor.
- dreary a.
- Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
- pessimist n.
- One who advocates the doctrine of pessimism; -- opposed to Ant: optimist. [L. pessimus worst: cf. F. pessimiste.]
- induce v. t.
- To lead in; to introduce. [L. inducere, inductum; pref. in- in + ducere to lead. See Duke, and cf. Induct.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Three Rhineland Drinking Songs I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Hoosier Lyrics, Project Gutenberg ebook #36150; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Eugene Field, Three Rhineland Drinking Songs I, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/three-rhineland-drinking-songs-i.html, id L11646.
Form and metre
Three Rhineland Drinking Songs I is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines. 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.5 syllables. 19 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 -A-BBAAA flower · thinkingA · flood · sweeterB · completerB · drinkingA · drinkingA · drinkingA
- 2 -A-BBAAA journey · opiningA · may · drearyB · cheeryB · winingA · winingA · winingA
- 3 -A-BBAAA dreaming · thinkingA · seems · prescriptionB · descriptionB · drinkingA · drinkingA · drinkingA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If our life is the life of a flower | 9 | ·/······/ |
| (And that's what some sages are thinking), | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| We should moisten the bud with a health-giving flood | 12 | ··/˘·····/˘· |
| And 'twill bloom all the sweeter-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Yes, life's the completer | 6 | ······ |
| For drinking, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| and drinking, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| and drinking! | 3 | ·/˘ |
| If it be that our life is a journey | 10 | ····/···/˘ |
| (As many wise folks are opining), | 9 | ·/˘···˘/˘ |
| We should sprinkle the way with the rain while we may; | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Though dusty and dreary, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| 'Tis made cool and cheery | 6 | ····/˘ |
| With wining, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| and wining, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| and wining! | 3 | ·/˘ |
| If this life that we live be a dreaming | 10 | ········/˘ |
| (As pessimist people are thinking), | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| To induce pleasant dreams there is nothing, me seems, | 12 | ·˘//˘···/˘·· |
| Like this sweet prescription, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| That baffles description-- | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| This drinking, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| and drinking, | 3 | ·/˘ |
| and drinking! | 3 | ·/˘ |
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.