Three Rhineland Drinking Songs II
Three comrades on the German Rhine--Defying care and weather--Together quaffed the mellow wineAnd sung their songs together,What recked they of the griefs of lifeWith wine and song to cheer them?Though elsewhere trouble might be rife,It would not come anear them!
Anon one comrade passed away,And presently another--And yet unto the tryst each dayRepaired the lonely brother,And still, as gayly as of old,That third one, hero-hearted,Filled to the brim each cup of goldAnd called to the departed:
"O comrades mine, I see you not,Nor hear your kindly greeting;Yet in this old familiar spotBe still our loving meeting!Here have I filled each bouting cupWith juices red and cherry--I pray ye drink the portion up,And, as of old, make merry!"
And once before his tear-dimmed eyes,All in the haunted gloaming,He saw two ghostly figures riseAnd quaff the beakers foaming;He heard two spirit voices call:"Fiducit, jovial brother!"And so forever from that hallWent they with one another.
Words in this poem
- rife a.
- Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
- anear v. t.
- To near; to approach.
- anon adv.
- Straightway; at once. [OE. anoon, anon, anan, lit., in one (moment), fr. AS. on in + an one. See On and One.]
- presently adv.
- At present; at this time; now.
- tryst v. i.
- To mutually agree to meet at a certain place.
- gayly adv.
- With mirth and frolic; merrily; blithely; gleefully.
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
- gloaming n.
- Twilight; dusk; the fall of the evening. [Scot. & North of Eng., and in poetry.] Hogg. [See Gloom.]
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- quaff v. t.
- To drink with relish; to drink copiously of; to swallow in large draughts. [For quach, fr. Gael. & Ir. cuach a drinking cup; cf. L. caucus a drinking vessel. Cf. Quaigh.]
- jovial a.
- Of or pertaining to the god, or the planet, Jupiter. [F., fr. L. Jovialis pertaining to Jove. The planet Jupiter was thought to make those born under it joyful or jovial. See Jove.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Three Rhineland Drinking Songs II 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 II, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/three-rhineland-drinking-songs-ii.html, id L11647.
Form and metre
Three Rhineland Drinking Songs II is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 14 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 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 ABABCDCD rhineA · weatherB · wineA · togetherB · lifeC · themD · rifeC · themD
- 2 ABABCDCD awayA · anotherB · dayA · brotherB · oldC · heartedD · goldC · departedD
- 3 ABABCDCD notA · greetingB · spotA · meetingB · cupC · cherryD · upC · merryD
- 4 ABABCDCD eyesA · gloamingB · riseA · foamingB · callC · brotherD · hallC · anotherD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Three comrades on the German Rhine-- | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Defying care and weather-- | 7 | ˘/˘··/˘ |
| Together quaffed the mellow wine | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| And sung their songs together, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| What recked they of the griefs of life | 8 | ········ |
| With wine and song to cheer them? | 7 | ······· |
| Though elsewhere trouble might be rife, | 8 | ·/·/˘··· |
| It would not come anear them! | 7 | ····˘/· |
| Anon one comrade passed away, | 8 | ˘/·/··˘/ |
| And presently another-- | 7 | ·/˘˘˘/˘ |
| And yet unto the tryst each day | 8 | ········ |
| Repaired the lonely brother, | 8 | ˘/˘·/˘/˘ |
| And still, as gayly as of old, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That third one, hero-hearted, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Filled to the brim each cup of gold | 8 | ········ |
| And called to the departed: | 8 | ··˘··˘/˘ |
| "O comrades mine, I see you not, | 8 | ·/······ |
| Nor hear your kindly greeting; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Yet in this old familiar spot | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Be still our loving meeting! | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Here have I filled each bouting cup | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With juices red and cherry-- | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| I pray ye drink the portion up, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And, as of old, make merry!" | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And once before his tear-dimmed eyes, | 8 | ········ |
| All in the haunted gloaming, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| He saw two ghostly figures rise | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And quaff the beakers foaming; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| He heard two spirit voices call: | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| "Fiducit, jovial brother!" | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| And so forever from that hall | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Went they with one another. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
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.