Three Rhineland Drinking Songs III
How cool and fair this cellar whereMy throne a dusky cask is!To do no thing but just to singAnd drown the time my task is!The cooper, he'sResolved to please,And, answering to my winking,He fills me upCup after cupFor drinking, drinking, drinking.
Begrudge me not this cozy spotIn which I am reclining--Why, who would burst with envious thirstWhen he can live by wining?A roseate hue seems to imbueThe world on which I'm blinking;My fellow men--I love them whenI'm drinking, drinking, drinking.
And yet, I think, the more I drink,It's more and more I pine for--Oh such as I (forever dry!)God made this land of Rhine for!And there is blissIn knowing this,As to the floor I'm sinking;I've wronged no man,And never can,While drinking, drinking, drinking!
Words in this poem
- begrudge v. t.
- To grudge; to envy the possession of.
- envious a.
- Malignant; mischievous; spiteful. [OF. envios, F. envieux, fr. L. invidiosus, fr. invidia envy. See Envy, and cf. Invidious.]
- roseate a.
- Full of roses; rosy; as, roseate bowers. [Cf. L. roseus, rosatus, prepared from roses. See Roseal, Rose.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Three Rhineland Drinking Songs III 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 III, in Hoosier Lyrics (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36150, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/field-poems/three-rhineland-drinking-songs-iii.html, id L11648.
Form and metre
Three Rhineland Drinking Songs III is 28 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.5 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% 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 -ABACCBDDB where · isA · singB · isA · he'sC · pleaseC · winkingB · upD · cupD · drinkingB
- 2 -A-A-B-B spot · recliningA · thirst · winingA · imbue · blinkingB · when · drinkingB
- 3 -A-ABBCDDC drink · forA · dry · forA · blissB · thisB · sinkingC · manD · canD · drinkingC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How cool and fair this cellar where | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My throne a dusky cask is! | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| To do no thing but just to sing | 8 | ········ |
| And drown the time my task is! | 7 | ······· |
| The cooper, he's | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Resolved to please, | 4 | ˘/·· |
| And, answering to my winking, | 8 | ·/˘˘··/˘ |
| He fills me up | 4 | ···· |
| Cup after cup | 4 | ···· |
| For drinking, drinking, drinking. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| Begrudge me not this cozy spot | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| In which I am reclining-- | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Why, who would burst with envious thirst | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When he can live by wining? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| A roseate hue seems to imbue | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| The world on which I'm blinking; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| My fellow men--I love them when | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| I'm drinking, drinking, drinking. | 7 | ·/˘/˘/˘ |
| And yet, I think, the more I drink, | 8 | ········ |
| It's more and more I pine for-- | 7 | ······· |
| Oh such as I (forever dry!) | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| God made this land of Rhine for! | 7 | ······· |
| And there is bliss | 4 | ···· |
| In knowing this, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| As to the floor I'm sinking; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I've wronged no man, | 4 | ···· |
| And never can, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| While drinking, drinking, drinking! | 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.