Germany
The German is a stolid soul,And finds best suited to his tasteA pipe with an enormous bowl,A fraulein with an ample waist;He loves his beer, his Kaiser, and(Donner und blitz!) his Fatherland!
He's perfectly contented ifHe listens in the Op'ra-houseTo Wagner's well-concealed 'motif,'Or waltzes of the nimble Strauss;And all discordant bands he sendsAbroad, to soothe his foreign friends.
When he is glad at anythingHe cheers like a dyspeptic goat,'Hoch! hoch!' You'd think him sufferingFrom some affection of the throat.A disagreeable noise, 'tis true,But pleases him and don't hurt you!
Words in this poem
- stolid a.
- Hopelessly insensible or stupid; not easily aroused or excited; dull; impassive; foolish. [L. stolidus.]
- kaiser n.
- The ancient title of emperors of Germany assumed by King William of Prussia when crowned sovereign of the new German empire in 1871. [Gr., fr. L. Caesar. Cf. Kesar, and Czar.]
- fatherland n.
- One's native land; the native land of one's fathers or ancestors. [Imitated fr. D. vaderland. See Father, and Land.]
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
- dyspeptic a.
- Pertaining to dyspepsia; having dyspepsia; as, a dyspeptic or dyspeptical symptom.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Germany is in the public domain. This text is taken from Verse and Worse, Project Gutenberg ebook #36702; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Harry Graham, Germany, in Verse and Worse (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #36702, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/graham-verse-and-worse/germany.html, id L23301.
Form and metre
Germany is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 ABABCC soulA · tasteB · bowlA · waistB · andC · fatherlandC
- 2 -A-ABB if · houseA · motif · straussA · sendsB · friendsB
- 3 ABABCC anythingA · goatB · sufferingA · throatB · trueC · youC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The German is a stolid soul, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And finds best suited to his taste | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A pipe with an enormous bowl, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| A fraulein with an ample waist; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He loves his beer, his Kaiser, and | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| (Donner und blitz!) his Fatherland! | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| He's perfectly contented if | 8 | ·/˘˘˘/˘· |
| He listens in the Op'ra-house | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| To Wagner's well-concealed 'motif,' | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘/ |
| Or waltzes of the nimble Strauss; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And all discordant bands he sends | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Abroad, to soothe his foreign friends. | 8 | ˘/···/˘· |
| When he is glad at anything | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| He cheers like a dyspeptic goat, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| 'Hoch! hoch!' You'd think him suffering | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| From some affection of the throat. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| A disagreeable noise, 'tis true, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| But pleases him and don't hurt you! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
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.