Calm
Calm at sea! The sunbeams flickerFalling on the level water,And athwart the liquid jewelsPloughs the ship her emerald furrows.
By the rudder lies the pilotOn his stomach, gently snoring,Near the mast, the tarry ship-boyStoops at work, the sail repairing.
'Neath their smut his cheeks are ruddy,Hotly flushed,--his broad mouth twitches.Full of sadness are the glancesOf his eyes so large and lovely.
For the captain stands before him,Raves and scolds and curses: "Rascal!Little rascal, thou hast robbed meOf a herring from the barrel."
Calm at sea! above the watercomes a cunning fish out-peeping.Warms his little head in sunshine,Merrily his small fins plashing.
But from airy heights, the sea-mewOn the little fish darts downward.Carrying in his beak his bootyBack he soars into the azure.
Words in this poem
- flicker v. i.
- To flutter; to flap the wings without flying. [OE. flikeren, flekeren, to flutter, AS. flicerian, flicorian, cf. D. flikkeren to sparkle. Flacker.]
- hotly adv.
- In a hot or fiery manner; ardently; vehemently; violently; hastily; as, a hotly pursued. [From Hot, a.]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- plashing n.
- The cutting or bending and intertwining the branches of small trees, as in hedges.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Calm is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems and Ballads, Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, the Emma Lazarus translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Heinrich Heine, Calm, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/calm.html, id L15455.
Form and metre
Calm is 24 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 19 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic 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.
- 5 -A-A water · peepingA · sunshine · plashingA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Calm at sea! The sunbeams flicker | 8 | ····/·/˘ |
| Falling on the level water, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| And athwart the liquid jewels | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Ploughs the ship her emerald furrows. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| By the rudder lies the pilot | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| On his stomach, gently snoring, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Near the mast, the tarry ship-boy | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Stoops at work, the sail repairing. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| 'Neath their smut his cheeks are ruddy, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Hotly flushed,--his broad mouth twitches. | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Full of sadness are the glances | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Of his eyes so large and lovely. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| For the captain stands before him, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Raves and scolds and curses: "Rascal! | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Little rascal, thou hast robbed me | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Of a herring from the barrel." | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Calm at sea! above the water | 8 | ······/˘ |
| comes a cunning fish out-peeping. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Warms his little head in sunshine, | 8 | ··/˘··/· |
| Merrily his small fins plashing. | 8 | /˘˘···/˘ |
| But from airy heights, the sea-mew | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| On the little fish darts downward. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Carrying in his beak his booty | 9 | /˘˘····/˘ |
| Back he soars into the azure. | 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.