Homeward Bound LVIII
Sapphires are those eyes of thine,So lovely and so sweet,Thrice blessed is the happy manWhom they with love will greet.
Thy heart, it is a diamond,That sheds a splendid light.Thrice blessed is the happy manFor whom it glows so bright.
As red as rubies are thy lips,Naught fairer can I prove.Thrice blessed is the happy manTo whom they whisper love.
Oh, knew I but that happy man,Could I at last discover,Deep in the greenwood, all alone--His bliss were quickly over.
Words in this poem
- discover v. i.
- To discover or show one's self.
- greenwood n.
- A forest as it appears is spring and summer.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homeward Bound LVIII 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, Homeward Bound LVIII, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/homeward-bound-lviii.html, id L15383.
Form and metre
Homeward Bound LVIII is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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-A thine · sweetA · man · greetA
- 2 -A-A diamond · lightA · man · brightA
- 3 -A-A lips · proveA · man · loveA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Sapphires are those eyes of thine, | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| So lovely and so sweet, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Thrice blessed is the happy man | 8 | ··˘··/˘· |
| Whom they with love will greet. | 6 | ······ |
| Thy heart, it is a diamond, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That sheds a splendid light. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Thrice blessed is the happy man | 8 | ··˘··/˘· |
| For whom it glows so bright. | 6 | ······ |
| As red as rubies are thy lips, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Naught fairer can I prove. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Thrice blessed is the happy man | 8 | ··˘··/˘· |
| To whom they whisper love. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Oh, knew I but that happy man, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Could I at last discover, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Deep in the greenwood, all alone-- | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| His bliss were quickly over. | 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.