Homeward Bound LXVII
This most amiable of fellowsNe'er enough can honored be.Ah! to oysters, Rhine-wine, cordial,Many a time he treated me.
Natty are his hose and trousers,Nattier his cravat is seen;And he enters every morning,Asks me how my health has been.
Of my rich renown he speaketh,Of my charms and wit displayed.Zealous, eager seems he everTo befriend me and to aid.
And at parties in the evening,With inspired brow and eye,He declaims before the ladiesMy immortal poesy.
How delightfully refreshingNow-a-days to find still hereSuch a youth, when good things surelyMore and more do disappear.
Words in this poem
- amiable a.
- Lovable; lovely; pleasing. [F. amiable, L. amicabilis friendly, fr. amicus friend, fr. amare to love. The meaning has been influenced by F. aimable, L. amabilis lovable, fr. amare to love.]
- natty a.
- Neat; tidy; spruce. -- Nat"ti*ly, adv. [Cf. Neat clean.]
- cravat n.
- A neckcloth; a piece of silk, fine muslin, or other cloth, worn by men about the neck. [F. cravate, fr. Cravate a Croat, an inhabitant of Croatia, one of a body of Austrian troops, from whom, in 1636, this article of dress was adopted in France.]
- befriend v. t.
- To act as a friend to; to favor; to aid, benefit, or countenance.
- poesy n.
- The art of composing poems; poetical skill or faculty; as, the heavenly gift of poesy. [F. poésie (cf. It. poesia), L. poesis, from Gr. Posy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homeward Bound LXVII 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 LXVII, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/homeward-bound-lxvii.html, id L15392.
Form and metre
Homeward Bound LXVII is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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.
- 1 -A-A fellows · beA · cordial · meA
- 3 -A-A speaketh · displayedA · ever · aidA
- 5 -A-A refreshing · hereA · surely · disappearA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| This most amiable of fellows | 9 | ··/˘˘˘·/˘ |
| Ne'er enough can honored be. | 8 | ·˘/·/˘˘· |
| Ah! to oysters, Rhine-wine, cordial, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Many a time he treated me. | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Natty are his hose and trousers, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Nattier his cravat is seen; | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| And he enters every morning, | 9 | ··/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Asks me how my health has been. | 7 | ······· |
| Of my rich renown he speaketh, | 8 | ···˘/·/˘ |
| Of my charms and wit displayed. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Zealous, eager seems he ever | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| To befriend me and to aid. | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| And at parties in the evening, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| With inspired brow and eye, | 8 | ·˘/˘˘··· |
| He declaims before the ladies | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| My immortal poesy. | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘˘ |
| How delightfully refreshing | 8 | ·˘/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Now-a-days to find still here | 7 | ······· |
| Such a youth, when good things surely | 8 | ······/˘ |
| More and more do disappear. | 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.