Homeward Bound LXXIX
Yes, they are the self-same eyesThat still brighten as I greet her,Yes, they are the self-same lipsThat made all my life seem sweeter.
Yes, it is the very voice,At whose slightest tones I falteredBut no more the same am I;I wend homeward strangely altered.
By the fair white arms embracedWith a close and tender passion,Now I lie upon her heart,Dull of brain, in cold vexation.
Words in this poem
- brighten v. t.
- To make bright or brighter; to make to shine; to increase the luster of; to give a brighter hue to.
- wend n.
- A large extent of ground; a perambulation; a circuit.
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homeward Bound LXXIX 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 LXXIX, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/homeward-bound-lxxix.html, id L15404.
Form and metre
Homeward Bound LXXIX is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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.
- 3 -A-A embraced · passionA · heart · vexationA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Yes, they are the self-same eyes | 7 | ······· |
| That still brighten as I greet her, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Yes, they are the self-same lips | 7 | ······· |
| That made all my life seem sweeter. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Yes, it is the very voice, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| At whose slightest tones I faltered | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| But no more the same am I; | 7 | ······· |
| I wend homeward strangely altered. | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| By the fair white arms embraced | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| With a close and tender passion, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Now I lie upon her heart, | 7 | ······· |
| Dull of brain, in cold vexation. | 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.