Homeward Bound VI
When I met by chance in my travelsAll my sweetheart's family,Papa, mamma, little sisterMost cordially greeted me.
About my health they inquired;Nor even did they failTo say I was nowise altered,Only a trifle pale.
I asked after aunts and cousins,And many a dull old bore.And after the dear little poodle,That barked so softly of yore.
And how was my married sweetheart?I asked them soon. They smiled,And in friendliest tone made answerShe was soon to have a child.
And I lisped congratulations,And begged, when they should see,To give her the kindest greetings,A thousand times for me.
Burst forth the baby-sister,"That dear little dog of mineWent mad when he grew bigger,And we drowned him in the Rhine."
The child resembles my sweetheart,The same old laugh has she;Her eyes are the same ones over,That wrought such grief for me.
Words in this poem
- papa n.
- A child's word for father. [F. papa, L. papa; cf. Gr. Pope.]
- cordially adv.
- In a cordial manner. Dr. H. More.
- nowise adv.
- Not in any manner or degree; in no way; noways. [For in no wise. See Wise, n.]
- poodle n.
- A breed of dogs having curly hair, and often showing remarkable intelligence in the performance of tricks. [G. pudel.]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- bigger a.
- , compar. of Big.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homeward Bound VI 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 VI, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/homeward-bound-vi.html, id L15333.
Form and metre
Homeward Bound VI is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 13 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% 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.
- 2 -A-A inquired · failA · altered · paleA
- 3 -A-A cousins · boreA · poodle · yoreA
- 4 -A-A sweetheart · smiledA · answer · childA
- 5 -A-A congratulations · seeA · greetings · meA
- 6 -A-A sister · mineA · bigger · rhineA
- 7 -A-A sweetheart · sheA · over · meA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When I met by chance in my travels | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| All my sweetheart's family, | 7 | ··/·/˘˘ |
| Papa, mamma, little sister | 8 | /˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Most cordially greeted me. | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| About my health they inquired; | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Nor even did they fail | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To say I was nowise altered, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Only a trifle pale. | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| I asked after aunts and cousins, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And many a dull old bore. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And after the dear little poodle, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| That barked so softly of yore. | 8 | ··˘·/˘·· |
| And how was my married sweetheart? | 8 | ····/˘/· |
| I asked them soon. They smiled, | 8 | ··˘····˘ |
| And in friendliest tone made answer | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| She was soon to have a child. | 7 | ······· |
| And I lisped congratulations, | 8 | ···˘·˘/˘ |
| And begged, when they should see, | 7 | ··˘···· |
| To give her the kindest greetings, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| A thousand times for me. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Burst forth the baby-sister, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| "That dear little dog of mine | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Went mad when he grew bigger, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And we drowned him in the Rhine." | 8 | ···˘···· |
| The child resembles my sweetheart, | 8 | ··˘/˘·/· |
| The same old laugh has she; | 6 | ······ |
| Her eyes are the same ones over, | 8 | ········ |
| That wrought such grief for me. | 6 | ······ |
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.