Homeward Bound VII
We sat in the fisher's cabin,Looking out upon the sea.Then came the mists of evening,Ascending silently.
The lights began in the lighthouseOne after one to burn,And on the far horizonA ship we could still discern.
We spake of storm and shipwreck,The sailor and how he thrives,And how betwixt heaven and ocean,And joy and sorrow he strives.
We spake of distant countries,South, North, and everywhere,And of the curious people,And curious customs there;
The fragrance and light of the Ganges,That giant-trees embower,Where a beautiful tranquil peopleKneel to the lotus flower;
Of the unclean folk in Lapland,Broad-mouthed and flat-headed and small,Who cower upon the hearthstone,Bake fish, and cackle and squall.
The maidens listened gravely,Then never a word was said,The ship we could see no longer;It was far too dark o'erhead.
Words in this poem
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- embower v. t.
- To cover with a bower; to shelter with trees.
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- hearthstone n.
- Stone forming the hearth; hence, the fireside; home.
- bake v. t.
- To prepare, as food, by cooking in a dry heat, either in an oven or under coals, or on heated stone or metal; as, to bake bread, meat, apples.
- cackle v. i.
- To make a sharp, broken noise or cry, as a hen or goose does. [OE. cakelen; cf. LG. kakeln, D. kakelen, G. gackeln, gackern; all of imitative origin. Cf. Gagle, Cake to cackle.]
- gravely adv.
- In a grave manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homeward Bound VII 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 VII, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/homeward-bound-vii.html, id L15334.
Form and metre
Homeward Bound VII is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 15 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% 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 -AAA lighthouse · burnA · horizonA · discernA
- 3 -A-A shipwreck · thrivesA · ocean · strivesA
- 4 -A-A countries · everywhereA · people · thereA
- 5 -A-A ganges · embowerA · people · flowerA
- 6 -A-A lapland · smallA · hearthstone · squallA
- 7 -A-A gravely · saidA · longer · o'erheadA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| We sat in the fisher's cabin, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Looking out upon the sea. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Then came the mists of evening, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Ascending silently. | 6 | ˘/˘/˘˘ |
| The lights began in the lighthouse | 8 | ··˘/··/· |
| One after one to burn, | 6 | ······ |
| And on the far horizon | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| A ship we could still discern. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| We spake of storm and shipwreck, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| The sailor and how he thrives, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And how betwixt heaven and ocean, | 9 | ··˘//˘·/˘ |
| And joy and sorrow he strives. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| We spake of distant countries, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| South, North, and everywhere, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And of the curious people, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| And curious customs there; | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| The fragrance and light of the Ganges, | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| That giant-trees embower, | 7 | ·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Where a beautiful tranquil people | 9 | ··/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| Kneel to the lotus flower; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Of the unclean folk in Lapland, | 8 | ··˘/··/· |
| Broad-mouthed and flat-headed and small, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Who cower upon the hearthstone, | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| Bake fish, and cackle and squall. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| The maidens listened gravely, | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Then never a word was said, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| The ship we could see no longer; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| It was far too dark o'erhead. | 7 | ······· |
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