Homeward Bound XLII
As the moon with splendor piercesThrough the dark cloud-veil of night,From my darksome Past emergesOnce again a dream of light.
All upon the deck were seated,Proudly sailing down the Rhine.Green with June the shores were glowingIn the evening's sunset-shine.
At the feet of a fair ladySat I, full of thoughts untold,O'er her pale and lovely featuresPlayed the sunlight's ruddy gold.
Lutes were ringing, boys were singing,Wondrous joy on stream and shore.Blue and bluer grew the heavens,And the spirit seemed to soar.
Hill and city, wood and meadow,Glided past in fairy-wise.And I saw the whole scene mirroredIn the lovely lady's eyes.
Words in this poem
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
- untold a.
- Not told; not related; not revealed; as, untold secrets.
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homeward Bound XLII 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 XLII, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/homeward-bound-xlii.html, id L15368.
Form and metre
Homeward Bound XLII is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.6 syllables. 9 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 pierces · nightA · emerges · lightA
- 2 -A-A seated · rhineA · glowing · shineA
- 3 -A-A lady · untoldA · features · goldA
- 4 -A-A singing · shoreA · heavens · soarA
- 5 -A-A meadow · wiseA · mirrored · eyesA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As the moon with splendor pierces | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Through the dark cloud-veil of night, | 7 | ······· |
| From my darksome Past emerges | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Once again a dream of light. | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| All upon the deck were seated, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Proudly sailing down the Rhine. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Green with June the shores were glowing | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In the evening's sunset-shine. | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| At the feet of a fair lady | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Sat I, full of thoughts untold, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| O'er her pale and lovely features | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Played the sunlight's ruddy gold. | 8 | ·˘·/·/˘· |
| Lutes were ringing, boys were singing, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Wondrous joy on stream and shore. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Blue and bluer grew the heavens, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And the spirit seemed to soar. | 8 | ··/˘·˘·· |
| Hill and city, wood and meadow, | 8 | ··/˘··/· |
| Glided past in fairy-wise. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| And I saw the whole scene mirrored | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In the lovely lady's eyes. | 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.