Homeward Bound XLIII
In a dream I saw my sweetheart,A woman harassed with care;Faded, and haggard, and withered,The form that had bloomed so fair.
One child in her arms she carried,And one by the hand she led.And trouble and poverty plainlyIn her eyes and her raiment I read.
Across the square she tottered,And face to face we stood.She looked at me, and I spoke thenIn quiet but mournful mood.
"Come home with me to my dwelling,Thou art pale and ill, I think,And there, with unceasing labor,I will furnish thee meat and drink.
"And I will serve thee, and cherishThy children so wan and mild.And thyself more dearly than any,Thou poor, unhappy child.
"Nor will I vex thee by tellingThe love that burns in my breast;And I will weep when thou diestOver thy place of rest."
Words in this poem
- haggard a.
- Wild or intractable; disposed to break away from duty; untamed; as, a haggard or refractory hawk. Shak [F. hagard; of German origin, and prop. meaning, of the hegde or woods, wild, untamed. See Hedge, 1st Haw, and -ard.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homeward Bound XLIII 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 XLIII, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/homeward-bound-xliii.html, id L15369.
Form and metre
Homeward Bound XLIII is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%). 92% 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. 21% 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.
- 1 -A-A sweetheart · careA · withered · fairA
- 2 AA-A carriedA · ledA · plainly · readA
- 3 AA-A totteredA · stoodA · then · moodA
- 4 -A-A dwelling · thinkA · labor · drinkA
- 5 -A-A cherish · mildA · any · childA
- 6 -AAA telling · breastA · diestA · restA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In a dream I saw my sweetheart, | 8 | ······/· |
| A woman harassed with care; | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘·· |
| Faded, and haggard, and withered, | 8 | /˘·/˘·/˘ |
| The form that had bloomed so fair. | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| One child in her arms she carried, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And one by the hand she led. | 7 | ······· |
| And trouble and poverty plainly | 9 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| In her eyes and her raiment I read. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Across the square she tottered, | 8 | ˘/···/˘˘ |
| And face to face we stood. | 6 | ······ |
| She looked at me, and I spoke then | 8 | ········ |
| In quiet but mournful mood. | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| "Come home with me to my dwelling, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Thou art pale and ill, I think, | 7 | ······· |
| And there, with unceasing labor, | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| I will furnish thee meat and drink. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| "And I will serve thee, and cherish | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Thy children so wan and mild. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| And thyself more dearly than any, | 9 | ·˘/·/˘·/˘ |
| Thou poor, unhappy child. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| "Nor will I vex thee by telling | 8 | ······/˘ |
| The love that burns in my breast; | 7 | ······· |
| And I will weep when thou diest | 7 | ······· |
| Over thy place of rest." | 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.