Homeward Bound XVII
Up yonder on the mountain,There stands a castle tall;There dwelt three beauteous maidens,And I was loved by all.
On Saturday Hetty kissed me,And Sunday was Julia's day;On Monday KunigundaNigh hugged my breath away.
On Tuesday, in the castle,My maidens gave a ball.The neighboring lords and ladiesCame riding one and all.
But I was not invited.Amazed they all appeared;The gossiping aunts and cousinsRemarked the fact, and sneered.
Words in this poem
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- saturday n.
- The seventh or last day of the week; the day following Friday and preceding Sunday. [OE. Saterday, AS. Sæterdæg, Sæterndæg, Sæternesdæg, literally, Saturn's day, fr. L. Saturnus Saturn + AS. dæg day; cf. L. dies Saturni.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homeward Bound XVII 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 XVII, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/homeward-bound-xvii.html, id L15344.
Form and metre
Homeward Bound XVII is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 mountain · tallA · maidens · allA
- 2 -A-A me · dayA · kunigunda · awayA
- 3 AA-A castleA · ballA · ladies · allA
- 4 -A-A invited · appearedA · cousins · sneeredA
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 iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Up yonder on the mountain, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| There stands a castle tall; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| There dwelt three beauteous maidens, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| And I was loved by all. | 6 | ······ |
| On Saturday Hetty kissed me, | 7 | ·/˘/˘·· |
| And Sunday was Julia's day; | 7 | ·/··/˘· |
| On Monday Kunigunda | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Nigh hugged my breath away. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| On Tuesday, in the castle, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| My maidens gave a ball. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The neighboring lords and ladies | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Came riding one and all. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But I was not invited. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Amazed they all appeared; | 6 | ˘/··˘/ |
| The gossiping aunts and cousins | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Remarked the fact, and sneered. | 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.