Homeward Bound XVIII
Upon the far horizonLike a picture of the mist,Appears the towered cityBy the twilight shadows kissed.
The moist, soft breezes rippleOur boat's wake gray and dark,With mournful measured cadenceThe boatman rows my bark.
The sun from clouds outshining,Lights up once more the coast.The very spot it shows meWhere she I loved was lost.
Words in this poem
- towered a.
- Adorned or defended by towers.
- boatman n.
- A man who manages a boat; a rower of a boat.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homeward Bound XVIII 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 XVIII, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/homeward-bound-xviii.html, id L15345.
Form and metre
Homeward Bound XVIII is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% 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 horizon · mistA · city · kissedA
- 2 -A-A ripple · darkA · cadence · barkA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Upon the far horizon | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Like a picture of the mist, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Appears the towered city | 8 | ˘/·/˘˘/˘ |
| By the twilight shadows kissed. | 8 | ··/·/··˘ |
| The moist, soft breezes ripple | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Our boat's wake gray and dark, | 7 | /˘····· |
| With mournful measured cadence | 8 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| The boatman rows my bark. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The sun from clouds outshining, | 7 | ····/·˘ |
| Lights up once more the coast. | 6 | ······ |
| The very spot it shows me | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Where she I loved was lost. | 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.