Homeward Bound XXXI
To-night is wretched weather,It snows, and storms, and rains;Out in the pitch-black darknessI gaze through the window-panes.
There flickers a lonely candle,Slow winding down the street;And a beldame, with her lantern,Goes hobbling on in the sleet.
I think 'tis for eggs and butterThat she braves this weather wild,To bake a cake for her daughter,Her grown-up ailing child.
Who lies at home in her arm-chair,And sleepily blinks at the light.Over her beautiful foreheadHer golden curls wave bright.
Words in this poem
- beldame n.
- Grandmother; -- corresponding to belsire. [Pref. bel-, denoting relationship + dame mother: cf. F. belledame fair lady, It. belladonna. See Belle, and Dame.]
- sleet n.
- The part of a mortar extending from the chamber to the trunnions.
- 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.
- sleepily adv.
- In a sleepy manner; drowsily.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homeward Bound XXXI 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 XXXI, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/homeward-bound-xxxi.html, id L15358.
Form and metre
Homeward Bound XXXI is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 7 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 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 weather · rainsA · darkness · panesA
- 2 -A-A candle · streetA · lantern · sleetA
- 3 -A-A butter · wildA · daughter · childA
- 4 -A-A chair · lightA · forehead · brightA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To-night is wretched weather, | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| It snows, and storms, and rains; | 6 | ······ |
| Out in the pitch-black darkness | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| I gaze through the window-panes. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| There flickers a lonely candle, | 8 | ·/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Slow winding down the street; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And a beldame, with her lantern, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Goes hobbling on in the sleet. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| I think 'tis for eggs and butter | 8 | ······/˘ |
| That she braves this weather wild, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To bake a cake for her daughter, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Her grown-up ailing child. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Who lies at home in her arm-chair, | 8 | ········ |
| And sleepily blinks at the light. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Over her beautiful forehead | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Her golden curls wave bright. | 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.