Homeward Bound XXXVII
I called the devil and he came,His face with wonder I must scan;He is not ugly, he is not lame,He is a delightful, charming man.A man in the prime of life, in fact,Courteous, engaging and full of tact.A diplomat, too, of wide researchWho cleverly talks about state and church.A little pale, but that is en regle,For now he is studying Sanscrit and Hegel.His favorite poet is still Fouque;With the brawls of the critics he meddles no more,For all such things he has given o'er,Unto his grandmother Hecate.He praised my forensic works that he saw,He had dabbled a little himself in law.He said he was proud my acquaintance to make,And should prize my friendship, and bowed as he spake.And asked if we had not met beforeAt the house of the Spanish Ambassador?Then I noted his features line by line,And found him an old acquaintance of mine.
Words in this poem
- scan v. t.
- To mount by steps; to go through with step by step. [L. scandere, scansum, to climb, to scan, akin to Skr. skand to spring, leap: cf. F. scander. Cf. Ascend, Descend, Scale a ladder.]
- tact n.
- The sense of touch; feeling. [L. tactus a touching, touch, fr. tangere, tactum, to touch: cf. F. tact. See Tangent.]
- cleverly adv.
- In a clever manner.
- regle v. t.
- To rule; to govern. [See Reglement.]
- forensic a.
- Belonging to courts of judicature or to public discussion and debate; used in legal proceedings, or in public discussions; argumentative; rhetorical; as, forensic eloquence or disputes. [L. forensis, fr. forum a public place, market place. See Forum.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homeward Bound XXXVII 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 XXXVII, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/homeward-bound-xxxvii.html, id L15363.
Form and metre
Homeward Bound XXXVII is 22 lines in a single stanza. 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 9% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABABCCDD---E--FFGGE-HH cameA · scanB · lameA · manB · factC · tactC · researchD · churchD · regle · hegel · fouque · moreE · o'er · hecate · sawF · lawF · makeG · spakeG · beforeE · ambassador · lineH · mineH
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I called the devil and he came, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His face with wonder I must scan; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| He is not ugly, he is not lame, | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| He is a delightful, charming man. | 9 | ···˘/˘/˘· |
| A man in the prime of life, in fact, | 9 | ········· |
| Courteous, engaging and full of tact. | 9 | /˘˘/˘···· |
| A diplomat, too, of wide research | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
| Who cleverly talks about state and church. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| A little pale, but that is en regle, | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| For now he is studying Sanscrit and Hegel. | 11 | ····/˘/˘·/˘ |
| His favorite poet is still Fouque; | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| With the brawls of the critics he meddles no more, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| For all such things he has given o'er, | 8 | ······/· |
| Unto his grandmother Hecate. | 8 | ···/·˘·· |
| He praised my forensic works that he saw, | 10 | ···˘/˘···· |
| He had dabbled a little himself in law. | 11 | ··/˘·/˘˘/·· |
| He said he was proud my acquaintance to make, | 11 | ······˘/˘·· |
| And should prize my friendship, and bowed as he spake. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| And asked if we had not met before | 9 | ········· |
| At the house of the Spanish Ambassador? | 10 | ·····/˘˘/˘ |
| Then I noted his features line by line, | 10 | ··/˘·/˘··· |
| And found him an old acquaintance of mine. | 10 | ·····˘/˘·· |
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.