In the Underworld II
In the realm of shades, on a throne of gold,By the side of her royal spouse, beholdFair Proserpine,With gloomy mien,While deep sighs upheave her bosom.
"The roses, the passionate song I missOf the nightingale; yea, and the sun's warm kiss.Midst the Lemur's dread,And the ghostly dead,Now withers my life's young blossom.
"I am fast in the yoke of marriage boundTo this cursed rat-hole underground.Through my window at night,Peers each ghostly sprite,And the Styx murmurs lower and lower.
"To-day I have Charon invited to dinner,He is bald, and his limbs they grow thinner and thinner,And the judges, beside,Of the dead, dismal-eyed,In such company I shall grow sour."
Words in this poem
- spouse v. t.
- To wed; to espouse. [See Espouse, and Spouse, n.]
- upheave v. t.
- To heave or lift up from beneath; to raise.
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- withers n.
- The ridge between the shoulder bones of a horse, at the base of the neck. See Illust. of Horse. [Properly, the parts which resist the pull or strain in drawing a load; fr. OE. wither resistance, AS. withre, fr. wither against; akin to G. widerrist withers. ]
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
- sprite n.
- A spirit; a soul; a shade; also, an apparition. See Spright. [OE. sprit, F. esprit, fr. L. spiritus. See Spirit, and cf. Sprightly.]
- styx n.
- The principal river of the lower world, which had to be crossed in passing to the regions of the dead.
- charon n.
- The son of Erebus and Nox, whose office it was to ferry the souls of the dead over the Styx, a river of the infernal regions.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Underworld II 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, In the Underworld II, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/in-the-underworld-ii.html, id L15320.
Form and metre
In the Underworld II is 20 lines in 4 stanzas of 5 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 70% of the lines. 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.8 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 AA--- goldA · beholdA · proserpine · mien · bosom
- 2 AABB- missA · kissA · dreadB · deadB · blossom
- 3 AABB- boundA · undergroundA · nightB · spriteB · lower
- 4 AABB- dinnerA · thinnerA · besideB · eyedB · sour
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In the realm of shades, on a throne of gold, | 10 | ·········· |
| By the side of her royal spouse, behold | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Fair Proserpine, | 4 | ···· |
| With gloomy mien, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| While deep sighs upheave her bosom. | 8 | ···˘/·/˘ |
| "The roses, the passionate song I miss | 9 | ·/˘·/˘··· |
| Of the nightingale; yea, and the sun's warm kiss. | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| Midst the Lemur's dread, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And the ghostly dead, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Now withers my life's young blossom. | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| "I am fast in the yoke of marriage bound | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To this cursed rat-hole underground. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Through my window at night, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Peers each ghostly sprite, | 5 | ··/˘· |
| And the Styx murmurs lower and lower. | 9 | ···/˘/·/˘ |
| "To-day I have Charon invited to dinner, | 12 | ····/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| He is bald, and his limbs they grow thinner and thinner, | 13 | ········/˘·/˘ |
| And the judges, beside, | 6 | ··/˘·/ |
| Of the dead, dismal-eyed, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In such company I shall grow sour." | 8 | ··/˘···/ |
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.