In the Underworld III
Whilst their grievance each is ventingIn the underworld below,Ceres, on the earth lamenting,Wrathful wanders to and fro.
With no hood in sloven fashion,Neither mantle o'er her gown,She declaims that lamentationUnto all of us well-known;
"Is the blessed spring-tide here?Has the earth again grown young?Green the sunny hills appear,And the icy band is sprung.
"Mirrored from the clear blue river.Zeus, unclouded, laugheth out,Softer zephyr's wings now quiver,Buds upon the fresh twig sprout."
In the hedge a new refrain;Call the Oreads from the shore,"All thy flowers come again,But thy daughter comes no more."
Ah, how many weary daysI have sought o'er wide earth's space.Titan, all thy sunny raysI have sent on her dear trace.
Yet not one renews assuranceOf the darling face I wot,Day, that finds all things, the duranceOf my lost one, findeth not.
"Hast thou ravished, Zeus, my daughter?Or, love-smitten by her charms,Hath, o'er Orcus's night-black water,Pluto snatched her in his arms?
"Who towards that gloomy strandHerald of my grief will be?Ever floats the bark from land,Bearing phantoms ceaselessly.
"Closed those shadowy fields are everUnto any blessed sight.Since the Styx hath been a river,It hath borne no living wight.
"There are thousand stairs descending,But not one leads upward there.To her tears no token lending,At the anxious mother's prayer."
Words in this poem
- grievance n.
- A cause of uneasiness and complaint; a wrong done and suffered; that which gives ground for remonstrance or resistance, as arising from injustice, tyranny, etc.; injury. [OF. grcvance. See Grieve, v. t.]
- underworld n.
- The lower of inferior world; the world which is under the heavens; the earth.
- ceres n.
- The daughter of Saturn and Ops or Rhea, the goddess of corn and tillage. [L., Ceres, also corn, grain, akin to E. create.]
- wrathful a.
- Full of wrath; very angry; greatly incensed; ireful; passionate; as, a wrathful man.
- sloven n.
- A man or boy habitually negligent of neathess and order; -- the correlative term to slattern, or slut. [D. slaf careless, negligent, a sloven; akin to LG. sluf slovenly.]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- durance n.
- Continuance; duration. See Endurance. [OF. durance duration, fr. L. durans, -antis, p. pr. durare to endure, last. See Dure, and cf. Durant.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- styx n.
- The principal river of the lower world, which had to be crossed in passing to the regions of the dead.
- wight n.
- A whit; a bit; a jot. [OE. wight, wiht, a wight, a whit, AS. wiht, wuht, a creature, a thing; skin to D. wicht a child, OS. & OHG. wiht a creature, thing, G. wicht a creature, Icel. v]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Underworld III 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 III, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/in-the-underworld-iii.html, id L15321.
Form and metre
In the Underworld III is 44 lines in 11 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 7 of its 11 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.4 syllables. 14 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 ABAB ventingA · belowB · lamentingA · froB
- 2 AAAA fashionA · gownA · lamentationA · knownA
- 3 ABAB hereA · youngB · appearA · sprungB
- 4 ABAB riverA · outB · quiverA · sproutB
- 5 ABAB refrainA · shoreB · againA · moreB
- 6 ABAB daysA · spaceB · raysA · traceB
- 7 A-A- assuranceA · wot · duranceA · not
- 8 ABAB daughterA · charmsB · waterA · armsB
- 9 A-A- strandA · be · landA · ceaselessly
- 10 -A-A ever · sightA · river · wightA
- 11 ABAB descendingA · thereB · lendingA · prayerB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Whilst their grievance each is venting | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| In the underworld below, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ceres, on the earth lamenting, | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Wrathful wanders to and fro. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| With no hood in sloven fashion, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Neither mantle o'er her gown, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| She declaims that lamentation | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| Unto all of us well-known; | 7 | ······· |
| "Is the blessed spring-tide here? | 7 | ···˘··· |
| Has the earth again grown young? | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Green the sunny hills appear, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| And the icy band is sprung. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| "Mirrored from the clear blue river. | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Zeus, unclouded, laugheth out, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Softer zephyr's wings now quiver, | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| Buds upon the fresh twig sprout." | 7 | ······· |
| In the hedge a new refrain; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Call the Oreads from the shore, | 7 | ······· |
| "All thy flowers come again, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| But thy daughter comes no more." | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ah, how many weary days | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| I have sought o'er wide earth's space. | 7 | ······· |
| Titan, all thy sunny rays | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| I have sent on her dear trace. | 7 | ······· |
| Yet not one renews assurance | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Of the darling face I wot, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Day, that finds all things, the durance | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Of my lost one, findeth not. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| "Hast thou ravished, Zeus, my daughter? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Or, love-smitten by her charms, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Hath, o'er Orcus's night-black water, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Pluto snatched her in his arms? | 8 | /˘·˘···· |
| "Who towards that gloomy strand | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Herald of my grief will be? | 7 | /˘····· |
| Ever floats the bark from land, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Bearing phantoms ceaselessly. | 7 | /˘/˘/˘˘ |
| "Closed those shadowy fields are ever | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| Unto any blessed sight. | 7 | ··/˘·˘· |
| Since the Styx hath been a river, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| It hath borne no living wight. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| "There are thousand stairs descending, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| But not one leads upward there. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To her tears no token lending, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| At the anxious mother's prayer." | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
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