In the Underworld IV
Oh, my mother-in-law, Ceres,Cease thy cries, no longer mourn.I will grant thee, what so dear is,I myself so much have borne.
Take thou comfort. We will fairlyThy child's ownership divide;And for six moons shall she yearlyIn the upper world abide.
Help thee through long summer hoursIn thy husbandry affairs;Binding up for thee the flowers,While a new straw-hat she wears.
She will dream when twilight pleasantColors all the sky with rose;When by brooks some clownish peasantSweetly on his sheep's pipe blows.
Not a harvest dance without her,She will frisk with Jack and Bess;Midst the geese and calves about herShe will prove a lioness.
Hail, sweet rest! I breathe free, single,Here in Orcus far from strife,Punch with Lethe I will mingle,And forget I have a wife.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- fairly adv.
- In a fairmanner; clearly; openly; plainly; fully; distinctly; frankly.
- 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,]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- lethe n.
- A river of Hades whose waters when drunk caused forgetfulness of the past.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Underworld IV 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 IV, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/in-the-underworld-iv.html, id L15322.
Form and metre
In the Underworld IV is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% 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 ceresA · mournB · isA · borneB
- 2 -A-A fairly · divideA · yearly · abideA
- 3 ABAB hoursA · affairsB · flowersA · wearsB
- 4 ABAB pleasantA · roseB · peasantA · blowsB
- 5 ABAB herA · bessB · herA · lionessB
- 6 ABAB singleA · strifeB · mingleA · wifeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh, my mother-in-law, Ceres, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Cease thy cries, no longer mourn. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| I will grant thee, what so dear is, | 8 | ········ |
| I myself so much have borne. | 7 | ··/···· |
| Take thou comfort. We will fairly | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Thy child's ownership divide; | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| And for six moons shall she yearly | 8 | ······/˘ |
| In the upper world abide. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Help thee through long summer hours | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| In thy husbandry affairs; | 7 | ··/˘˘˘/ |
| Binding up for thee the flowers, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| While a new straw-hat she wears. | 7 | ······· |
| She will dream when twilight pleasant | 8 | ····/·/˘ |
| Colors all the sky with rose; | 7 | /˘····· |
| When by brooks some clownish peasant | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Sweetly on his sheep's pipe blows. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Not a harvest dance without her, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| She will frisk with Jack and Bess; | 7 | ······· |
| Midst the geese and calves about her | 8 | ········ |
| She will prove a lioness. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Hail, sweet rest! I breathe free, single, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Here in Orcus far from strife, | 7 | ······· |
| Punch with Lethe I will mingle, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And forget I have a wife. | 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.