In the Underworld V
At times thy glance appeareth to importune,As though thou didst some secret longing prove.Alas, too well I know it,--thy misfortuneA life frustrated, a frustrated love.
How sad thine eyes are! Yet have I no powerTo give thee back thy youth with pleasure rife;Incurably thy heart must ache each hourFor love frustrated and frustrated life.
Words in this poem
- importune a.
- Inopportune; unseasonable. [F. importun, L. importunus; pref. im- not + a derivative from the root of portus harbor, importunus therefore orig. meaning, hard of access. See Port harbor, an]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- rife a.
- Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
- incurably adv.
- In a manner that renders cure impracticable or impossible; irremediably.
- ache n.
- A name given to several species of plants; as, smallage, wild celery, parsley. Holland. [F. ache, L. apium parsley.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Underworld V 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 V, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/in-the-underworld-v.html, id L15323.
Form and metre
In the Underworld V is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%). 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 importuneA · proveB · misfortuneA · loveB
- 2 ABAB powerA · rifeB · hourA · lifeB
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| At times thy glance appeareth to importune, | 11 | ····˘/˘···· |
| As though thou didst some secret longing prove. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Alas, too well I know it,--thy misfortune | 11 | ˘/······˘/˘ |
| A life frustrated, a frustrated love. | 10 | ··/·˘·/·˘· |
| How sad thine eyes are! Yet have I no power | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| To give thee back thy youth with pleasure rife; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Incurably thy heart must ache each hour | 11 | ˘/˘˘·····/˘ |
| For love frustrated and frustrated life. | 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.