Salutation to the Sea
Thalatta! Thalatta!All hail to thee, thou Eternal sea!All hail to thee ten thousand timesFrom my jubilant heart,As once thou wast hailedBy ten thousand Grecian hearts,Misfortune-combating, homeward-yearning,World-renowned Grecian hearts.
The waters heaved,They heaved and roared.The sun poured streaming downwardIts flickering rosy lights.The startled flocks of sea-mewsFluttered away with shrill screams;The coursers stamped, the shields rattled,And far out, resounded like a triumphal paean,Thalatta! Thalatta!
All hail to thee, thou Eternal Sea!Like the language of home, thy water whispers to me.Like the dreams of my childhood I see it glimmer.Over thy billowy realm of waves.And it repeats to me anew olden memories,Of all the beloved glorious sports,Of all the twinkling Christmas gifts,Of all the ruddy coral-trees,Tiny golden fishes, pearls and bright-hued mussels,Which thou dost secretly preserveBelow there in thy limpid house of crystal.
Oh, how I have pined in barren exile!Like a withered flowerIn the tin box of a botanist,My heart lay in my breast.I feel as if all winter I had sat,A sick man, in a dark, sick room,Which now I suddenly leave.And dazzlingly shines down upon meThe emerald spring, the sunshine-awakened spring,And the white-blossomed trees are rustling;And the young flowers look at me,With their many-colored, fragrant eyes.And there is an aroma, and a murmuring, and a breathing and alaughter,And in the blue sky the little birds are singing,Thalatta! Thalatta!
Thou valiant, retreating heart,How oft, how bitter oftDid the fair barbarians of the North press thee hard!From their large victorious eyesThey darted burning shafts.With crooked, polished words,They threatened to cleave my breast.With sharp-pointed missives they shatteredMy poor, stunned brain.In vain I held up against them my shield,The arrows whizzed, the strokes cracked,And from the fair barbarians of the NorthI was pressed even unto the sea.And now with deep, free breath, I hail the sea,The dear, redeeming sea--Thalatta! Thalatta!
Words in this poem 15
- jubilant a.
- Uttering songs of triumph; shouting with joy; triumphant; exulting. [L. jubilans, -antis, p. pr. of jubilare to shout for joy: cf. F. jubila. See Jubilate.]
- wast
- The second person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, imperfect tense; -- now used only in solemn or poetical style.
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- streaming a.
- Sending forth streams.
- mews n.
- An alley where there are stables; a narrow passage; a confined place. [Eng.] [Prop. pl. of mew. See Mew a cage.]
- triumphal n.
- A token of victory.
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- billowy a.
- Of or pertaining to billows; swelling or swollen into large waves; full of billows or surges; resembling billows.
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- twinkling n.
- The act of one who, or of that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink; a twinkle. Holland.
- dazzlingly adv.
- In a dazzling manner.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- valiant a.
- Vigorous in body; strong; powerful; as, a valiant fencer. [OE. valiant, F. vaillant, OF. vaillant, valant, originally p. pr. of OF. & F. valoir to be worth, L. valere to be strong. See Wield, and cf. Avail, Convalesce, ]
- cracked a.
- Coarsely ground or broken; as, cracked wheat.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Salutation to the Sea 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, Salutation to the Sea, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/salutation-to-the-sea.html, id L15459.
Form and metre
Salutation to the Sea is 60 lines in 5 stanzas. 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 14 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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 -----A-A thalatta · sea · times · heart · hailed · heartsA · yearning · heartsA
- 3 AA--B--B--- seaA · meA · glimmer · waves · memoriesB · sports · gifts · treesB · mussels · preserve · crystal
- 4 --AA---BCCB----- exile · flower · botanistA · breastA · sat · room · leave · meB · springC · rustlingC · meB · eyes · a · laughter · singing · thalatta
- 5 ------------AAA- heart · oft · hard · eyes · shafts · words · breast · shattered · brain · shield · cracked · north · seaA · seaA · seaA · thalatta
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thalatta! Thalatta! | 6 | ······ |
| All hail to thee, thou Eternal sea! | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| All hail to thee ten thousand times | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From my jubilant heart, | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| As once thou wast hailed | 5 | ····· |
| By ten thousand Grecian hearts, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Misfortune-combating, homeward-yearning, | 10 | ˘/˘˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| World-renowned Grecian hearts. | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘· |
| The waters heaved, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| They heaved and roared. | 4 | ···· |
| The sun poured streaming downward | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Its flickering rosy lights. | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| The startled flocks of sea-mews | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Fluttered away with shrill screams; | 8 | /˘˘˘/··· |
| The coursers stamped, the shields rattled, | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| And far out, resounded like a triumphal paean, | 13 | ····/˘··˘/˘/˘ |
| Thalatta! Thalatta! | 6 | ······ |
| All hail to thee, thou Eternal Sea! | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Like the language of home, thy water whispers to me. | 13 | ··/˘···/˘/˘·· |
| Like the dreams of my childhood I see it glimmer. | 12 | ·····/····/˘ |
| Over thy billowy realm of waves. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| And it repeats to me anew olden memories, | 12 | ··˘/··˘//˘/˘ |
| Of all the beloved glorious sports, | 8 | ···˘//˘· |
| Of all the twinkling Christmas gifts, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Of all the ruddy coral-trees, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Tiny golden fishes, pearls and bright-hued mussels, | 12 | /˘/˘/˘····/˘ |
| Which thou dost secretly preserve | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Below there in thy limpid house of crystal. | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Oh, how I have pined in barren exile! | 10 | ······/˘/· |
| Like a withered flower | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| In the tin box of a botanist, | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| My heart lay in my breast. | 6 | ······ |
| I feel as if all winter I had sat, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A sick man, in a dark, sick room, | 8 | ········ |
| Which now I suddenly leave. | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| And dazzlingly shines down upon me | 9 | ·/˘˘····· |
| The emerald spring, the sunshine-awakened spring, | 11 | ·/˘··/·˘/˘· |
| And the white-blossomed trees are rustling; | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| And the young flowers look at me, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| With their many-colored, fragrant eyes. | 8 | ··//˘/˘· |
| And there is an aroma, and a murmuring, and a breathing and a | 17 | ····˘/˘··/˘··/˘·· |
| laughter, | 2 | /˘ |
| And in the blue sky the little birds are singing, | 12 | ······/˘··/˘ |
| Thalatta! Thalatta! | 6 | ······ |
| Thou valiant, retreating heart, | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| How oft, how bitter oft | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Did the fair barbarians of the North press thee hard! | 12 | ···˘/˘······ |
| From their large victorious eyes | 8 | ···˘/˘˘· |
| They darted burning shafts. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| With crooked, polished words, | 8 | ·/˘˘/˘˘· |
| They threatened to cleave my breast. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| With sharp-pointed missives they shattered | 9 | ··/˘/˘·/˘ |
| My poor, stunned brain. | 4 | ···· |
| In vain I held up against them my shield, | 10 | ·········· |
| The arrows whizzed, the strokes cracked, | 8 | ·/˘·˘··· |
| And from the fair barbarians of the North | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| I was pressed even unto the sea. | 8 | ···/···· |
| And now with deep, free breath, I hail the sea, | 10 | ·········· |
| The dear, redeeming sea-- | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Thalatta! Thalatta! | 6 | ······ |
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