Sonnets to My Mother, B. Heine, Nee Von Geldern I
I have been wont to bear my forehead high--My stubborn temper yields with no good grace.The king himself might look me in the face,And yet I would not downward cast mine eye.But I confess, dear mother, openly,However proud my haughty spirit swell,When I within thy blessed presence dwell,Oft am I smit with shy humility.Is it thy soul, with secret influence,Thy lofty soul piercing all shows of sense,Which soareth, heaven-born, to heaven again?Or springs it from sad memories that tellHow many a time I caused thy dear heart pain,Thy gentle heart, that loveth me so well!
Words in this poem
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- smit
- 3d. pers. sing. pres. of Smite.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnets to My Mother, B. Heine, Nee Von Geldern I 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, Sonnets to My Mother, B. Heine, Nee Von Geldern I, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/sonnets-to-my-mother-b-heine-nee-von-geldern-i.html, id L15311.
Form and metre
Sonnets to My Mother, B. Heine, Nee Von Geldern I is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.4 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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 ABBA-CC-DDECEC highA · graceB · faceB · eyeA · openly · swellC · dwellC · humility · influenceD · senseD · againE · tellC · painE · wellC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I have been wont to bear my forehead high-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| My stubborn temper yields with no good grace. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The king himself might look me in the face, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| And yet I would not downward cast mine eye. | 9 | ·····/··· |
| But I confess, dear mother, openly, | 9 | ··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| However proud my haughty spirit swell, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/· |
| When I within thy blessed presence dwell, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Oft am I smit with shy humility. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Is it thy soul, with secret influence, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Thy lofty soul piercing all shows of sense, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| Which soareth, heaven-born, to heaven again? | 9 | ·/˘/··/˘/ |
| Or springs it from sad memories that tell | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| How many a time I caused thy dear heart pain, | 10 | ·/········ |
| Thy gentle heart, that loveth me so well! | 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.