Storm
The tempest is raging.It lashes the waves,And the waves foaming and rearing in wrathTower on high, and the white mountains of waterSurge as though they were alive,While the little ship over-climbs themWith laborious haste,And suddenly plunges downInto the black, wide-yawning abyss of the tide.
O sea.Thou mother of beauty, of the foam-engendered one,Grandmother of love, spare me!Already scenting death, flutters around meThe white, ghostly sea-mew,And whets his beak on the mast.And hungers with glutton-greed for the heartWhich resounds with the glory of thy daughter,And which the little rogue, thy grandson,Hath chosen for his play-ground.
In vain are my prayers and entreaties,My cry dies away in the rushing storm,In the battle-tumult of the winds.They roar and whistle and crackle and howlLike a bedlam of tones.And amidst them, distinctly I hearAlluring notes of harps,Heart-melting, heart-rending,And I recognize the voice.
Far away on the rocky Scotch coast,Where the little gray castle juts outOver the breaking waves,--There at the lofty-arched windowStands a beautiful suffering woman,Transparently delicate, and pale as marble.And she plays on the harp, and she sings,And the wind stirs her flowing locks,And wafts her melancholy songOver the wide, stormy sea.
Words in this poem
- ghostly a.
- Relating to the soul; not carnal or secular; spiritual; as, a ghostly confessor. [OE. gastlich, gostlich, AS. gastlic. See Ghost.]
- bedlam n.
- A place appropriated to the confinement and care of the insane; a madhouse. Abp. Tillotson. [See Bethlehem.]
- amidst prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Storm 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, Storm, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/storm.html, id L15454.
Form and metre
Storm is 38 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 78% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% 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.
- 2 ABAA----B- seaA · oneB · meA · meA · mew · mast · heart · daughter · grandsonB · ground
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The tempest is raging. | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| It lashes the waves, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| And the waves foaming and rearing in wrath | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| Tower on high, and the white mountains of water | 11 | /·····/˘·/˘ |
| Surge as though they were alive, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| While the little ship over-climbs them | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| With laborious haste, | 6 | ·˘/˘˘· |
| And suddenly plunges down | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| Into the black, wide-yawning abyss of the tide. | 12 | ·····/˘˘/··· |
| O sea. | 2 | ·· |
| Thou mother of beauty, of the foam-engendered one, | 13 | ·/˘·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Grandmother of love, spare me! | 7 | /·˘···· |
| Already scenting death, flutters around me | 11 | ˘/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| The white, ghostly sea-mew, | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And whets his beak on the mast. | 7 | ······· |
| And hungers with glutton-greed for the heart | 10 | ·/˘·/˘···· |
| Which resounds with the glory of thy daughter, | 11 | ··/··/˘··/˘ |
| And which the little rogue, thy grandson, | 9 | ···/˘··/· |
| Hath chosen for his play-ground. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| In vain are my prayers and entreaties, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| My cry dies away in the rushing storm, | 10 | ···˘/··/˘· |
| In the battle-tumult of the winds. | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| They roar and whistle and crackle and howl | 10 | ···/˘·/˘·· |
| Like a bedlam of tones. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| And amidst them, distinctly I hear | 9 | ·˘/·˘/˘·· |
| Alluring notes of harps, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Heart-melting, heart-rending, | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| And I recognize the voice. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Far away on the rocky Scotch coast, | 9 | ·˘/··/˘·· |
| Where the little gray castle juts out | 9 | ··/˘·/˘·· |
| Over the breaking waves,-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| There at the lofty-arched window | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Stands a beautiful suffering woman, | 9 | ··/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Transparently delicate, and pale as marble. | 10 | ˘/˘/˘···/˘ |
| And she plays on the harp, and she sings, | 9 | ········· |
| And the wind stirs her flowing locks, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And wafts her melancholy song | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| Over the wide, stormy sea. | 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.