The Vale of Tears
The night wind through the crannies pipes,And in the garret lieTwo wretched creatures on the straw,As gaunt as poverty.
And one poor creature speaks and says,"Embrace me with thine arm,And press thy mouth against my mouth,Thy breath will keep me warm."
The other starveling speaks and says,"When I look into thine eyesPain, cold and hunger disappear,And all my miseries."
They kissed full oft, still more they wept,Clasped hands, sighed deep and fast;They often laughed, they even sang,And both were still at last.
With morning came the coroner,And brought a worthy leech,On either corpse to certifyThe cause of death of each.
The nipping weather, he affirmed,Had finished the deceased.Their empty stomachs also caused,Or hastened death at last.
He added that when frost sets in'Tis needful that the bloodBe warmed with flannels; one should have,Moreover, wholesome food.
Words in this poem
- garret n.
- A turret; a watchtower. [OE. garite, garette, watchtower, place of lookout, OF. garite, also meaning, a place of refuge, F. guérite a place of refuge, donjon, sentinel box, fr. OF. gari]
- gaunt a.
- Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim. [Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin man, and W. gwan weak.]
- starveling n.
- One who, or that which, pines from lack or food, or nutriment. [Starve + -ling.]
- corpse n.
- A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
- certify v. t.
- To give cetain information to; to assure; to make certain. [F. certifier, LL. certificare; L. certus certain + facere to make. See Certain, and cf. Certificate, v. t.]
- needful a.
- Full of need; in need or want; needy; distressing.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Vale of Tears 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, The Vale of Tears, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/the-vale-of-tears.html, id L15324.
Form and metre
The Vale of Tears is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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.
- 3 AA-A saysA · eyesA · disappear · miseriesA
- 4 -A-A wept · fastA · sang · lastA
- 5 -A-A coroner · leechA · certify · eachA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The night wind through the crannies pipes, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And in the garret lie | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Two wretched creatures on the straw, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| As gaunt as poverty. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| And one poor creature speaks and says, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| "Embrace me with thine arm, | 6 | ˘/···· |
| And press thy mouth against my mouth, | 8 | ········ |
| Thy breath will keep me warm." | 6 | ······ |
| The other starveling speaks and says, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| "When I look into thine eyes | 7 | ······· |
| Pain, cold and hunger disappear, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And all my miseries." | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| They kissed full oft, still more they wept, | 8 | ········ |
| Clasped hands, sighed deep and fast; | 8 | ·˘··˘··· |
| They often laughed, they even sang, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And both were still at last. | 6 | ······ |
| With morning came the coroner, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| And brought a worthy leech, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| On either corpse to certify | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The cause of death of each. | 6 | ······ |
| The nipping weather, he affirmed, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Had finished the deceased. | 8 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| Their empty stomachs also caused, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Or hastened death at last. | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| He added that when frost sets in | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| 'Tis needful that the blood | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Be warmed with flannels; one should have, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Moreover, wholesome food. | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
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.