To Angelique I
Now that heaven smiles in favor,Like a mute shall I still languish,--I, who when unhappy, everSang so much about mine anguish?
Till a thousand striplings hauntedBy despair, my notes re-fluted,And unto the woe I chanted,Greater evils still imputed.
Oh ye nightingales' sweet choir,That my bosom holds in capture,Lift your joyous voices higher,Let the whole world hear your rapture!
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- languish v. i.
- To cause to dr Shak.
- haunted a.
- Inhabited by, or subject to the visits of, apparitions; frequented by a ghost.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Angelique 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, To Angelique I, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/to-angelique-i.html, id L15432.
Form and metre
To Angelique I is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 12 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 favor · languishA · ever · anguishA
- 2 -A-A haunted · flutedA · chanted · imputedA
- 3 ABAB choirA · captureB · higherA · raptureB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now that heaven smiles in favor, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Like a mute shall I still languish,-- | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I, who when unhappy, ever | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Sang so much about mine anguish? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Till a thousand striplings haunted | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| By despair, my notes re-fluted, | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| And unto the woe I chanted, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Greater evils still imputed. | 8 | /˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Oh ye nightingales' sweet choir, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| That my bosom holds in capture, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Lift your joyous voices higher, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| Let the whole world hear your rapture! | 8 | ······/˘ |
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.