To Angelique II
Though thou wert fain to pass me quickly,Yet backward didst thou look by chance;Thy wistful lips were frankly parted,Impetuous scorn was in thy glance.
Would that I ne'er had sought to hold thee,To touch thy fleeing gown's white train!The dear mark of thy tiny footprintsWould that I ne'er had found again!
For now thy rare wild charm has vanished,Like others thou art tame to see,Intolerably kind and gentle--Alas! thou art in love with me.
Words in this poem
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- wistful a.
- Longing; wishful; desirous. [For wishful; perhaps influenced by wistly, which is probably corrupted from OE. wisly certainly (from Icel. viss certain, akin to E. wit). See Wish.]
- frankly adv.
- In a frank manner; freely.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Angelique II 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 II, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/to-angelique-ii.html, id L15433.
Form and metre
To Angelique II is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.5 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic 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 quickly · chanceA · parted · glanceA
- 2 -A-A thee · trainA · footprints · againA
- 3 -A-A vanished · seeA · gentle · meA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Though thou wert fain to pass me quickly, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Yet backward didst thou look by chance; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Thy wistful lips were frankly parted, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Impetuous scorn was in thy glance. | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| Would that I ne'er had sought to hold thee, | 9 | ········· |
| To touch thy fleeing gown's white train! | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The dear mark of thy tiny footprints | 9 | ·····/˘/· |
| Would that I ne'er had found again! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| For now thy rare wild charm has vanished, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Like others thou art tame to see, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Intolerably kind and gentle-- | 9 | ˘/˘˘˘··/˘ |
| Alas! thou art in love with me. | 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.