To Angelique VI
I closed my sweetheart's either eye,And on her mouth I kissed,Now asking me the reason whyShe never gives me rest.
From set of sun till morning rise,Each hour does she persist,'Oh wherefore did you close mine eyes,When on my mouth you kissed?"
I never yet have told her why,Myself I scarcely wist.I closed my sweetheart's either eye,And on her mouth I kissed.
Words in this poem
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Angelique VI 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 VI, in Poems and Ballads (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #31726, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/heine-poems-ballads/to-angelique-vi.html, id L15437.
Form and metre
To Angelique VI is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 3 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 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.
- 1 A-A- eyeA · kissed · whyA · rest
- 2 ABAB riseA · persistB · eyesA · kissedB
- 3 ABAB whyA · wistB · eyeA · kissedB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I closed my sweetheart's either eye, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| And on her mouth I kissed, | 7 | ······˘ |
| Now asking me the reason why | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| She never gives me rest. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| From set of sun till morning rise, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Each hour does she persist, | 7 | ·/˘··˘/ |
| 'Oh wherefore did you close mine eyes, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| When on my mouth you kissed?" | 7 | ······˘ |
| I never yet have told her why, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Myself I scarcely wist. | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| I closed my sweetheart's either eye, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| And on her mouth I kissed. | 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.