From the German of Uhland
Three students once tarried over the Rhine,And into Frau Wirthin's turned to dine.
"Say, hostess, have you good beer and wine?And where is that pretty daughter of thine?"
"My beer and wine is fresh and clear.My daughter lies on her funeral bier."
They softly tipped into the room;She lay there in the silent gloom.
The first the white cloth gently raised,And tearfully upon her gazed.
"If thou wert alive, O, lovely maid,My heart at thy feet would to-day be laid!"
The second covered her face again,And turned away with grief and pain.
"Ah, thou upon thy snow-white bier!And I have loved thee so many a year."
The third drew back again the veil,And kissed the lips so cold and pale.
"I've loved thee always, I love thee to-day,And will love thee, yes, forever and aye!"
Words in this poem
- frau n.
- In Germany, a woman; a married woman; a wife; -- as a title, equivalent to Mrs., Madam.
- dine v. i.
- To eat the principal regular meal of the day; to take dinner. [F. dîner, OF. disner, LL. disnare, contr. fr. an assumed disjunare; dis- + an assumed junare (OF. juner) to fast, for L. jejunare, fr. jejunus fasting. See Jeju]
- hostess n.
- A female host; a woman who hospitably entertains guests at her house. [OE. hostesse, ostesse. See Host a landlord.]
- bier n.
- A handbarrow or portable frame on which a corpse is placed or borne to the grave. [OE. bæe, beere, AS. b, b; akin to D. baar, OHG. bara, G. bahre, Icel barar, Dbaare, L. feretrum, Gr. , from the same bear to produce. See 1st Bear, and cf. Barr]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From the German of Uhland is in the public domain. This text is taken from Fifty Years, & Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17884; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: James Weldon Johnson, From the German of Uhland, in Fifty Years and Other Poems (1917), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17884, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/johnson-fifty-years/from-the-german-of-uhland.html, id L08302.
Form and metre
From the German of Uhland is 20 lines in 10 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 90% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.7 syllables.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AA rhineA · dineA
- 2 AA wineA · thineA
- 3 AA clearA · bierA
- 4 AA roomA · gloomA
- 5 AA raisedA · gazedA
- 6 AA maidA · laidA
- 7 AA againA · painA
- 8 AA bierA · yearA
- 9 AA veilA · paleA
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Three students once tarried over the Rhine, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And into Frau Wirthin's turned to dine. | 9 | ········· |
| "Say, hostess, have you good beer and wine? | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And where is that pretty daughter of thine?" | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| "My beer and wine is fresh and clear. | 8 | ········ |
| My daughter lies on her funeral bier." | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| They softly tipped into the room; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| She lay there in the silent gloom. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The first the white cloth gently raised, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And tearfully upon her gazed. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| "If thou wert alive, O, lovely maid, | 9 | ···˘/·/˘· |
| My heart at thy feet would to-day be laid!" | 10 | ·········· |
| The second covered her face again, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··˘/ |
| And turned away with grief and pain. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| "Ah, thou upon thy snow-white bier! | 8 | ········ |
| And I have loved thee so many a year." | 9 | ······/·· |
| The third drew back again the veil, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And kissed the lips so cold and pale. | 8 | ········ |
| "I've loved thee always, I love thee to-day, | 10 | ···/······ |
| And will love thee, yes, forever and aye!" | 10 | ·····˘/˘·· |
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.