Punch Song
Four elements, joined inHarmonious strife,Shadow the world forth,And typify life.
Into the gobletThe lemon's juice pour;Acid is everLife's innermost core.
Now, with the sugar'sAll-softening juice,The strength of the acidSo burning reduce.
The bright sparkling waterNow pour in the bowl;Water all-gentlyEncircles the whole.
Let drops of the spiritTo join them now flow;Life to the livingNaught else can bestow.
Drain it off quicklyBefore it exhales;Save when 'tis glowing,The draught naught avails.
Words in this poem
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- typify v. t.
- To represent by an image, form, model, or resemblance. [Type + -fy.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Punch Song is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Schiller — Third period, Project Gutenberg ebook #6796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Friedrich Schiller, Punch Song, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/punch-song.html, id L21831.
Form and metre
Punch Song is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 in · strifeA · forth · lifeA
- 2 -A-A goblet · pourA · ever · coreA
- 3 -A-A sugar's · juiceA · acid · reduceA
- 4 -A-A water · bowlA · gently · wholeA
- 5 -A-A spirit · flowA · living · bestowA
- 6 -A-A quickly · exhalesA · glowing · availsA
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Four elements, joined in | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Harmonious strife, | 5 | ˘/˘˘· |
| Shadow the world forth, | 5 | /···· |
| And typify life. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Into the goblet | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The lemon's juice pour; | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Acid is ever | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Life's innermost core. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Now, with the sugar's | 5 | ···/˘ |
| All-softening juice, | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| The strength of the acid | 6 | ····/˘ |
| So burning reduce. | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| The bright sparkling water | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Now pour in the bowl; | 5 | ····· |
| Water all-gently | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| Encircles the whole. | 5 | ˘/˘·· |
| Let drops of the spirit | 6 | ····/˘ |
| To join them now flow; | 5 | ····· |
| Life to the living | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Naught else can bestow. | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Drain it off quickly | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Before it exhales; | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Save when 'tis glowing, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The draught naught avails. | 5 | ···˘/ |
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.