Jay Baker
Heinrich Heine
Leaning against the Mast by: Heinrich Heine
Leaning against the mast, on the upper deck,
I stood, and heard the song of the bird.
Like dark-green horses with silver manes
Leapt up the white-curled waves;
Like skeins of swans navigated past
With shimmering sails, the Heliogolanders,
The daring nomads of the North Sea.
Above me, in the eternal blue,
Hovered white cloud
And blazed the eternal sun,
The rose of heaven, the fiery blossomer,
That joyfully mirrored itself in the sea;
And sky and sea and my own heart
Reverberated in echo:
"She loves him! She loves him!"
From The North Sea, by Heinrich Heine
Translated by Vernon Watkins
Poem found on: Poetryfoundation.org
Image Connected to the Poem:
Facts About The Poet:
Analysis:
Paraphrasing:
The speaker is on a boat sailing, he notices all his surrounding and how they bring him to peace. He is a nomad of the sea, enjoying every moment of him sailing, the sea loves him.
The Speaker:
The speaker in this poem is a sailor who loves his life at sea. The speaker notices every little detail about his surroundings on the sea, like the movement of the waves and the colors of the sunset.
Figurative Language:
Within this Poem Heine uses lots of figurative language, for example in lines 3-4 the speaker says, "Like dark-green horses with silver manes leapt up the white-curled waves;" Heine used personification to describe the sea and how it has physical actions just like horses. Another example of figurative language Heine uses is in line 5 the speaker says, "Like skeins of swans navigated past..." This line is used to describe the clouds that look like swans made of yarn flying past the speaker as he sails. In line 11 Heine compares the sun setting to a rose blooming, "The rose of heaven, the fiery blossomer," This line is supposed to represent how the sun arrives just the same as how a rose blooms in the spring time.
Form:
Within this poem the line choices that Heine makes are interesting because sometimes the lines separate randomly within the sentence and sometimes they separate by commas. This is odd for readers because they have to pause when there is a comma or randomly start reading a new line in the middle of the sentence.
Tone:
The tone of this poem is reflective. Heine is reflecting on his days on the sea by giving the readers a description of his surroundings while he was sailing for example when he says, "Like dark-green horses with silver manes leapt up the white-curled waves;" This was Heine giving very descriptive examples of what his life was like while he was a sailor.
Theme:
The theme of "Leaning Against the Mast" is to take in your surrounding and when you may be feeling down, reflect on what gives you happiness.
Poem found on: Poetryfoundation.org
Image Connected to the Poem:
Facts About The Poet:
- Heinrich Heine was born into a Jewish family in Dusseldorf, Germany in 1797.
- Due to anti-Jewish laws in Germany he was forced to convert to Protestantism to get a job.
- Because of the anti-Semitic state, his poetry is seen as beginning of the post-Romantic era, wherein art was seen as insufficient to overcome the traumas of modernity.
- Heine’s poetry draws on Romantic figurative language, but discovers again and again how such conventions are in fatal tension with reality.
- After the French revolution he moved to Paris, attracted by the French utopian philosopher Saint-Simon.
Analysis:
Paraphrasing:
The speaker is on a boat sailing, he notices all his surrounding and how they bring him to peace. He is a nomad of the sea, enjoying every moment of him sailing, the sea loves him.
The Speaker:
The speaker in this poem is a sailor who loves his life at sea. The speaker notices every little detail about his surroundings on the sea, like the movement of the waves and the colors of the sunset.
Figurative Language:
Within this Poem Heine uses lots of figurative language, for example in lines 3-4 the speaker says, "Like dark-green horses with silver manes leapt up the white-curled waves;" Heine used personification to describe the sea and how it has physical actions just like horses. Another example of figurative language Heine uses is in line 5 the speaker says, "Like skeins of swans navigated past..." This line is used to describe the clouds that look like swans made of yarn flying past the speaker as he sails. In line 11 Heine compares the sun setting to a rose blooming, "The rose of heaven, the fiery blossomer," This line is supposed to represent how the sun arrives just the same as how a rose blooms in the spring time.
Form:
Within this poem the line choices that Heine makes are interesting because sometimes the lines separate randomly within the sentence and sometimes they separate by commas. This is odd for readers because they have to pause when there is a comma or randomly start reading a new line in the middle of the sentence.
Tone:
The tone of this poem is reflective. Heine is reflecting on his days on the sea by giving the readers a description of his surroundings while he was sailing for example when he says, "Like dark-green horses with silver manes leapt up the white-curled waves;" This was Heine giving very descriptive examples of what his life was like while he was a sailor.
Theme:
The theme of "Leaning Against the Mast" is to take in your surrounding and when you may be feeling down, reflect on what gives you happiness.
In the poem "Leaning against the Mast" by Heinrich Heine the tone of the poem is very joyful and adventurous. This leads me to think that the true meaning of the poem is how a sailors life at sea is eternal and daring. In the quote "The daring nomads of the North Sea," it is shown that as a sailor you having to be daring enough and brave enough to face other cruel sailors at sea. In the quote "Above me the eternal blue...and blazed the eternal sun," it is given how life as a sailor feels long and eternal, since everything in nature is never ending. So due to these quotes it is proven that the true meaning of this poem was to portray how long and brave a sailors life really is.
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