Analysis of Winter Journey Over The Hartz Mountain
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)
LIKE the vulture
Who on heavy morning clouds
With gentle wing reposing
Looks for his prey,--
Hover, my song!
For a God hath
Unto each prescribed
His destined path,
Which the happy one
Runs o'er swiftly
To his glad goal:
He whose heart cruel
Fate hath contracted,
Struggles but vainly
Against all the barriers
The brazen thread raises,
But which the harsh shears
Must one day sever.
Through gloomy thickets
Presseth the wild deer on,
And with the sparrows
Long have the wealthy
Settled themselves in the marsh.
Easy 'tis following the chariot
That by Fortune is driven,
Like the baggage that moves
Over well-mended highways
After the train of a prince.
But who stands there apart?
In the thicket, lost is his path;
Behind him the bushes
Are closing together,
The grass springs up again,
The desert engulphs him.
Ah, who'll heal his afflictions,
To whom balsam was poison,
Who, from love's fullness,
Drank in misanthropy only?
First despised, and now a despiser,
He, in secret, wasteth
All that he is worth,
In a selfishness vain.
If there be, on thy psaltery,
Father of Love, but one tone
That to his ear may be pleasing,
Oh, then, quicken his heart!
Clear his cloud-enveloped eyes
Over the thousand fountains
Close by the thirsty one
In the desert.
Thou who createst much joy,
For each a measure o'erflowing,
Bless the sons of the chase
When on the track of the prey,
With a wild thirsting for blood,
Youthful and joyous
Avenging late the injustice
Which the peasant resisted
Vainly for years with his staff.
But the lonely one veil
Within thy gold clouds!
Surround with winter-green,
Until the roses bloom again,
The humid locks,
Oh Love, of thy minstrel!
With thy glimmering torch
Lightest thou him
Through the fords when 'tis night,
Over bottomless places
On desert-like plains;
With the thousand colours of morning
Gladd'nest his bosom;
With the fierce-biting storm
Bearest him proudly on high;
Winter torrents rush from the cliffs,--
Blend with his psalms;
An altar of grateful delight
He finds in the much-dreaded mountain's
Snow-begirded summit,
Which foreboding nations
Crown'd with spirit-dances.
Thou stand'st with breast inscrutable,
Mysteriously disclosed,
High o'er the wondering world,
And look'st from clouds
Upon its realms and its majesty,
Which thou from the veins of thy brethren
Near thee dost water.
Scheme | ABCDC EXEFGXHIGXJXA XXXGX KFXXX LEJAMN OFPGAEXXAXCLXOFX XCXDIPXXX XBXMXH XNQJXCXXXXXQOKOJ HXXBGFA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1010 1110101 11011 1111 1011 1011 10101 1101 10101 11010 1111 11110 11100 10110 0110100 010110 11011 11110 11010 10111 01010 11010 1001001 1011000100 1110110 101011 101101 1001101 111101 00101111 011010 110010 011101 01011 1111010 1110110 11110 10110 1010101 10101 11111 001001 111111 1011111 11111110 111011 1110101 1001010 110101 0010 11111 110101 101101 1101101 101111 10010 01010010 1010010 1011111 101011 01111 011101 01010101 0101 111110 111001 1011 101111 1010010 11011 10101110 11110 101101 111011 10101101 1111 11011001 110011010 1110 101010 111010 111110100 100001 11001001 01111 011101100 111011110 11110 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 2,241 |
Words | 392 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 13, 5, 5, 6, 16, 9, 6, 16, 7 |
Lines Amount | 88 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 185 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 39 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:00 min read
- 145 Views
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"Winter Journey Over The Hartz Mountain" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21929/winter-journey-over-the-hartz-mountain>.
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