Analysis of The Reckoning
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)
LET no cares now hover o'er us
Let the wine unsparing run!
Wilt thou swell our merry chorus?
Hast thou all thy duty done?
Two young folks--the thing is curious--
Loved each other; yesterday
Both quite mild, to-day quite furious,
Next day, quite the deuce to pay!
If her neck she there was stooping,
He must here needs pull his hair.
I revived their spirits drooping,
And they're now a happy pair.
Surely we for wine may languish!
Let the bumper then go round!
For all sighs and groans of anguish
Thou to-day in joy hast drown'd.
Why, young orphan, all this wailing?
"Would to heaven that I were dead!
For my guardian's craft prevailing
Soon will make me beg my bread."
Knowing well the rascal genus,
Into court I dragg'd the knave;
Fair the judges were between us,
And the maiden's wealth did save.
Surely we for wine may languish!
Let the bumper then go round!
For all sighs and groans of anguish
Thou to-day in joy hast drown'd.
To a little fellow, quiet,
Unpretending and subdued,
Has a big clown, running riot,
Been to-day extremely rude.
I bethought me of my duty,
And my courage swell'd apace,
So I spoil'd the rascal's beauty,
Slashing him across the face.
Surely we for wine may languish!
Let the bumper then go round!
For all sighs and groans of anguish
Thou to-day in joy hast drown'd.
Brief must be my explanation,
For I really have done nought.
Free from trouble and vexation,
I a landlord's business bought.
There I've done, with all due ardour,
All that duty order'd me;
Each one ask'd me for the larder,
And there was no scarcity.
Surely we for wine may languish!
Let the bumper then go round!
For all sighs and groans of anguish
Thou to-day in joy hast drown'd.
Each should thus make proclamation
Of what he did well to-day!
That's the match whose conflagration
Should inflame our tuneful lay.
Let it be our precept ever
To admit no waverer here!
For to act the good endeavour,
None but rascals meek appear.
Surely we for wine may languish!
Let the bumper then go round!
For all sighs and groans of anguish
We have now in rapture drown'd.
Let each merry minstrel enter,
He's right welcome to our hall!
'Tis but with the selfÄtormentor
That we are not liberal;
For we fear that his caprices,
That his eye-brows dark and sad,
That his grief that never ceases
Hide an empty heart, or bad.
No one now for wine shall languish!
Here no minstrel shall be found,
Who all sighs and groans of anguish,
Has not first in rapture drown'd!
Scheme | a ba b a ca cd ed e F GF G d hd ha ia i F GF G j kj kl ml m F GF G b cb xe ln l F GF G b cb cn xn x F GF g n xn x x ox o f gf g |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111110101 1010101 111101010 1111101 111011100 111010 111111100 1110111 10111110 1111111 10111010 0110101 10111110 1010111 11101110 1110111 11101110 11101101 111001010 1111111 10101010 0111101 10100011 001111 10111110 1010111 11101110 1110111 10101010 1001 10111010 1110101 1111110 0110101 1110110 1010101 10111110 1010111 11101110 1110111 1111010 1110111 111001 101101 1111111 1110101 11111010 0111100 10111110 1010111 11101110 1110111 1111010 1111111 1011010 10110101 11110110 101111 11101010 1110101 10111110 1010111 11101110 1110101 11101010 11101101 1110110 1111100 11111010 1111101 11111010 1110111 11111110 1110111 11101110 1110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 2,456 |
Words | 460 |
Sentences | 52 |
Stanzas | 52 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1 |
Lines Amount | 76 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 36 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 9 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:23 min read
- 63 Views
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"The Reckoning" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21863/the-reckoning>.
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