Analysis of When I Was Still A Youthful Wight

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)



WHEN I was still a youthful wight,

So full of enjoyment and merry,
The painters used to assert, in spite,

That my features were small--yes, very;
Yet then full many a beauteous child
With true affection upon me smil'd.

Now as a greybeard I sit here in state,

By street and by lane held in awe, sirs;
And may be seen, like old Frederick the Great,

On pipebowls, on cups, and on saucers.
Yet the beauteous maidens, they keep afar;
Oh vision of youth! Oh golden star!


Scheme A BA BCC D ED EFF
Poetic Form
Metre 11110101 111010010 010110101 111001110 11110011 110100111 110111101 110111011 0111111001 11110110 101101101 110111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 461
Words 89
Sentences 5
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 59
Words per stanza (avg) 15
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

27 sec read
378

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and politician. more…

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