The Rebirth of Goethe’s Nosegay

About this poem

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), a German writer, politician, and polymath; a novelist, scientist, and statesman, was also a composer of plays and poetry, his works having an enduring and widespread influence on Western literary, political, and philosophical thought that extends into the present twenty first century. As Goethe, in an expression of the universal metaphysical power of poetry, once declared ostentatiously: “True poetry announces itself thus, that, as a worldly gospel, it can by informal cheerfulness and eternal comfort free us from the earthly burdens which press upon us. ” The alchemical and metaphysical agent for human transformation and a trigger for human individuation, poetry as an art form, serves as a healing balm for the soul, and a source of comfort to the sick and dying. This four-stanza rhymed quatrain poem, “The Rebirth of Goethe’s Nosegay,” is written as a complement to Goethe’s 1749 metaphysical poem, entitled “A Parable.” The opening line of Goethe’s poem reads in English as follows: “I PICKED a rustic nosegay lately…” When expressed in German (Goethe’s native language), the same opening line of the poem, would read as follows: “Ich habe kurzlich einen rustikalen Blumenstrauss gepfluckt…” In English, the word “PICKED” (“gepfluckt”) is all-capitalized, suggesting that that word was likely emphasized by Goethe in the original German manuscript as well. That itself, is an interesting and valuable piece of information. It supports the view of the author’s deliberate construction of an intended ambiguous nature of the poem. In German, the infinitive verb, “gepflugen,” can, semantically, suggest “to cultivate” (“plant,” “grow”) or, alternatively, “to plough” ( “uproot,” “remove” for harvesting; “to pluck”); both senses of the word, conveying metaphorically contrastive meanings that suggest either “to bring to, as a cause to sustain life; or to reap; or to dispose of by consuming.” Thus, at its outset, Goethe’s poem gives the perceptive reader “heads up” about the mysterious, intertwining, and complex nature of life and death, of death and rebirth; all of which provides a vivid image of the parable of life itself. For current readers, Goethe’s poem, concerning the metaphysics of life and death, is introduced here as a prequel, followed by this new poem, composed as a responsive twenty first century sequel to Goethe’s thoughtful eighteenth century poem. more »