Analysis of The Dance
Friedrich Schiller 1759 (Marbach am Neckar) – 1805 (Weimar)
See how, like lightest waves at play, the airy dancers fleet;
And scarcely feels the floor the wings of those harmonious feet.
Ob, are they flying shadows from their native forms set free?
Or phantoms in the fairy ring that summer moonbeams see?
As, by the gentle zephyr blown, some light mist flees in air,
As skiffs that skim adown the tide, when silver waves are fair,
So sports the docile footstep to the heave of that sweet measure,
As music wafts the form aloft at its melodious pleasure,
Now breaking through the woven chain of the entangled dance,
From where the ranks the thickest press, a bolder pair advance,
The path they leave behind them lost--wide open the path beyond,
The way unfolds or closes up as by a magic wand.
See now, they vanish from the gaze in wild confusion blended;
All, in sweet chaos whirled again, that gentle world is ended!
No!--disentangled glides the knot, the gay disorder ranges--
The only system ruling here, a grace that ever changes.
For ay destroyed--for ay renewed, whirls on that fair creation;
And yet one peaceful law can still pervade in each mutation.
And what can to the reeling maze breathe harmony and vigor,
And give an order and repose to every gliding figure?
That each a ruler to himself doth but himself obey,
Yet through the hurrying course still keeps his own appointed way.
What, would'st thou know? It is in truth the mighty power of tune,
A power that every step obeys, as tides obey the moon;
That threadeth with a golden clue the intricate employment,
Curbs bounding strength to tranquil grace, and tames the wild enjoyment.
And comes the world's wide harmony in vain upon thine ears?
The stream of music borne aloft from yonder choral spheres?
And feel'st thou not the measure which eternal Nature keeps?
The whirling dance forever held in yonder azure deeps?
The suns that wheel in varying maze?--That music thou discernest?
No! Thou canst honor that in sport which thou forgettest in earnest.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIDDJJKKLLMMNEAO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110111010101 010101011101001 1111011110111 1100010111011 11010101111101 1111101110111 11010110111110 1101010111010010 11010101100101 11010101010101 011101111100101 01011101110101 111101010101010 101101011101110 111010101010 010101010111010 110111011111010 011101110101010 011101011100010 0111000111001010 11010101110101 110100111110101 1111111010101011 0101100101110101 11101010100010 110111010101010 01011100010111 01110101110101 011110101010101 01010101010101 01110100111011 11110101111010 |
Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
Characters | 1,937 |
Words | 345 |
Sentences | 21 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 32 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 49 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,555 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 342 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 18, 2023
- 1:44 min read
- 62 Views
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"The Dance" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14375/the-dance>.
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