Analysis of En-route

Georg Trakl 1887 (Salzburg) – 1914 (Kraków)



A scent of myrrh which roams in the twilight.

Plazas red and desolate sink in fume.

Bazaars circle and a golden ray flows

In old shops queerly and confused.

In the dishwater decay glows; and the wind

Evokes dully the agony of burnt gardens.

The possessed pursue golden dreams.

By windows dryads rest slender and dulcet.

The dream-addicted wander pined over by a wish.

Workers surge shimmering through a gate.

Steel towers glow upward at the edge of the sky.

O fairy tale barred gray in factories!

In the sinisterness an old man trips dollish

And a jingling sound of money laughs lasciviously.

A halo falls on that little girl

Who waits before the coffee house, soft and white.

O golden brilliance which she wakes in panes!

Sun-filled noise roars distantly and ecstatically.

A crooked writer smiles as if crazy

To the horizon which is frightened green by an uproar.

State coaches of crystal move on bridges,

Fruit barrows, hearse black and sallow,

The canal swarms with bright steamboats,

Concerts sound. Green domes drizzle.

Public baths flicker in magic of light,

Execrated streets which one tears down.

A center of epidemics chaotically circles in ether,

A light from forests breaks through ruby dust.

Enchanted an opera house shines in the gray.

From alleys masks flood unforeseen,

And somewhere a fire still blazes furiously.

A small moth dances in the wind-roar.

Lodgings threaten full of squalor and stench.

Viola colors and chords move

Along cellar holes before the hungry.

A sweet child sits dead on a bank.


Scheme A X X X X X X X B X X X B C C A X C D E X C X C A X X X X X C E X X D X
Poetic Form
Metre 011111001 1010100101 0110001011 0111001 001011001 01101001110 00101101 1101110010 0101010110101 101100101 110110101101 1101110100 00111111 001111011 010111101 11010101101 1101011101 1111100100 0101011110 1001011101111 1101101110 1101101 0011111 1011110 1011001011 111111 0101010110010 0111011101 01011011001 1101101 010101101000 011100011 1010111001 01010011 0110101010 01111101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,488
Words 258
Sentences 26
Stanzas 36
Stanza Lengths 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
Lines Amount 36
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 34
Words per stanza (avg) 7
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 19, 2023

1:17 min read
73

Georg Trakl

Georg Trakl was an Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists. more…

All Georg Trakl poems | Georg Trakl Books

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