Analysis of Seven-Song of Death
Georg Trakl 1887 (Salzburg) – 1914 (Kraków)
Seven-Song of Death
So dawns the blue face of spring. Beneath the suckling trees
a darkness strays into evening and demise.
The blackbird’s feeble complaint is caught.
The stifled night appears, a wild bleeding,
dirge burrowing deeper into the hillside.
Flowering apple-branches sway in the damp air.
Tangles unhinge their silver,
death rattles over the night’s fluttering eyes, clatter of stars,
the whispered song from the cradle.
Down to the blackened woods the sleeper, arisen, descended,
and the blue spring, it wheezed its way through the valley,
that those bleached eyelids receded
wordlessly over his snow-covered face.
And the moon hunted the red beast
from its cave.
And sighing, it died—the bitter lament of women.
The white stranger, luminous, raised his hands
to the one star.
In silence the dead abandon their ruined tenement.
O the blasted stature of man—forged out of loveless metals,
night and horror in the sunken woods
and the crematory wilderness of beasts,
the windless eye of the soul.
On the blackish barge he embarked down the shimmering currents,
plenary of purple stars, and the branches, budding green,
sank upon him,
poppy born from a silver cloud.
Translated by Eric Plattner
…………………………………………………………………..
Siebengesang des Todes
Bläulich dämmert der Frühling; unter saugenden Bäumen
Wandert ein Dunkles in Abend und Untergang,
Lauschend der sanften Klage der Amsel.
Schweigend erscheint die Nacht, ein blutendes Wild,
Das langsam hinsinkt am Hügel.
In feuchter Luft schwankt blühendes Apfelgezweig,
Löst silbern sich Verschlungenes,
Hinsterbend aus nächtigen Augen; fallende Sterne;
Sanfter Gesang der Kindheit.
Erscheinender stieg der Schläfer den schwarzen Wald hinab,
Und es rauschte ein blauer Quell im Grund,
Daß jener leise die bleichen Lider aufhob
Über sein schneeiges Antlitz;
Und es jagte der Mond ein rotes Tier
Aus seiner Höhle;
Und es starb in Seufzern die dunkle Klage der Frauen.
Strahlender hob die Hände zu seinem Stern
Der weiße Fremdling;
Schweigend verläßt ein Totes das verfallene Haus.
O des Menschen verweste Gestalt: gefügt aus kalten Metallen,
Nacht und Schrecken versunkener Wälder
Und der sengenden Wildnis des Tiers;
Windesstille der Seele.
Auf schwärzlichem Kahn fuhr jener schimmernde Ströme hinab,
Purpurner Sterne voll, und es sank
Friedlich das ergrünte Gezweig auf ihn,
Mohn aus silberner Wolke.
Scheme | X AXBCX DEXF GXGX XXH XXX XXXX XXXX E A HCFXX CAIB JXJA XFH ICX HDXF JXHX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10111 1101111010101 01010110001 010100111 0101010110 1100100101 100101010011 1001110 110100110011011 01011010 110101010010010 001111111010 1111010 11011101 00110011 111 0101101001110 0110100111 1011 01001010110100 101010111111010 101000101 00110011 011101 10111011010010 10011010010101 1011 10110101 01011010 1 111 11111111111 11101011 111111 1111111 1101111 0111111 11111 1111111 1111 111111111 11111111 1111111 1111 11111111 1111 11101110111 11111111 1111 11111111 1111111111 11111001 111111 111 1111111111 111111 1111111 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,387 |
Words | 365 |
Sentences | 22 |
Stanzas | 17 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 4, 4, 1, 2, 5, 4, 4, 3, 3, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 58 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 111 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 10, 2023
- 1:49 min read
- 150 Views
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