Analysis of Book Of Proverbs

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



CALL on the present day and night for nought,
Save what by yesterday was brought.
-----
THE sea is flowing ever,
The land retains it never.
-----
BE stirring, man, while yet the day is clear;
The night when none can work fast Draweth near.
-----
WHEN the heavy-laden sigh,
Deeming help and hope gone by,
Oft, with healing power is heard,
Comfort-fraught, a kindly word.
-----
How vast is mine inheritance, how glorious and sublime!
For time mine own possession is, the land I till is time!
-----
UNWARY saith,--ne'er lived a man more true;
The deepest heart, the highest head he knew,--
"In ev'ry place and time thou'lt find availing
Uprightness, judgment, kindliness unfailing."
-----
THOUGH the bards whom the Orient sun bath bless'd
Are greater than we who dwell in the west,
Yet in hatred of those whom our equals we find.
In this we're not in the least behind.
-----

WOULD we let our envy burst,
Feed its hunger fully first!
To keep our proper place,
 We'll show our bristles more;
With hawks men all things chase,
 Except the savage boar.
-----
BY those who themselves more bravely have fought
A hero's praise will be joyfully told.
The worth of man can only be taught
By those who have suffer'd both heat and cold.
-----
"WHEREFORE is truth so far from our eyes,
Buried as though in a distant land?"
None at the proper moment are wise!

Could they properly understand,
Truth would appear in her own sweet guise,
Beauteous, gentle, and close at hand.
-----
WHY these inquiries make,
Where charity may flow?
Cast in the flood thy cake,--
Its eater, who will know?
-----
ONCE when I a spider had kill'd,
Then methought: wast right or wrong?
That we both to these times should belong,
This had God in His goodness willed.
-----
MOTLEY this congregation is, for, lo!
At the communion kneel both friend and foe.
-----
IF the country I'm to show,
Thou must on the housetop go.
-----
A MAN with households twain
Ne'er finds attention meet,
A house wherein two women reign
Is ne'er kept clean and neat.
-----
BLESS, thou dread Creator,
Bless this humble fane;
Man may build them greater,--
More they'll not contain.
-----
LET this house's glory rise,
Handed to far ages down,
And the son his honour prize.
As the father his renown.
-----
O'ER the Mediterranean sea
Proudly hath the Orient sprung;
Who loves Hafis and knows him, he
Knows what Caldron hath sung.
-----
IF the ass that bore the Saviour
Were to Mecca driven, he
Would not alter, but would be
Still an ass in his behavior.
-----
THE flood of passion storms with fruitless strife
'Gainst the unvanquished solid land.--
It throws poetic pearls upon the strand,
And thus is gain'd the prize of life.
-----
WHEN so many minstrels there are,
How it pains me, alas, to know it!
Who from the earth drives poetry far?
Who but the poet!


Scheme AA BB CC DDAA EE FFGG AAAA AAHIHI AAAA JAJ AJA GKGK AGGA KK KG LALA BLBL JMJM NGNG BNNB OAAO PAPA
Poetic Form
Metre 1101010111 1111011 1 0111010 0101110 1 1101110111 011111111 1 1010101 110111 11101011 1010101 1 111101001100001 11110101011111 1 0101110111 0101010111 01101111 1101010 1 1011010111 1101111001 1010111101011 011100101 1 11110101 1110101 1110101 1110101 111111 010101 1 1110111011 0101111001 011111011 1111101101 1 111111101 101100101 110101011 1110001 110100111 1100111 1 1101001 110011 100111 110111 1 11101011 111111 111111101 11101101 1 101010111 1001011101 1 1010111 111011 1 01111 110101 01011101 111101 1 111010 11101 111110 11101 1 1110101 1011101 001111 1010101 1 100001001 1010101 1110111 11111 1 1011101 0110101 1110111 11101010 1 0111011101 101101 1101010101 01110111 1 11101011 111101111 110111001 11010
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 2,699
Words 509
Sentences 35
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 27, 15, 54
Lines Amount 96
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 689
Words per stanza (avg) 167
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

2:37 min read
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

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