Analysis of Mahomet's Song
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)
SEE the rock-born stream!
Like the gleam
Of a star so bright
Kindly spirits
High above the clouds
Nourished him while youthful
In the copse between the cliffs.
Young and fresh.
From the clouds he danceth
Down upon the marble rocks;
Then tow'rd heaven
Leaps exulting.
Through the mountain-passes
Chaseth he the colour'd pebbles,
And, advancing like a chief,
Tears his brother streamlets with him
In his course.
In the valley down below
'Neath his footsteps spring the flowers,
And the meadow
In his breath finds life.
Yet no shady vale can stay him,
Nor can flowers,
Round his knees all-softly twining
With their loving eyes detain him;
To the plain his course he taketh,
Serpent-winding,
Social streamlets
Join his waters. And now moves he
O'er the plain in silv'ry glory,
And the plain in him exults,
And the rivers from the plain,
And the streamlets from the mountain,
Shout with joy, exclaiming: "Brother,
Brother, take thy brethren with thee,
With thee to thine aged father,
To the everlasting ocean,
Who, with arms outstretching far,
Waiteth for us;
Ah, in vain those arms lie open
To embrace his yearning children;
For the thirsty sand consumes us
In the desert waste; the sunbeams
Drink our life-blood; hills around us
Into lakes would dam us! Brother,
Take thy brethren of the plain,
Take thy brethren of the mountain
With thee, to thy father's arms!
Let all come, then!--
And now swells he
Lordlier still; yea, e'en a people
Bears his regal flood on high!
And in triumph onward rolling,
Names to countries gives he,--cities
Spring to light beneath his foot.
Ever, ever, on he rushes,
Leaves the towers' flame-tipp'd summits,
Marble palaces, the offspring
Of his fullness, far behind.
Cedar-houses bears the Atlas
On his giant shoulders; flutt'ring
In the breeze far, far above him
Thousand flags are gaily floating,
Bearing witness to his might.
And so beareth he his brethren,
All his treasures, all his children,
Wildly shouting, to the bosom
Of his long-expectant sire.
Scheme | AABCXDX XEXFG HXXIX JKJX IKGIEG CLLXMFNENFXOFFOCONMFX XLDXGXX HCGX OGIGB FFXN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10111 101 10111 1010 10101 101110 0010101 101 10111 1010101 1110 1010 101010 1101010 0010101 1110111 011 0010101 1111010 001 01111 11101111 1110 11111010 11101011 10111110 1010 101 11100111 10010110 0010101 0010101 0011010 11101010 10111011 1111110 1001010 11111 111 10111110 10111010 10101011 0010101 110111011 01111110 1110101 11101010 1111101 1111 0111 11111010 1110111 00101010 11101110 1110111 10101110 10101110 1010001 1110101 10101010 1110101 00111011 10111010 1010111 0111110 11101110 10101010 11101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,922 |
Words | 338 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 10 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 5, 5, 4, 6, 21, 7, 4, 5, 4 |
Lines Amount | 68 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 156 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 88 Views
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"Mahomet's Song" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 1 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21716/mahomet%27s-song>.
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