Analysis of The Dance Of Death
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)
THE warder looks down at the mid hour of night,
On the tombs that lie scatter'd below:
The moon fills the place with her silvery light,
And the churchyard like day seems to glow.
When see! first one grave, then another opes wide,
And women and men stepping forth are descried,
In cerements snow-white and trailing.
In haste for the sport soon their ankles they twitch,
And whirl round in dances so gay;
The young and the old, and the poor, and the rich,
But the cerements stand in their way;
And as modesty cannot avail them aught here,
They shake themselves all, and the shrouds soon appear
Scatter'd over the tombs in confusion.
Now waggles the leg, and now wriggles the thigh,
As the troop with strange gestures advance,
And a rattle and clatter anon rises high,
As of one beating time to the dance.
The sight to the warder seems wondrously queer,
When the villainous Tempter speaks thus in his ear:
"Seize one of the shrouds that lie yonder!"
Quick as thought it was done! and for safety he fled
Behind the church-door with all speed;
The moon still continues her clear light to shed
On the dance that they fearfully lead.
But the dancers at length disappear one by one,
And their shrouds, ere they vanish, they carefully don,
And under the turf all is quiet.
But one of them stumbles and shuffles there still,
And gropes at the graves in despair;
Yet 'tis by no comrade he's treated so ill
The shroud he soon scents in the air.
So he rattles the door--for the warder 'tis well
That 'tis bless'd, and so able the foe to repel,
All cover'd with crosses in metal.
The shroud he must have, and no rest will allow,
There remains for reflection no time;
On the ornaments Gothic the wight seizes now,
And from point on to point hastes to climb.
Alas for the warder! his doom is decreed!
Like a long-legged spider, with ne'er-changing speed,
Advances the dreaded pursuer.
The warder he quakes, and the warder turns pale,
The shroud to restore fain had sought;
When the end,--now can nothing to save him avail,--
In a tooth formed of iron is caught.
With vanishing lustre the moon's race is run,
When the bell thunders loudly a powerful One,
And the skeleton fails, crush'd to atoms.
Scheme | ABAB XAX CDCD EFG HIHI FEJ KLKK GXX MNMN OOX PQPQ LLJ RXRX GGX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010111011011 101111001 01101101001 00111111 11111101011 0100110111 0111010 01101111011 01101011 01001001001 1011011 011001001111 11011001101 1010010010 110101101 101111001 00100101101 111101101 011010111 10100111011 111011110 111111011011 01011111 01101001111 1011111 10101101111 011111011001 010011110 11111001011 01101001 1111111011 01111001 111001101011 111011001101 110110010 01111011101 101101011 101001001101 011111111 01101011101 101101011101 010010010 01011001011 01101111 101111011101 001111011 11001001111 101101001001 0010011110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,139 |
Words | 400 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 14 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 4, 3 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 122 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 28 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 02, 2023
- 2:02 min read
- 487 Views
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"The Dance Of Death" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21806/the-dance-of-death>.
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