Analysis of The Treasure Digger
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)
ALL my weary days I pass'd
Sick at heart and poor in purse.
Poverty's the greatest curse,
Riches are the highest good!
And to end my woes at last,
Treasure-seeking forth I sped.
"Thou shalt have my soul instead!"
Thus I wrote, and with my blood.
Ring round ring I forthwith drew,
Wondrous flames collected there,
Herbs and bones in order fair,
Till the charm had work'd aright.
Then, to learned precepts true,
Dug to find some treasure old,
In the place my art foretold
Black and stormy was the night.
Coming o'er the distant plain,
With the glimmer of a star,
Soon I saw a light afar,
As the hour of midnight knell'd.
Preparation was in vain.
Sudden all was lighted up
With the lustre of a cup
That a beauteous boy upheld.
Sweetly seem'd his eves to laugh
Neath his flow'ry chaplet's load;
With the drink that brightly glow'd,
He the circle enter'd in.
And he kindly bade me quaff:
Then methought "This child can ne'er,
With his gift so bright and fair,
To the arch-fiend be akin."
"Pure life's courage drink!" cried he:
"This advice to prize then learn,--
Never to this place return
Trusting in thy spells absurd;
Dig no longer fruitlessly.
Guests by night, and toil by day!
Weeks laborious, feast-days gay!
Be thy future magic-word!
Scheme | A B B XA C C X D E E AD F F X G H H AG I I X J K K LJ E E L MN N OM P P O |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (28%) |
Metre | 1110111 1110101 10101 1010101 0111111 1010111 1111101 1110111 1111111 1010101 1010101 101111 11111 1111101 0011101 1010101 10100101 1010101 1110101 1010111 010101 1011101 1010101 101101 1011111 11111 1011101 1010100 0110111 111111 1111101 1011101 1110111 1011111 1011101 1001101 1110100 1110111 10100111 1110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,214 |
Words | 227 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 34 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 28 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 7 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 87 Views
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"The Treasure Digger" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21876/the-treasure-digger>.
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