The Division Of The Earth

Friedrich Schiller 1759 (Marbach am Neckar) – 1805 (Weimar)



"Take the world!" Zeus exclaimed from his throne in the skies
 To the children of man--"take the world I now give;
It shall ever remain as your heirloom and prize,
 So divide it as brothers, and happily live."

Then all who had hands sought their share to obtain,
 The young and the aged made haste to appear;
The husbandman seized on the fruits of the plain,
 The youth through the forest pursued the fleet deer.

The merchant took all that his warehouse could hold,
 The abbot selected the last year's best wine,
The king barred the bridges,--the highways controlled,
 And said, "Now remember, the tithes shall be mine!"

But when the division long-settled had been,
 The poet drew nigh from a far distant land;
But alas! not a remnant was now to be seen,
 Each thing on the earth owned a master's command.

"Alas! shall then I, of thy sons the most true,--
 Shall I, 'mongst them all, be forgotten alone?"
Thus loudly he cried in his anguish, and threw
 Himself in despair before Jupiter's throne.

"If thou in the region of dreams didst delay,
 Complain not of me," the Immortal replied;
"When the world was apportioned, where then wert thou, pray?"
 "I was," said the poet, "I was--by thy side!"

"Mine eye was then fixed on thy features so bright,
 Mine ear was entranced by thy harmony's power;
Oh, pardon the spirit that, awed by thy light,
 All things of the earth could forget in that hour!"

"What to do?" Zeus exclaimed,--"for the world has been given;
 The harvest, the market, the chase, are not free;
But if thou with me wilt abide in my heaven,
 Whenever thou comest, 'twill be open to thee!"

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

1:28 min read
46

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXAX BCBC DEDE XFXF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,578
Words 301
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Friedrich Schiller

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet philosopher historian and playwright During the last seventeen years of his life Schiller struck up a productive if complicated friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang Goethe with whom he frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics and encouraged Goethe to finish works he left merely as sketches this relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism They also worked together on Die Xenien The Xenies a collection of short but harshly satirical poems in which both Schiller and Goethe verbally attacked those persons they perceived to be enemies of their aesthetic agenda. more…

All Friedrich Schiller poems | Friedrich Schiller Books

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