To A World-Reformer

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



"I Have sacrificed all," thou sayest, "that man I might succor;
      Vain the attempt; my reward was persecution and hate."
    Shall I tell thee, my friend, how I to humor him manage?
      Trust the proverb!  I ne'er have been deceived by it yet.
    Thou canst not sufficiently prize humanity's value;
      Let it be coined in deed as it exists in thy breast.
    E'en to the man whom thou chancest to meet in life's narrow pathway,
      If he should ask it of thee, hold forth a succoring hand.
    But for rain and for dew, for the general welfare of mortals,
      Leave thou Heaven to care, friend, as before, so e'en now.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
37

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGHIJ
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 631
Words 114
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 10

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…

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