Spirit Song Over The Waters
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)
THE soul of man
Resembleth water:
From heaven it cometh,
To heaven it soareth.
And then again
To earth descendeth,
Changing ever.
Down from the lofty
Rocky wall
Streams the bright flood,
Then spreadeth gently
In cloudy billows
O'er the smooth rock,
And welcomed kindly,
Veiling, on roams it,
Soft murmuring,
Tow'rd the abyss.
Cliffs projecting
Oppose its progress,--
Angrily foams it
Down to the bottom,
Step by step.
Now, in flat channel,
Through the meadowland steals it,
And in the polish'd lake
Each constellation
Joyously peepeth.
Wind is the loving
Wooer of waters;
Wind blends together
Billows all-foaming.
Spirit of man,
Thou art like unto water!
Fortune of man,
Thou art like unto wind!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 120 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABCCXCB DXXDXXDEFX FXEXX XEXXC FXBF ABAX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic dimeter |
Characters | 669 |
Words | 118 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 7, 10, 5, 5, 4, 4 |
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"Spirit Song Over The Waters" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/21779/spirit-song-over-the-waters>.
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