Analysis of The Musagetes
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)
IN the deepest nights of Winter
To the Muses kind oft cried I:
"Not a ray of morn is gleaming,
Not a sign of daylight breaking;
Bring, then, at the fitting moment,
Bring the lamp's soft glimm'ring lustre,
'Stead of Phoebus and Aurora,
To enliven my still labours!"
Yet they left me in my slumbers,
Dull and unrefreshing, lying,
And to each late-waken'd morning
Follow'd days devoid of profit.
When at length return'd the spring-time,
To the nightingales thus spake I:
"Darling nightingales, oh, beat ye
Early, early at my window,--
Wake me from the heavy slumber
That chains down the youth so strongly!"
Yet the love-o'erflowing songsters
Their sweet melodies protracted
Through the night before my window,
Kept awake my loving spirit,
Rousing new and tender yearnings
In my newly-waken'd bosom.
And the night thus fleeted o'er me,
And Aurora found me sleeping,--
Ay, the sun could scarce arouse me.
Now at length is come the Summer,
And the early fly so busy
Draws me from my pleasing slumbers
At the first-born morning-glimmer.
Mercilessly then returns she,
Though the half-aroused one often
Scares her from him with impatience,
And she lures her shameless sisters,
So that from my weary eyelids
Kindly sleep ere long is driven.
From my couch then boldly spring I,
And I seek the darling Muses,
in the beechen-grove I find them,
Full of pieasure to receive me;
And to the tormenting insects
Owe I many a golden hour.
Thus be ye, unwelcome beings,
Highly valued by the poet,
As the flies my numbers tell of.
Scheme | ABCCXAXDDCCE XBFGAFDXGEDXFCF ADDAFHDDDHBDXFDADEX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 00101110 10101111 10111110 1011110 11101010 1011110 11100010 1010111 1111011 10110 0111110 10101110 11101011 101111 101111 10101110 11101010 11101110 10111 11100010 10101110 10111010 10101010 0110110 00111101 00101110 10111011 11111010 00101110 1111101 10111010 10001011 10101110 10111010 01101010 1111101 10111110 11111011 01101010 0011111 1111011 010101 111001010 11101010 10101010 10111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,471 |
Words | 266 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 15, 19 |
Lines Amount | 46 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 394 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 87 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 07, 2023
- 1:21 min read
- 121 Views
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"The Musagetes" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21850/the-musagetes>.
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