Analysis of The Ideals
Friedrich Schiller 1759 (Marbach am Neckar) – 1805 (Weimar)
And wilt thou, faithless one, then, leave me,
With all thy magic phantasy,--
With all the thoughts that joy or grieve me,
Wilt thou with all forever fly?
Can naught delay thine onward motion,
Thou golden time of life's young dream?
In vain! eternity's wide ocean
Ceaselessly drowns thy rolling stream.
The glorious suns my youth enchanting
Have set in never-ending night;
Those blest ideals now are wanting
That swelled my heart with mad delight.
The offspring of my dream hath perished,
My faith in being passed away;
The godlike hopes that once I cherish
Are now reality's sad prey.
As once Pygmalion, fondly yearning,
Embraced the statue formed by him,
Till the cold marble's cheeks were burning,
And life diffused through every limb,
So I, with youthful passion fired,
My longing arms round Nature threw,
Till, clinging to my breast inspired,
She 'gan to breathe, to kindle too.
And all my fiery ardor proving,
Though mute, her tale she soon could tell,
Returned each kiss I gave her loving,
The throbbings of my heart read well.
Then living seemed each tree, each flower,
Then sweetly sang the waterfall,
And e'en the soulless in that hour
Shared in the heavenly bliss of all.
For then a circling world was bursting
My bosom's narrow prison-cell,
To enter into being thirsting,
In deed, word, shape, and sound as well.
This world, how wondrous great I deemed it,
Ere yet its blossoms could unfold!
When open, oh, how little seemed it!
That little, oh, how mean and cold!
How happy, winged by courage daring,
The youth life's mazy path first pressed--
No care his manly strength impairing,
And in his dream's sweet vision blest!
The dimmest star in air's dominion
Seemed not too distant for his flight;
His young and ever-eager pinion
Soared far beyond all mortal sight.
Thus joyously toward heaven ascending,
Was aught for his bright hopes too far?
The airy guides his steps attending,
How danced they round life's radiant car!
Soft love was there, her guerdon bearing,
And fortune, with her crown of gold,
And fame, her starry chaplet wearing,
And truth, in majesty untold.
But while the goal was yet before them,
The faithless guides began to stray;
Impatience of their task came o'er them,
Then one by one they dropped away.
Light-footed Fortune first retreating,
Then Wisdom's thirst remained unstilled,
While heavy storms of doubt were beating
Upon the path truth's radiance filled.
I saw Fame's sacred wreath adorning
The brows of an unworthy crew;
And, ah! how soon Love's happy morning,
When spring had vanished, vanished too!
More silent yet, and yet more weary,
Became the desert path I trod;
And even hope a glimmer dreary
Scarce cast upon the gloomy road.
Of all that train, so bright with gladness,
Oh, who is faithful to the end?
Who now will seek to cheer my sadness,
And to the grave my steps attend?
Thou, Friendship, of all guides the fairest,
Who gently healest every wound;
Who all life's heavy burdens sharest,
Thou, whom I early sought and found!
Employment too, thy loving neighbor,
Who quells the bosom's rising storms;
Who ne'er grows weary of her labor,
And ne'er destroys, though slow she forms;
Who, though but grains of sand she places
To swell eternity sublime,
Yet minutes, days, ay! years effaces
From the dread reckoning kept by Time!
Scheme | ABAXCDCD EFEFXGXG EHEHIJIJ EKEKLMLM EKEKNONO EPEPCFCF EQEQEOEO RGRGEFEX EJEJAXAX BSBSXTFT LBLBBUBU |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 01111111 111101 110111111 11110101 110111010 11011111 011110 10011101 0100111010 11010101 11011110 11111101 01111110 11010101 01111110 11111 11101010 0101111 101101010 010111001 111101010 11011101 110111010 11111101 0111001010 11011111 011111010 0111111 110111110 1101010 0110100110 100100111 1101001110 1110101 11001101 01110111 111101111 11110101 110111011 11011101 110111010 0111111 111101010 00111101 01101010 11110111 110101010 11011101 110110010 11111111 010111010 111111001 11110110 01010111 01010110 01010001 110111011 0110111 0101111101 11111101 110101010 111011 110111010 010111001 111101010 01110101 011111010 11110101 110101110 01010111 010101010 11010101 11111111 11110101 111111110 01011101 110111010 11011001 11110101 11110101 010111010 1101101 111101010 01011111 111111110 11010001 1101111 101100111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,237 |
Words | 564 |
Sentences | 29 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 88 |
Letters per line (avg) | 29 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 234 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 51 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 28, 2023
- 2:55 min read
- 116 Views
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"The Ideals" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/14397/the-ideals>.
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