Analysis of Longing
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)
WHAT pulls at my heart so?
What tells me to roam?
What drags me and lures me
From chamber and home?
How round the cliffs gather
The clouds high in air!
I fain would go thither,
I fain would be there!
The sociable flight
Of the ravens comes back;
I mingle amongst them,
And follow their track.
Round wall and round mountain
Together we fly;
She tarries below there,
I after her spy.
Then onward she wanders,
My flight I wing soon
To the wood fill'd with bushes,
A bird of sweet tune.
She tarries and hearkens,
And smiling, thinks she:
"How sweetly he's singing!
He's singing to me!"
The heights are illum'd
By the fast setting sun;
The pensive fair maiden
Looks thoughtfully on;
She roams by the streamlet,
O'er meadows she goes,
And darker and darker
The pathway fast grows.
I rise on a sudden,
A glimmering star;
"What glitters above me,
So near and so far?"
And when thou with wonder
Hast gazed on the light,
I fall down before thee,
Entranced by thy sight!
Scheme | X AB AC DC D E FX FG HD H X IX IX BX B E GG XE JC J G KB K C EB E |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (30%) Etheree (28%) |
Metre | 111111 11111 111011 11001 110110 01101 11111 11111 01001 101011 110011 01011 110110 01011 11011 11001 110110 11111 1011110 01111 11010 01011 110110 11011 0111 101101 010110 11001 11101 10111 010010 0111 111010 01001 110011 11011 011110 11101 111011 01111 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 928 |
Words | 182 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 26 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 19 |
Words per line (avg) | 4 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 29 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 7 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 95 Views
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"Longing" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21711/longing>.
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