Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the world's greatest lyric genius, was born August 28, 1749, in Frankfurt am Main. In his being there were happily blended his mother's joyous fancy and the sterner traits of his father. Thus a rich imagination, a wealth of feeling, and the power of poetic expression went hand in hand with an indomitable will. In the spring of 1770 the young poet went to Strassburg to complete his law course. There Herder happened to be, even then a famed critic and scholar, and he aroused in Goethe a love and understanding of what was really great and genuine in literature: especially Homer, the Bible, Shakspere, and the Volkslied i.e., the simple folksong. In the fall of the year Goethe met Friederike Brion in the parsonage at Sesenheim, a village near Strassburg. Now Herder's teaching bore fruit in an outburst of real song (1, 2 and 4). The influence of the Volkslied is clearly discernible in the unaffected naturalness, spontaneity, and simplicity of these lyrics. Thus das HeidenrÖslein, which symbolizes the tragic close of the sweet idyll of Sesenheim, is to all intents and purposes a Volkslied.

The following years, spent for the most part in Frankfurt, were the period of Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) in the poet's life and work. His love for Lili SchÖnemann, a rich banker's daughter and society belle of Frankfurt, only heightened this unrest (3). In the fall of 1775 the young duke Karl August called Goethe to Weimar. Under the influence of Frau von Stein, a woman of rare culture, Goethe developed to calm maturity. Compare the first Wanderers Nachtlied (written February 1776), a passionate prayer for peace, and the; second (written September 1780), the embodiment of that peace attained. Even more important in this development is the fact that Goethe, in assuming his many official positions in the little dukedom, entered voluntarily a circle of everyday duties (7 and 8). Thus the heaven-storming Titan, as Goethe reveals himself in his Prometheus, learns to respect and revere the natural limitations of mortality (15 and especially 16).

As Goethe matured, his affinity for classic antiquity became more marked, and a consuming desire impelled him to spend two years in Italy (1786-1788). The rest of his years Goethe spent in Weimar, his life enriched above all else by his friendship with Schiller. In this second Weimar period Goethe reached the acme of his powers. Even his declining years, although marked by loneliness and bringing him a full measure of grief (his wife, Christiane Vulpius, whom he had met shortly after his return from Italy, died in 1816, followed in 1830 by his only son), exemplified that earnest striving so characteristic of Goethe. A serene optimism, a deep love of life, was his to the very last. To this das Lied des TÜrmers, written May 1831, bears eloquent witness. A ripe mellowness seems to blend here with the joyous spirit of youth. Goethe died March 22, 1832.

1. A visit to Sesenheim is the experience that called forth this poem. (Compare Goethe's first letter to Friederike, October 15, 1770) Notice how all nature is personified and assumes human attributes. In the opening stanzas impetuous haste is stirring, the first two lines have a marked rising rhythm. Notice the quieting effect of the metrical inversion at the beginning of 17, 18, and 19 and of the break in 25 after ach and how the whole poem ends with a note of deep joy.

15, 16. WELCHES, WELCHE = what.

21. ROSENFARBNES FRÜHLINGSWETTER, the roseate hues of spring-time.

29. ERDEN, old dative singular.

2. Notice that the second and third stanzas are joined as also the last three. The exuberant fullness of joy creates its own form and overleaps the confines of a single stanza.

3. Written June 1775 in Switzerland on Lake ZÜrich. Goethe had gone there to escape the unrest into which his love for Lili SchÖnemann had thrown him. The poem opens with a shout of exultation, 1 and 2; note the inversion — XX — X — Saug' ich aus freier Welt. The rising rhythm of the following lines clearly depicts the movement of rapid rowing. Stanza 2 changes to a falling rhythm; as pictures of the past rise up, the rowing ceases. Stanza 3 depicts a more quiet forward movement; notice the effect of the dactyls in the even lines.

15. TRINKEN, metaphorically for envelop, cause to disappear.

4. The refrain, so common in the Volkslied does not only enhance the melody of the poem, but centers the entire attention on das RÖslein and retards the quick dramatic movement of the narrative, which latter is heightened by the omission of the article and the frequent inversion of the verb.

2. HEIDEN, old dative.

3. MORGENSCHÖN, the rose has all the fresh pure beauty of the early morning.

18. WEH UND ACH, cry of pain, piteous outcry.

5. For this and the following poem compare Longfellow's translation.

6. EIN GLEICHES, i.e., another Wanderers Nachtlied. This poem has been justly called die Krone aller Lyrik, the acme of all lyric poetry, because of its simple, perfect beauty.

8. ERINNERUNG, reminder.

9. Written in 1813 in memory of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the day when the poet had first met Christiane Vulpius. Its never failing charm lies in its utter simplicity, its SelbstverstÄndigkeit, and in this one respect it may well be compared to Wordsworth's Lucy ("She dwelt among the untrodden ways").

1 and 2. FÜR SICH (i.e., vor sich) HINGEHEN, to saunter along, to walk along without any special purpose.

10. Mignon, a fascinating character in Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meister, a strange premature child, expresses in this song her longing for her Italian land. In succinct pictures there arise before us her native land, her ancestral home and the way thither. The very soul of this poem is longing, culminating with ever increasing intensity in the refrain. Note the vivid concreteness of the verbs and the noble simplicity of the adjectives; the vowels, especially in 2.

13. WOLKENSTEG, bridge that hangs on clouds (Carlyle).

16. STÜRZT, plunges down, i.e., descends precipitously.

11. The Harfenspieler has, without knowing it, married his own sister. Mignon is the child of this union. In this song he pours forth his despair and the torments of his conscience.

12. Thule is a mythical land of the far North.

3. STERBEND modifies Buhle.

7. his eyes overflowed with tears.

8. SO OFT, as often as.

12. ZUGLEICH, i.e., with his other possessions.

15. AUF, translate in. Why auf?

21, 22. Note the descriptive effect of the enjambement together with the internal rhyme.

23. His eyes closed (in death), TÄTEN SINKEN = sanken. TÄten is an older preterite indicative.

13. The poem embodies the lure of the water. This motif is clearly expressed in 1 and is repeated in 25. In 9, 13, 29 and 31 metrically the same motif recurs. Compare 9 and 29: the speech becomes song and the lure of the nymph's song draws the fisherman down.

4. cool to his very heart.

6. The flood swells up and divides (as the body emerges from it). Note effect of the inversion — XX — X —.

13. FISCHLEIN, dative. MIR IST = I feel.

16. ERST, now for the first time.

19. WELLENATMEND. The word pictures graphically the rise and fall of the sun's image in the waves.

20. DOPPELT SCHÖNER = doppelt schÖn.

22. DAS FEUCHTVERKLÄRTE BLAU, The azure of the sky transfigured in the water.

30. Then he was doomed. Compare the expression: "he is done for."

14. ERLKÖNIG is a corruption of ElbkÖnig, i.e., the king of the elves. Notice the difference in the speeches of the three characters: the calm assuaging tone of the father, whose senses seem dead to the supernatural; the luring song of the ErlkÖnig, that changes abruptly to an impetuous demand; the ever increasing terror of the child till its fear is imparted to the father. The child's speech is driven relentlessly forward by terror; notice the effect of the inversion in 22 and 28: — XX —, etc.

19. FÜHREN DEN NÄCHTLICHEN REIHN, dance the nightly round.

20. and rock thee and dance thee and sing thee to sleep.

28. Erlking has done me grievous woe.

15. Suggested by the Staubbach, a cascade near Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland (October 1779). The poem compares human life in its various aspects to a stream. Notice in this connection how the rhythm varies from stanza to stanza.

12. WOLKENWELLEN, cloudlike waves.

24. HIN, along.

26. WEIDEN, let graze or feast, i.e., mirror.

30. MISCHT VOM GRUND AUS, stirs from the very bottom.

16. Willing surrender, contented submission to the will of the Highest is the keynote of this poem.

9. childlike thrills of awe.

40, 41. IHRES DASEINS. Ihres refers to Geschlechter. To make it refer to GÖtter (and adopting the variant reading sie [i.e., GÖtter] instead of sich) makes an impossible metaphor, since the picture of a chain with its links cannot describe the eternal and changeless life of the gods, but only human life, generation following generation as link on link in a chain. Compare 31, where Goethe has used Wellen with the same purport.

17. Although a part of Faust, this poem is none the less a confession of Goethe himself. Over eighty years old, the poet surveys life as a watchman from his high tower, lets his gaze once more wander over the world, when evening comes, and lo, all is good.

11, 12. And as all things have pleased me, I am pleased with myself, i.e., the sum total of my life is good.