The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• The Life of Goethe By Hjalmar H. Boyesen, Ph.d.
• Poems
• Dedication.
• Songs
• Sound, Sweet Song.
• To the Kind Reader.
• The New Amadis
• When the Fox Dies, His Skin Counts.
• The Heathrose.
• Blindman’s Buff.
• Christel.
• The Coy One.
• The Convert.
• Preservation.
• The Muses’ Son.
• Found.
• Like and Like.
• Reciprocal Invitation to the Dance.
• Self-deceit.
• Declaration of War.
• Lover In All Shapes.
• The Goldsmith’s Apprentice.
• Joy and Sorrow.
• March.
• Answers In a Game of Questions.
• Different Emotions On the Same Spot.
• Who’ll Buy Gods of Love?
• The Misanthrope.
• True Enjoyment.
• Happiness and Vision.
• The Farewell.
• The Beautiful Night.
• Apparent Death.
• Proximity.
• Living Remembrance.
• The Bliss of Absence.
• To Luna.
• The Wedding Night.
• Mischievous Joy.
• Farewell.
• The Exchange.
• November Song.
• To the Chosen One.
• First Loss.
• After-sensations.
• Proximity of the Beloved One.
• Presence.
• To the Distant One.
• By the River.
• Night Song.
• Calm At Sea.
• The Prosperous Voyage.
• Courage.
• Admonition.
• Welcome and Farewell.
• New Love, New Life.
• To Belinda.
• May Song.
• With a Painted Ribbon.
• With a Golden Necklace.
• To Charlotte.
• On the Lake.
• From the Mountain.
• Flower Salute.
• May Song.
• Premature Spring.
• Autumn Feelings
• Restless Love.
• The Shepherd’s Lament.
• Comfort In Tears.
• Longing.
• To Mignon.
• The Mountain Castle
• The Spirit’s Salute.
• To a Golden Heart That He Wore Round His Neck.
• The Bliss of Sorrow.
• The Wanderer’s Night-song.
• The Same.
• To the Moon.
• The Hunter’s Even-song.
• My Only Property.
• To Lina.
• Familiar Songs
• On the New Year.
• Anniversary Song.
• The Spring Oracle.
• The Happy Couple.
• Song of Fellowship.
• Constancy In Change.
• Table Song.
• Wont and Done.
• General Confession.
• Coptic Song.
• Another.
• Vanitas! Vanitatum Vanitas!
• Swiss Song.
• Fortune of War.
• Open Table.
• The Reckoning.
• Ergo Bibamus!
• Epiphanias.
• Finnish Song.
• Gypsy Song.
• From Wilhelm Meister.
• Mignon.
• The Same.
• The Harper.
• Philine.
• Ballads
• Mignon.
• The Harper.
• Ballad of the Banished and Returning Count.
• The Violet.
• The Faithless Boy.
• The Erl-king.
• Johanna Sebus
• The Fisherman.
• The King of Thule.
• The Beauteous Flower. Song of the Imprisoned Count.
• Sir Curt’s Wedding-journey.
• Wedding Song.
• The Treasure-digger.
• The Rat-catcher.
• The Spinner.
• Before a Court of Justice.
• The Page and the Miller’s Daughter.
• The Youth and the Millstream.
• The Maid of the Mill’s Treachery.
• The Maid of the Mill’s Repentance.
• The Traveller and the Farm-maiden.
• Effects At a Distance.
• The Walking Bell.
• Faithful Eckart.
• The Pupil In Magic.
• The Dance of Death.
• The Bride of Corinth.
• The God and the Bayadere. an Indian Legend.
• The Pariah. the Pariah’s Prayer.
• Legend.
• The Pariah’s Thanks.
• The First Walpurgis-night.
• Death-lament of the Noble Wife of Asan Aga.
• Antiques
• Leopold, Duke of Brunswick. 1785.
• To the Husbandman.
• Anacreon’s Grave.
• The Brethren.
• Measure of Time.
• Warning.
• SakÓntala.
• Solitude.
• The Chosen Cliff.
• The Consecrated Spot.
• The Instructors.
• The Unequal Marriage.
• Excuse.
• The Muse’s Mirror.
• PhŒbus and Hermes.
• The New Amor.
• The Garlands.
• The Swiss Alps.
• Elegies
• Roman Elegies.
• Alexis and Dora.
• Epigrams
• Venice, 1790.
• The Four Seasons.
• Spring.
• Summer.
• Autumn.
• Winter.
• Sonnets.
• The Friendly Meeting.
• In a Word.
• The Maiden Speaks.
• Growth.
• Food In Travel.
• Departure.
• The Loving One Writes.
• The Loving One Once More.
• She Cannot End.
• Nemesis.
• The Christmas-box.
• The Warning.
• The Doubters and the Lovers.
• The Epochs.
• Charade.
• Miscellaneous Poems.
• The German Parnassus.
• Mahomet’s Song.
• Spirit Song Over the Waters.
• My Goddess.
• Winter Journey Over the Hartz Mountains.
• To Father Kronos.
• The Wanderer’s Storm-song.
• The Sea-voyage.
• Prometheus.
• The Eagle and Dove.
• Ganymede.
• The Boundaries of Humanity.
• The Godlike.
• Royal Prayer.
• Human Feelings.
• Lily’s Menagerie.
• Love’s Distresses.
• To His Coy One.
• Petition.
• The Musagetes.
• Morning Lament.
• The Visit.
• The Magic Net.
• The Goblet.
• Night Thoughts.
• To Lida.
• Forever.
• From an Album of 1604.
• To the Rising Full Moon.
• Betrothed.
• At Midnight Hour.
• Lines On Seeing Schiller’s Skull.
• Trilogy of Passion.
• To Werther.
• Elegy.
• Atonement.
• April.
• May.
• June.
• Ever and Everywhere.
• Next Year’s Spring.
• Such, Such Is He Who Pleaseth Me.
• St. Nepomuk’s Eve. Carlsbad, May 15, 1820.
• The Freebooter.
• Reciprocal.
• Song of the Emigrants.
• Explanation of an Ancient Woodcut Representing Hans Sachs’ Poetical Mission.
• Thoughts On Jesus Christ’s Descent Into Hell.
• Art
• The Drops of Nectar.
• The Wanderer.
• Love As a Landscape-painter.
• Artist’s Evening Song.
• Parables
• Explanation of an Antique Gem.
• Cat-pie.
• Legend.
• The Critic.
• Authors.
• The Dilettante and the Critic.
• Celebrity.
• The Yelpers.
• The Wrangler.
• Joy.
• Playing At Priests.
• Songs.
• Poetry.
• A Parable.
• Cupid and Psyche.
• The Death of the Fly.
• By the River.
• The Fox and Crane.
• The Fox and Huntsman.
• The Stork’s Vocation.
• The Frogs.
• The Wedding.
• Burial.
• Threatening Signs.
• The Buyers.
• The Mountain Village.
• Symbols.
• Three Palinodias.
• Valediction.
• The Country Schoolmaster.
• The Legend of the Horseshoe.
• Epigrams.
• To Originals.
• The Soldier’s Consolation.
• Genial Impulse.
• Neither This Nor That.
• The Way to Behave.
• The Best.
• As Broad As It’s Long.
• Calm At Sea.
• The Rule of Life.
• The Same, Expanded.
• The Fair At Huehenefeld. July 25th, 1814.
• The Little Girl’s Wish.
• Epitaph.
• Admonition.
• My Only Property.
• Old Age.
• Courage.
• Rule For Monarchs.
• Memories.
• Paulo Post Futuri.
• The Fool’s Epilogue.
• On the Divan.
• God and World.
• Prooemion.
• The Metamorphosis of Plants.
• The Sages and the People.
• Rhymed Distichs.
• God, Soul and World.
• Distichs.
• West-eastern Divan.
• Moganni Nameh.
• Hafis Nameh.
• Uschk Nameh.
• Teskir Nameh.
• Rendsch Nameh.
• Hikmet Nameh.
• Timur Nameh.
• Suleika Nameh.
• Safi Nameh.
• Mathal Nameh.
• Parsi Nameh.
• Chuld Nameh.
• Hermann and Dorothea
• Fate and Sympathy.
• Hermann.
• The Burghers.
• Mother and Son.
• The Cosmopolite.
• The Age.
• Dorothea.
• Hermann and Dorothea.
• Conclusion.

EXPLANATION OF AN ANCIENT WOODCUT REPRESENTING HANS SACHS’ POETICAL MISSION.

• • EARLY within his workshop here,
  • On Sundays stands our master dear;
  • His dirty apron he puts away,
  • And a cleanly doublet wears to-day;
  • Lets wax’d thread, hammer and pincers rest,
  • And lays his awl within his chest;
  • The seventh day he takes repose
  • From many pulls and many blows.
• • Soon as the spring sun meets his view
  • Repose begets him labor anew;
  • He feels that he holds within his brain
  • A little world, that broods there amain,
  • And that begins to act and to live,
  • Which he to others would gladly give.
• • He had a skilful eye and true,
  • And was full kind and loving too.
  • For contemplation, clear and pure,—
  • For making all his own again, sure;
  • He had a tongue that charm’d when ’twas heard,
  • And graceful and light flow’d ev’ry word;
  • Which made the Muses in him rejoice,
  • The Master-singer of their choice.
• • And now a maiden enter’d there,
  • With swelling breast, and body fair;
  • With footing firm she took her place,
  • And mov’d with stately, noble grace;
  • She did not walk in wanton mood,
  • Nor look around with glances lewd.
  • She held a measure in her hand,
  • Her girdle was a golden band,
  • A wreath of corn was on her head,
  • Her eye the day’s bright lustre shed;
  • Her name is honest Industry,
  • Else, Justice, Magnanimity.
• • She enter’d with a kindly greeting;
  • He felt no wonder at the meeting,
  • For, kind and fair as she might be,
  • He long had known her, fancied he.
• • “I have selected thee,” she said,
  • “From all who earth’s wild mazes tread,
  • That thou should’st have clear-sighted sense,
  • And naught that’s wrong should’st e’er commence.
  • When others run in strange confusion,
  • Thy gaze shall see through each illusion;
  • When others dolefully complain,
  • Thy cause with jesting thou shalt gain,
  • Honor and right shalt value duly,
  • In everything act simply, truly,—
  • Virtue and godliness proclaim,
  • And call all evil by its name,
  • Naught soften down, attempt no quibble,
  • Naught polish up, naught vainly scribble.
  • The world shall stand before thee, then,
  • As seen by Albert Dürer’s ken,
  • In manliness and changeless life,
  • In inward strength, with firmness rife.
  • Fair Nature’s Genius by the hand
  • Shall lead thee on through every land,
  • Teach thee each different life to scan,
  • Show thee the wondrous ways of man,
  • His shifts, confusions, thrustings and drubbings,
  • Pushings, tearings, pressings and rubbings;
  • The varying madness of the crew,
  • The anthill’s ravings bring to view;
  • But thou shalt see all this express’d
  • As though ’twere in a magic chest.
  • Write these things down for folks on earth,
  • In hopes they may to wit give birth.”—
  • Then she a window open’d wide,
  • And show’d a motley crowd outside,
  • All kinds of beings ’neath the sky,
  • As in his writings one may spy.
• • Our master dear was, after this,
  • On Nature thinking, full of bliss,
  • When tow’rd him, from the other side,
  • He saw an aged woman glide;
  • The name she bears, Historia,
  • Mythologia, Fabula;
  • With footstep tottering and unstable
  • She dragg’d a large and wooden carv’d table,
  • Where, with wide sleeves and human mien,
  • The Lord was catechizing seen;
  • Adam, Eve, Eden, the Serpent’s seduction,
  • Gomorrah and Sodom’s awful destruction,
  • The twelve illustrious women, too,
  • That mirror of honor brought to view;
  • All kinds of bloodthirstiness, murder and sin;
  • The twelve wicked tyrants also were in,
  • And all kinds of goodly doctrine and law;
  • Saint Peter with his scourge you saw,
  • With the world’s ways dissatisfied,
  • And by our Lord with power supplied.
  • Her train and dress, behind and before,
  • And e’en the seams, were painted o’er
  • With tales of worldly virtue and crime.—
  • Our master view’d all this for a time;
  • The sight right gladly he survey’d,
  • So useful for him in his trade,
  • Whence he was able to procure
  • Example good and precept sure,
  • Recounting all with truthful care,
  • As though he had been present there.
  • His spirit seem’d from earth to fly,
  • He ne’er had turn’d away his eye;
  • Did he not just behind him hear
  • A rattle of bells approaching near?
• • And now a fool doth catch his eye,
  • With goat and ape’s leap drawing nigh,
  • A merry interlude preparing
  • With fooleries and jests unsparing.
  • Behind him, in a line drawn out,
  • He dragg’d all fools, the lean and stout,
  • The great and little, the empty and full,
  • All too witty, and all too dull;
  • A lash he flourish’d overhead,
  • As though a dance of apes he led,
  • Abusing them with bitterness,
  • As though his wrath would ne’er grow less.
• • While on this sight our master gaz’d,
  • His head was growing well-nigh craz’d:
  • What words for all could he e’er find,
  • Could such a medley be combin’d?
  • Could he continue with delight
  • For evermore to sing and write?
  • When lo, from out a cloud’s dark bed
  • In at the upper window sped
  • The Muse, in all her majesty,
  • As fair as our lov’d maids we see.
  • With clearness she around him threw
  • Her truth, that ever stronger grew.
• • “I to ordain thee come,” she spake:
  • “So prosper, and my blessing take!
  • The holy fire that slumb’ring lies
  • Within thee, in bright flames shall rise;
  • Yet that thine ever-restless life
  • May still with kindly strength be rife,
  • I, for thine inward spirit’s calm,
  • Have granted nourishment and balm,
  • That rapture may thy soul imbue,
  • Like some fair blossom bath’d in dew.”—
• • Behind his house then secretly
  • Outside the doorway pointed she,
  • Where, in a shady garden-nook,
  • A beauteous maid with downcast look
  • Was sitting where a stream was flowing,
  • With elder bushes near it growing.
  • She sat beneath an apple tree,
  • And naught around her seem’d to see.
  • Her lap was full of roses fair,
  • Which in a wreath she twin’d with care,
  • And, with them, leaves and blossoms blended:
  • For whom was that sweet wreath intended?
  • Thus sat she, modest and retir’d,
  • Her bosom throbb’d, with hope inspir’d;
  • Such deep forebodings fill’d her mind,
  • No room for wishing could she find,
  • And with the thoughts that o’er it flew,
  • Perchance a sigh was mingled too.
• • “But why should sorrow cloud thy brow?
  • That, dearest love, which fills thee now
  • Is fraught with joy and ecstasy,
  • Prepar’d in one alone for thee,
  • That he within thine eye may find
  • Solace when fortune proves unkind,
  • And be newborn through many a kiss,
  • That he receives with inward bliss;
  • Whene’er he clasps thee to his breast
  • May he from all his toils find rest;
  • When he in thy dear arms shall sink
  • May he new life and vigor drink:
  • Fresh joys of youth shalt thou obtain,
  • In merry jest rejoice again.
  • With raillery and roguish spite
  • Thou now shalt tease him, now delight.
  • Thus Love will nevermore grow old,
  • Thus will the minstrel ne’er be cold!”
• • While he thus lives, in secret bless’d,
  • Above him in the clouds doth rest
  • An oak-wreath, verdant and sublime,
  • Placed on his brow in after-time;
  • While they are banish’d to the slough,
  • Who their great master disavow.