VII. Alter

1. Elegie

Written Sept. 5-9, 1823, on Goethe's return from Karlsbad. The poem discloses Goethe's heroic struggle which accompanied the renunciation of his passionate love for Ulrike von Levetzow. He had met Frau von Levetzow, an old acquaintance of his, and her three daughters at the Bohemian watering-place Marienbad in 1821 and 1822, and had already at this time shown great attention to Ulrike, the oldest of the daughters, born in 1804. But it was during their stay in Karlsbad, Aug. 25 to Sept. 5, 1823, that the poet became fully conscious of his passionate feelings, becoming convinced at the same time that a marriage with the beautiful young girl was impossible and that he must resign himself. There is something extremely tragic in the fact that Goethe, at the age of seventy-four, after numerous love affairs, should discover what true love was and still be debarred from it, "als trieb ein Cherub flammend ihn von hinnen." This renunciation nearly cost Goethe his life. In November, 1823, he became dangerously ill, and for weeks his friends despaired of his recovery. Ulrike remained single. She died Nov. 13, 1899. Goethe's letters to her mother and to her, which in many places read like his letter to Friederike, were given by her in 1887 to the Goethe-Archives in Weimar. They were published in Vol. XXI of the Goethe-Jahrbuch with an excellent introduction and notes by B. Suphan. In the same volume is contained the reproduction of a picture of her, which shows that Goethe was right in calling her "die lieblichste der lieblichen Gestalten." See also G. von Loeper, Goethe-Jahrbuch VIII, 165–186, and Vol. XV of Schriften der Goethegesellschaft, which contains a facsimile print of the manuscript of the Elegie.

The motto of the poem is taken from Tasso. It expresses the idea that he is 'more than human' (compare 'Uebermensch,' Zueignung), because 'a god' (genius) gave to him what is denied to other human beings.

1-6. Discussing the poem with Eckermann, Nov. 16, 1823, who suggests Byron's influence, Goethe said: "Ich schrieb das Gedicht unmittelbar als ich von Marienbad (he means Karlsbad) abreiste

Mor

und ich mich noch im vollen Gefühle des Erlebten befand. gens acht Uhr auf der ersten Station schrieb ich die erste Strophe, und so dichtete ich im Wagen fort und schrieb von Station zu Station das im Gedächtniss Gefasste nieder. Es hat daher eine gewisse Unmittelbarkeit und ist wie aus einem Gusse, welches dem Ganzen zu Gute kommen mag."

4. wankelsinnig, whether he is to choose paradise or hell, return to her or leave her.

5. ans Himmelthor = von innen aus dem Himmel heraus.

6. Compare Faust II:

Das Ewig-Weibliche
Zieht uns hinan.

7. im Paradies, i.e., during the previous days.

8. ewig, again in the sense of absolute; compare note to Wonne der Wehmut, p. 56, 1. 2.

love he has only tears

9. Absolute peace, which is the sign of true and pure love. 12. sehnsüchtiger Thränen, without this of longing as the manifestation of true life.

See line 114: grenzen

31. Is the world with its beauty not left to me to heal my sorrow? He seems in the following lines to think of the country near Weimar.

35. Große, the sky with its ever-changing cloud-formations.

37-42. Compare his cloud-poetry in the Zueignung and in Faust II, 10055 ff., where Gretchen appears to him in the form of a cloud.

47. zu Vielen bildet eine sich hinüber, a metaphysical thought which finds its explanation in the following lines from the Künstlerlied, p. 135, 1. 17 ff.:

See also Pandora:

Wie Natur im Bielgebilde
Einen Gott nur offenbart,

So im weiten Kunstgefilde

Webt ein Sinn der ew'gen Art, etc.

Sie (die Schönheit) steiget hernieder in tausend Gebilden,
Sie schwebet auf Wassern, sie schreitet auf Gefilden.

The beloved one is the prototype of all the changing forms and creations of his heart, and this variety and change is not disturbing, but pleasing to him.

50. stufenweis, i.e., ascending to heaven.

57. He finds the 'Dauer im Wechsel' now in his own heart. 61-66. It is tragic to see the old poet here discover the ideal power of youthful love which inspires man to great deeds.

71. von bekannter Schwelle, i.e., the 'Himmelsthor,' line 5. 73. See Philippians, 4: 7.

74. mehr als Vernunft, compare Hegire, p. 107, l. 16: Glaube weit, eng der Gedanke.

79-83. The deepest and most beautiful description of the conception of 'fromm.' Compare Hildebrand, Beiträge z. d. Unterricht, 152 ff.

81. freiwillig hinzugeben, compare Sprüche in Prosa, 385: “Freiwillige Abhängigkeit ist der schönste Zustand, und wie wäre der möglich ohne Liebe." It is through the medium of love that the poet in this stanza seeks to understand God.

93-94. A happy forgetfulness of what is behind and before them.

98. kein Verschieben, compare Wanderjahre (XVIII, 286): Du im Leben nichts verschiebe,

Sei dein Leben That um That.

To do as the moment bids is Goethe's old maxim of life.

101. immer kindlich, compare Faust I, 212;

Das Alter macht nicht kindisch, wie man spricht,

Es findet uns nur noch als wahre Kinder,

and Schiller's epigram, Der Naturkreis.

104 Compare Schiller's poem, Die Gunst des Augenblicks. 112. ihm instead of seiner.

118. des Körpers Qual zu stillen. In his despair he is thinking of suicide. Compare Venetian Epigrams, No. 27: suchte nach Messer und Strick.

121. Begriff, here used in the old meaning of 'Vorstellung, inneres Bild.' Compare Werther: "meine vorstellende Kraft ist so schwach," i.e., dass ich keinen Umriss packen kann See Hildebrand, Vom deutschen Sprachunterricht, 102.

127. Weggenossen, all his friends, not his traveling companions, as Düntzer thinks.

128. allein, i.e., in the wilderness.

133. This line explains the question: Ist denn die Welt nicht übrig? line 31.

2. Ausföhnung

Written Aug. 16-18, 1823, before the parting from Ulrike at Marienbad, and dedicated to Frau Marie Szymanowska, the famous pianist. “Auf sie,” says Kanzler Müller (Unterhaltungen mit Goethe, 71), “hat er die schönen gemütvollen Stanzen gedichtet, die er uns kürzlich vorgelesen und die seinen Dank dafür aussprechen, dass ihr seelenvolles Spiel seinem Gemüte zuerst wieder Beruhigung schaffte, als die Trennung von Levetzows ihm eine so tiefe Wunde schlug.“ How deeply Goethe during this time was moved by music can be seen from his letter to Zelter (3, 331): "Die Stimme derMilder (a famous opera singer), das Klangreiche der Szymanowska, ja sogar die öffentlichen Exhibitionen des hiesigen Jägerchors falten mich auseinander, wie man eine geballte Faust freundlich flach lässt." The fist is used here probably as a picture of his wrath against fate which denied him the possession of Ulrike.

3. Aeolsharfen

Written 1822, after his departure from Marienbad, where Ulrike remained behind. The poem is based upon Goethe's belief “an eine geistige Wirkung in die Ferne, vom gesammeltsten innersten Sinn ausgeführt" (Hildebrand, Grimm's Wb. IV, 2656). The Æolian harp (invented by Athanasius Kircher, 1602–80), which we frequently meet in the poetry of the 18th century, was also called 'Geisterharfe' on account of its mysterious tones, which sound as if spirits were whispering through it. As a whispering of love through the distance between the spirit of the poet and the spirit of the beloved one "ein Liebesflüstern in die Ferne wie auf Aeolsharfen" we must regard our poem, hence also the sub-title Ein Gespräch. Compare the letter to Frau von Stein, Jan. 28, 1781: "Der Wind geht von mir zu Ihnen und also bringt er Ihnen meine Gedanken, doch können auch die gegen den Wind gehen und also hoff ich Besuch von den Ihrigen."

6. verhaltnes Lebewohl, because he could not bear to take leave.

13-14. Her tears bring him back to her. Compare line 30: Du weinst, schon bin ich wieder da.

15-16. Compare Wanderers Nachtlied, p. 55 and note. 20. befeuern, by the stars.

22. He uses here and in the following 'Du,' as if it were a real dialogue.

30. Compare note to Wonne der Wehmut, p. 56.

Similar dialogues we find among the Minnesingers where they are called 'Wechsel.' "Sie sind nicht immer Gespräche, sondern stellen zuweilen nur einander entsprechende oder widersprechende Gedanken zweier Liebenden dar." (Haupt, Minnesangs Frühling, 226 f.).

4. Dem aufgehenden Vollmonde

Written at the castle of Dornburg, where Goethe, July 7, 1828, had gone to overcome his grief over the death of Duke Karl August (June 14). This poem like the Vollmondnacht, p. 114, was caused by the promise to think of each other at the time of full moon which Goethe and Marianne von Willemer gave each other in 1815.

This and the following two poems are given here to show Goethe's greatness and youthfulness as a lyric poet when almost an octogenarian. Concerning Goethe's stay at Dornburg, see the interesting account by K. A. C. Skell, Goethe in Dornburg, and by E. Schuchardt, Goethe-Jahrbuch VII, 276 ff.

6.

Und wenn mich am Tag die Ferne. Although these lines are printed as a separate poem in most editions of Goethe's poems, they are really the second and third strophes of a poem, Schwebender Genius über der Erdkugel, written Dec. 23, 1826. Since, however, Goethe published the two strophes as a separate poem in 1831, they may also here stand as such.

3. Nachts, how during the last period of his life he lived with the stars can be seen from Sprüche, p. 137.

6. des Menschen Loos, which consists in such longing as he described it in the previous lines and which he calls 'das Rechte' in the following.

8. schön, means both beautiful and good.