Hermann And Dorothea - Iii. Thalia Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A BCDAEAFAGHIEAAFJFKAL AAMNEOAPADQNFEAQFRSA AT EUVDAWEBXYAND DBCEBDDA AADDTCZXUEEUAUA2AB2U A2BAAUUAAC2NFDD2E2NA FBAEBC2EFF| THE BURGHERS | A |
| - | |
| THUS did the prudent son escape from the hot conversation | B |
| But the father continued precisely as he had begun it | C |
| What is not in a man can never come out of him surely | D |
| Never I fear shall I see fulfill'd my dearest of wishes | A |
| That my son should be unlike his father but better | E |
| What would be the fate of a house or a town if its inmates | A |
| Did not all take pride in preserving renewing improving | F |
| As we are taught by the age and by the wisdom of strangers | A |
| Man is not born to spring out of the ground just like a mere mushroom | G |
| And to rot away soon in the very place that produced him | H |
| Leaving behind him no trace of what he has done in his lifetime | I |
| One can judge by the look of a house of the taste of its master | E |
| As on ent'ring a town one can judge the authorities' fitness | A |
| For where the towers and walls are falling where in the ditches | A |
| Dirt is collected and dirt in every street is seen lying | F |
| Where the stones come out of their groove and are not replaced there | J |
| Where the beams are rotting and vainly the houses are waiting | F |
| New supports that town is sure to be wretchedly managed | K |
| For where order and cleanliness reign not supreme in high places | A |
| Then to dirt and delay the citizens soon get accustom'd | L |
| Just as the beggar's accustom'd to wear his cloths full of tatters | A |
| Therefore I often have wish'd that Hermann would start on his travels | A |
| Ere he's much older and visit at any rate Strasburg and Frankfort | M |
| And that pleasant town Mannheim so evenly built and so cheerful | N |
| He who has seen such large and cleanly cities rests never | E |
| Till his own native town however small he sees better'd | O |
| Do not all strangers who visit us praise our well mended gateways | A |
| And the well whited tower the church so neatly repair'd too | P |
| Do not all praise our pavements Our well arranged cover'd in conduits | A |
| Always well furnish'd with water utility blending with safety | D |
| So that a fire whenever it happens is straightway extinguish'd | Q |
| Is not this the result of that conflagration so dreadful | N |
| Six times in Council I superintended the town's works receiving | F |
| Hearty thanks and assistance from every well disposed burgher | E |
| How I design'd follow'd up and ensured the completion of measures | A |
| Worthy men had projected and afterwards left all unfinish'd | Q |
| Finally every man in the Council took pleasure in working | F |
| All put forth their exertions and now they have finally settled | R |
| That new highway to make which will join our town with the main road | S |
| But I am greatly afraid that the young generation won't act thus | A |
| Some on the one hand think only of pleasure and trumpery dresses | A |
| Others wont stir out of doors and pass all their time by the fireside | T |
| And our Hermann I fear will always be one of this last sort ' | - |
| - | |
| Forthwith to him replied the excellent sensible mother | E |
| 'Father you're always unjust whenever you speak of your son and | U |
| That is the least likely way to obtain your wishes' fulfillment | V |
| For we cannot fashion our children after our fancy | D |
| We must have them and love them as God has given them to us | A |
| Bring them up for the best and let each do as he listeth | W |
| One has one kind of gift another possesses another | E |
| Each one employs them and each in turn in his separate fashion | B |
| Good and happy becomes My Hermann shall not be upbraided | X |
| For I know that he well deserves the wealth he'll inherit | Y |
| He'll be an excellent landlord a pattern to burghers and peasants | A |
| And as I clearly foresee by no means the last in the Council | N |
| But with your blame and reproaches you daily dishearten him sadly | D |
| As you have done just now and make the poor fellow unhappy ' | - |
| - | |
| Then she left the apartment and after her son hasten'd quickly | D |
| Hoping somewhere to find him and with her words of affection | B |
| Gladden his heart for he the excellent son well deserved it | C |
| Smilingly when she had closed the door continued the father | E |
| 'What a wonderful race of people are women and children | B |
| All of them fain would do whatever pleases their fancy | D |
| And we're only alow'd to praise them and flatter them freely | D |
| Once for all there's truth in the ancient proverb which tells us | A |
| He who moves not forward goes backward a capital saying ' | - |
| - | |
| Speaking with much circumspection the druggist made answer as follows | A |
| 'What you say good neighbour is certainly true and my plan is | A |
| Always to think of improvement provided tho' new 'tis not costly | D |
| But what avails it in truth unless one has plenty of money | D |
| Active and fussy to he improving both inside and outside | T |
| Sadly confined are the means of a burgher e'en when he knows it | C |
| Little that's good he is able to do his purse is too narrow | Z |
| And the sum wanted too great and so he is always prevented | X |
| I have had plenty of schemes but then I was terribly frighten'd | U |
| At the expense especially during a time of such danger | E |
| Long had my house smiled upon me decked out in modish exterior | E |
| Long had my windows with large panes of glass resplendently glitterd | U |
| Who can compete with a merchant however who rolling in riches | A |
| Also knows the manner in which what is best can be purchased | U |
| Only look at the house up yonder the new one how handsome | A2 |
| Looks the stucco of those white scrolls on the green colour'd panels | A |
| Large are the plates of the windows how shining and brilliant the panes are | B2 |
| Quite eclipsing the rest of the houses that stand in the market | U |
| Yet at the time of the fire our two were by far the most handsome | A2 |
| Mine at the sign of the Angel and yours at the old Golden Lion | B |
| Then my garden was famous throughout the whole country and strangers | A |
| Used to stop as they pass'd and peep through my red colourd palings | A |
| At my beggars of stone and at my dwarfs which were painted | U |
| He to whom I gave coffee inside my beautiful grotto | U |
| Which alas is now cover'd with dust and tumbling to pieces | A |
| Used to rejoice in the colour'd glimmering light of the mussels | A |
| Ranged in natural order around it and connoisseurs even | C2 |
| Used with dazzled eyes to gaze at the spars and the coral | N |
| Then in the drawing room people look'd with delight on the painting | F |
| Where the prim ladies and gentlemen walked in the garden demurely | D |
| And with pointed fingers presented the flowers and held them | D2 |
| Ah if only such things were now to be seen Little care I | E2 |
| Now to go out for everything needs to be alter'd and tasteful | N |
| As it is call'd and white are the benches of wood and the palings | A |
| All things are simple and plain and neither carving not gilding | F |
| Now are employ'd and foreign timber is now all the fashion | B |
| I should be only too pleased to possess some novelty also | A |
| So as to march with the times and my household furniture alter | E |
| But we all are afraid to make the least alteration | B |
| For who is able to pay the present charges of workmen | C2 |
| Lately a fancy possess'd me the angel Michael whose figure | E |
| Hangs up over my shop to treat to a new coat of gilding | F |
| And the terrible Dragon who round his feet is entwining | F |
| But I have left him all brown as he is for the cost quite alarm'd me ' | - |
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
(1)
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Hermann And Dorothea - Iii. Thalia is a poem by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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