To the moon
To the moon is a poem by Johann Wolfgang Goethe from 1778.
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The poem begins with the following verses:
Fill the bush and valley again
with the shine of mist,
finally release
my soul completely;
In the first version from 1778, the first stanza read as follows:
Fill again the dear valley
still with misty shine,
finally release
my soul completely;
Based on the natural experience of the rising moon, the lyrical self longs for peace of mind.
The last two of the total of 9 (first version: 6) stanzas speak of the desire to withdraw from the world in company with a friend.
Blessed is he who
closes himself off from the world without hatred,
holds a friend by his bosom,
and enjoys
what people did not know
or thought about ,
through the labyrinth of the breast
walks in the night.
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Not only is the early version of the poem from around 1776/78, which was found between letters to Charlotte von Stein , printed in anthologies , but v. a. the version from 1789, which was probably made after returning from the trip to Italy.
The calming rhythm of the poem comes from four- and three-part trochaes and the meeting of the elevations at the end of the verse and at the beginning of the next, which repeatedly force a short stop.
In his interpretation of this poem, the Germanist Walter Hinck comes to the following conclusion:
"In the poem To the Moon, the friendship poetry is animated, but it is also the unfathomable depth of a 'labyrinth' into which it points."
literature
- Walter Hinck: Stations of German Poetry. From Luther to the present day - 100 poems with interpretations . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-525-20810-3 .
- Jan Röhnert: Lotte my Lotte. Goethe's letters to Charlotte von Stein . The Other Library , Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-8477-0360-0 .
