Prometheus (Goethe): Difference between revisions
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! English Translation |
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| <poem>Bedecke deinen Himmel, Zeus, |
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Mit Wolkendunst! |
Mit Wolkendunst! |
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Und übe, Knaben gleich, |
Und übe, Knaben gleich, |
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Wie ich! |
Wie ich! |
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(ca. 1789)</poem> |
(ca. 1789)</poem> |
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| style="padding-right: 0.5em;" |<poem>Shroud your heaven, Zeus, |
| style="padding-right: 0.5em;" |<poem>Shroud your heaven, Zeus, |
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With cloudy vapours, |
With cloudy vapours, |
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And do as you will, like the boy |
And do as you will, like the boy |
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That |
That beheads thistles, |
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With oak-trees and mountain-tops; |
With oak-trees and mountain-tops; |
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You must my Earth |
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Now abandon to me, |
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And my hut, which you did not build, |
And my hut, which you did not build, |
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And my hearth, |
And my hearth, |
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Whose glow |
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The glowing whereof |
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You |
You begrudge me. |
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I know of nothing poorer |
I know of nothing poorer |
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Under the sun, than you, |
Under the sun, than you, Gods! |
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⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
⚫ | |||
By sacrificial offerings |
By sacrificial offerings |
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And prayerful exhalations |
And prayerful exhalations |
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⚫ | |||
And |
And would starve, were |
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Not children and beggars |
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Fools full of Hope. |
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Hopeful fools. |
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When I was a child, |
When I was a child, |
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And did not know the in or out, |
And did not know the in or out, |
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I turned my wandering eyes toward |
I turned my wandering eyes toward |
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The sun, as if |
The sun, as if beyond it there were |
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An ear to hear my lament, |
An ear to hear my lament, |
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A heart |
A heart like mine, |
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To |
To take pity on the afflicted. |
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Who helped me |
Who helped me |
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Against the |
Against the Titans' mischief? |
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Who delivered me from Death, |
Who delivered me from Death, |
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From Slavery? |
From Slavery? |
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Did you not accomplish it all yourself, |
Did you not accomplish it all yourself, |
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Holy, burning Heart? |
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And |
And glowed, young and good, |
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Deceived, your thanks for salvation |
Deceived, your thanks for salvation |
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To the sleeping one above? |
To the sleeping one above? |
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I should honour you? For what? |
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Have you softened the sufferings, |
Have you softened the sufferings, |
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Ever, of the burdened? |
Ever, of the burdened? |
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Was I not forged as a Man |
Was I not forged as a Man |
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By almighty Time |
By almighty Time |
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And eternal Fate, |
And the eternal Fate, |
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My masters and |
My masters and yours? |
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Do you somehow imagine |
Do you somehow imagine |
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I should hate life, |
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Flee to the desert, |
Flee to the desert, |
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Because not every |
Because not every |
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Flowering dream |
Flowering dream may bloom? |
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Here I sit, |
Here I sit, forming people |
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In my image; |
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A race, to be like me, |
A race, to be like me, |
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To |
To suffer, to weep, |
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To enjoy and delight |
To enjoy and delight themselves, |
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And to |
And to mock yours – |
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Like Me!</poem> |
Like Me!</poem> |
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Revision as of 09:42, 10 December 2009
Prometheus is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, in which the character of the mythic Prometheus addresses God (as Zeus) in misotheist accusation and defiance. The poem was written between 1772 and 1774 and first published in 1789 after an anonymous and unauthorised publication in 1785 by Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi.
In early editions of the Collected Works it appeared in Volume II of Goethe's poems in a section of Vermischte Gedichte (assorted poems), shortly following the Gesang der Geister über den Wassern, and the Harzreise im Winter. It is immediately followed by "Ganymed", and the two poems together should be understood as a pair. Both belong to the period 1770–1775. Prometheus (1774) was planned as a drama but not completed, but this poem draws upon it. Prometheus is the creative and rebellious spirit which, rejected by God, angrily defies him and asserts itself; Ganymede is the boyish self which is adored and seduced by God. One is the lone defiant, the other the yielding acolyte. As the humanist poet, Goethe presents both identities as aspects or forms of the human condition.
Although the setting is classical, the address to the Judaeo-Christian God is suggested by the section beginning "Da ich ein Kind war..." ("When I was a child"): the use of Da is distinctive, and by it Goethe evokes the Lutheran translation of Saint Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, 13:11: "Da ich ein Kind war, da redete ich wie ein Kind..." ("When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things"). Unlike St Paul, Goethe's Prometheus grew up to disbelieve in the divine heart moved to pity for the afflicted.
The poem was set to music by J. F. Reichardt, Schubert (see "Prometheus", 1819), Hugo Wolf (1889) and F. M. Einheit (1993).
Text
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5b/Heinrich_fueger_1817_prometheus_brings_fire_to_mankind.jpg/220px-Heinrich_fueger_1817_prometheus_brings_fire_to_mankind.jpg)
First Version | Second Version | English Translation |
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Bedecke deinen Himmel, Zeus, |
Bedecke deinen Himmel, Zeus, |
Shroud your heaven, Zeus, |
Source
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/38px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png)
- J. W. Goethe, Goethe's Werke: Vollständige Ausgabe letzter Hand (Vol. II, pp. 76–78). (J. G. Cotta'sche Buchhandlung, Stuttgart and Tübingen 1827).
- J. W. Goethe, Gedichte (Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin and Tübingen 1988)
- J. W. Goethe, Werke Hamburger Ausgabe in 14 Bänden (Vol. 1 Gedichte und Epen I, pp. 44-46). München, 1998.
- Dr Martin Luther, Die Bibel, oder die ganze Heilige Schrift des Alten und Neuen Testaments.