Analysis of Venetian Epigrams I

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)



Sarcophagi, urns, were all covered with lifelike scenes,
fauns dancing with girls from a Bacchanalian choir,
paired-off, goat-footed creatures puffing their cheeks,
forcing ear-splitting notes from the blaring horns.
Cymbals and drumbeats, the marble is seen and is heard.
How delightful the fruit in the beaks of fluttering birds!
No startling noise can scare them, or scare away love,
Amor, whose torch waves more gladly in this happy throng.
So fullness overcomes death, and the ashes within
seem still, in their silent house, to feel love’s delight.
So may the Poet’s sarcophagus be adorned,
with this book the writer has filled with the beauty of life.


Scheme ABCDEFGHIJKL
Poetic Form
Metre 110110111 1101110110 11110101011 10110110101 100101011011 10100100111001 110111111011 1011111001101 110101001001 110110111101 110100100101 11101011101011
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 658
Words 108
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 44
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 527
Words per stanza (avg) 106
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

32 sec read
133

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and politician. more…

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