To Laura At The Harpsichord

Friedrich Schiller 1759 (Marbach am Neckar) – 1805 (Weimar)



When o'er the chords thy fingers stray,
My spirit leaves its mortal clay,
 A statue there I stand;
Thy spell controls e'en life and death,
As when the nerves a living breath
 Receive by Love's command!

More gently zephyr sighs along
To listen to thy magic song;
The systems formed by heavenly love
To sing forever as they move,
Pause in their endless-whirling round
To catch the rapture-teeming sound;
'Tis for thy strains they worship thee,--
Thy look, enchantress, fetters me!

From yonder chords fast-thronging come
 Soul-breathing notes with rapturous speed,
As when from out their heavenly home
 The new-born seraphim proceed;
The strains pour forth their magic might,
As glittering suns burst through the night,
When, by Creation's storm awoke,
From chaos' giant-arm they broke.

 Now sweet, as when the silv'ry wave
 Delights the pebbly beach to lave;
 And now majestic as the sound
 Of rolling thunder gathering round;
Now pealing more loudly, as when from yon height
Descends the mad mountain-stream, foaming and bright;
Now in a song of love
  Dying away,
As through the aspen grove
  Soft zephyrs play:
Now heavier and more mournful seems the strain,
As when across the desert, death-like plain,
Whence whispers dread and yells despairing rise,
Cocytus' sluggish, wailing current sighs.

 Maiden fair, oh, answer me!
 Are not spirits leagued with thee?
 Speak they in the realms of bliss
 Other language e'er than this?

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

1:12 min read
117

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCCB DDEXFFGG XHXHIIJJ KKFFIIEAXALLMM GGNN
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,396
Words 235
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 6, 8, 8, 14, 4

Friedrich Schiller

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet philosopher historian and playwright During the last seventeen years of his life Schiller struck up a productive if complicated friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang Goethe with whom he frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics and encouraged Goethe to finish works he left merely as sketches this relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism They also worked together on Die Xenien The Xenies a collection of short but harshly satirical poems in which both Schiller and Goethe verbally attacked those persons they perceived to be enemies of their aesthetic agenda. more…

All Friedrich Schiller poems | Friedrich Schiller Books

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