The King Of Thule

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



IN Thule lived a monarch,

Still faithful to the grave,
To whom his dying mistress

A golden goblet gave.

Beyond all price he deem'd it,

He quaff'd it at each feast;
And, when he drain'd that goblet,

His tears to flow ne'er ceas'd.

And when he felt death near him,

His cities o'er he told,
And to his heir left all things,

But not that cup of gold.

A regal banquet held he

In his ancestral ball,
In yonder sea-wash'd castle,

'Mongst his great nobles all.

There stood the aged reveller,

And drank his last life's-glow,--
Then hurl'd the holy goblet

Into the flood below.

He saw it falling, filling,

And sinking 'neath the main,
His eyes then closed for ever,

He never drank again.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 21, 2023

41 sec read
138

Quick analysis:

Scheme X AX A X BC B X DX D X EX E F GC G X XF X
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 662
Words 128
Stanzas 18
Stanza Lengths 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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

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