12
votes
What's the significance of Faust's meeting being on Easter Day?
While Easter sure comes with a significant religious meaning, it seems to be distinctly its more earthly and mundane aspects that are emphasised in Faust. Though, the connections to resurrection aren'...
11
votes
Accepted
Does this quote belong to Goethe?
TL;DR: The quote comes from a 1917 work by William James. James says Goethe wrote it in 1824, but in fact it was first published in 1836 (in German) by Johann Eckermann, as part of Eckermann's ...
6
votes
Which literature work took the longest time in its author's life (finished or not)
The problem with the question is: how do you determine how long it took an author to finish a work of literature? Do you just look at the years between the first draft and the final publication or at ...
- 44k
5
votes
Accepted
What well known phrase from "Götz von Berlichingen" is alluded to in All Quiet in the Western Front?
The most famous phrase from Goethe's play Götz von Berlichingen is "er kann mich im Arsche lecken!" This is taken from the third act, when Götz von Berlichingen's castle is being besieged and a herald ...
- 44k
5
votes
Accepted
What does this quatrain of Goethe's ("Gesang der Geister über den Wassern") mean?
The quatrain is the last stanza of the poem Gesang der Geister über den Wassern, which Goethe wrote in 1779 during a stay in Switzerland. The poem was inspired by the Staubbach Falls near the village ...
- 44k
3
votes
What well known phrase from "Götz von Berlichingen" is alluded to in All Quiet in the Western Front?
The well known phrase is "Leck mich am Arsch" ("kiss my arse", but literally "lick me on the arse"). It is also known as the Swabian salute.
- 201
3
votes
What is the central summary of "Erlkönig"?
Erlkönig is not a children's poem. In the poem, a boy is assaulted and killed by a supernatural specter, while his father cannot even perceive the threat and is thus unable to defend him. That would ...
- 281
3
votes
Source of "talent is formed in solitude", attributed to Goethe
In Goethe's 1790 play Torquato Tasso (see also here) the character Leonora speaks (act 1, scene 2) the lines "Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille /
Sich ein Charakter in dem Strom der Welt&...
- 3,965
2
votes
Where does Goethe refer to "from the deepest mountain valley to the highest mountain top"?
You are asking for the precise wording of an unidentified passage? Step one would be to find the sentence you allude to. Could it be this?
The Project Gutenberg English version of Wilhelm Meister, ...
- 3,965
2
votes
What is the textual origin of the quote attributed to Goethe starting "The heights charm us, but the steps do not"
Wilhelm Meister's Wanderjahre (Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship)
Book VII Chapter IX
Art is long, life short, judgment difficult, opportunity transient. To act is easy, to think is hard; to act ...
- 2,221
2
votes
What is the central summary of "Erlkönig"?
There's not a hidden sub-text as far as I'm concerned. Just because it's a "children's poem" doesn't mean good music can't be made out of it! For other examples, check out Peter and the Wolf ...
- 2,216
2
votes
Identify a Faust quote about being careful when calling upon bad spirits
It must be the following from "Der Zauberlehrling" ("The Sorceror's Apprentice", 1797):
Ach, da kommt der Meister!
Herr, die Not ist groß!
Die ich rief, die Geister
werd ich nun ...
2
votes
What did Goethe mean by "each situation, each moment, is of infinite worth"?
The quotation comes from Margaret Fuller’s translation of Johann Peter Eckermann’s Gespräche mit Goethe (Conversations with Goethe):
We then talked of the papers relating to his [Goethe’s] journey ...
- 53.5k
2
votes
What well known phrase from "Götz von Berlichingen" is alluded to in All Quiet in the Western Front?
There is a Wikipedia page about this play and this notorious passage and
the various editions which printed it straight or expurgated. According to Wikipedia, in Act 3, Scene 16, Goethe wrote:
...
- 3,965
2
votes
Which literature work took the longest time in its author's life (finished or not)
The first volume of Herny Roth's second novel, Mercy of a Rude Stream (a four-volume work) appeared in 1994, shortly before his death in 1995, and
60 years after his first book, Call it Sleep, was ...
- 11.6k
2
votes
Which literature work took the longest time in its author's life (finished or not)
Tolkien's Silmarillion is probably a contender. According to the Tolkien Society's timeline, his first identifiable Middle-Earth fragment (which would likely have been part of his 'Lost Tales', which ...
- 4,732
2
votes
Is this quote by Goethe, and what is the source?
The earliest appearance of this quote that I can find is here:
For a short while she [Diane Arbus] studied with Berenice Abbott, who photographed New York and James Joyce and collected [Eugène] Atget....
- 53.5k
1
vote
Where does Goethe refer to "from the deepest mountain valley to the highest mountain top"?
Looking at Wikiquote’s page on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, I find the following:
Der echte gesetzgebende Künstler strebt nach Kunstwahrheit, der gesetzlose, der einem blinden Trieb solgt, nach ...
- 53.5k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible