Product Overview
Generally considered Germany's greatest literary figure, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (17491832) produced a large body of fine literary work that includes novels, plays, stories, scientific treatises, travel accounts, and much other prose. Perhaps at his greatest as a poet, he was the author of numerous exceptionally fine lyric poems, ballads, and elegies.
This convenient dual-language edition, spanning a wide range of styles, forms, and moods, allows readers to savor a rich selection of the poet's verse in the original German from An den Sclaf ( To Sleep ), written when he was 18, to his last great poem, Vermchtnis ( Legacy ), written when he was 80. Several poems from the 1819 volume West-stlicher Divan (Occidental-Oriental Divan) are presented. Excellent line-for-line English translations on facing pages accompany such masterworks as Prometheus, typical of the Sturm and Drang (storm and stress) period; Rastlose Liebe ( Restless Love ) and An den Mond ( To the Moon ), lyric pieces of intense beauty; and the narrative ballads Der Fischer ( The Fisherman ) and Erlknig ( Elf King ). Included among the 96 other works are these poems: Auf dem See ( On the Lake ); Zigeunerlied ( Gypsy Song ); Jgers Abendlied ( Huntsman's Evening Song ); Grenzen der Menschheit ( Limitations of Humanity ); Der Zauberiehrling ( The Sorcerer's Apprentice ); and An Werther ( To Werther ).
For this edition, translator Stanley Appelbaum has provided an informative introduction and a commentary on each poem, which will prove invaluable to students, teachers, and general readers.
This convenient dual-language edition, spanning a wide range of styles, forms, and moods, allows readers to savor a rich selection of the poet's verse in the original German from An den Sclaf ( To Sleep ), written when he was 18, to his last great poem, Vermchtnis ( Legacy ), written when he was 80. Several poems from the 1819 volume West-stlicher Divan (Occidental-Oriental Divan) are presented. Excellent line-for-line English translations on facing pages accompany such masterworks as Prometheus, typical of the Sturm and Drang (storm and stress) period; Rastlose Liebe ( Restless Love ) and An den Mond ( To the Moon ), lyric pieces of intense beauty; and the narrative ballads Der Fischer ( The Fisherman ) and Erlknig ( Elf King ). Included among the 96 other works are these poems: Auf dem See ( On the Lake ); Zigeunerlied ( Gypsy Song ); Jgers Abendlied ( Huntsman's Evening Song ); Grenzen der Menschheit ( Limitations of Humanity ); Der Zauberiehrling ( The Sorcerer's Apprentice ); and An Werther ( To Werther ).
For this edition, translator Stanley Appelbaum has provided an informative introduction and a commentary on each poem, which will prove invaluable to students, teachers, and general readers.
