In school we were "forced" to read one of the biggest classics in german literature: Johann Wolfang von Goethe's drama Faust I.
Most of us found it sooo boring and hard to read we didn't even tried.
So did I. I didn't care, I didn't wanted to waste my time on this old german stuff.
One day my classteacher took us to the drama play to make it easier to understand the plot.
I was fascinated! Flattered! Touched!
After I started reading the book and I loved it! I read it forwards, backwards, sidewards, randomely.
I went to the drama play two more times. Even the actors got to know me.
The plot amazed me and the words felt like ice-cream melting on your tongue to me.
That was the point my classmates and teacher declared me for insane. :D
Here's a part out of this - my favorite book.
By the way,the only poem I know by heart...
In english it's obviously not as nice as in the original language german...But it's okay
In english it's obviously not as nice as in the original language german...But it's okay
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:
Gretchen am Spinnrad
(Aus Faust I)
Meine Ruh' ist hin, My peace is gone,
Mein Herz ist schwer; my heart is sore,
Ich finde sie nimmer I'll find it never
Und nimmermehr. and nevermore.
Wo ich ihn nicht hab', Without him here
Ist mir das Grab, my grave is near,
Die ganze Welt my world around
Ist mir vergällt. is sadness bound.
Mein armer Kopf My sorry head
Ist mir verrückt, is all forlorn,
Mein armer Sinn my sorry soul
Ist mir zerstückt. to pieces torn.
Meine Ruh' ist hin, My peace is gone,
Mein Herz ist schwer; my heart is sore,
Ich finde sie nimmer I'll find it never
Und nimmermehr. and nevermore.
Nach ihm nur schau' ich It's only him
Zum Fenster hinaus, I'm looking for,
Nach ihm nur geh' ich for him alone
Aus dem Haus. I tend my door.
Sein hoher Gang, His lofty walk,
Sein' edle Gestalt, his noble sight,
Seines Mundes Lächeln, his smiling face,
Seiner Augen Gewalt! his glance's might!
Und seiner Rede And his expressions'
Zauberfluß, magic bliss,
Sein Händedruck, his touch of hand
Und ach, sein Kuß! and, oh, his kiss!
Meine Ruh' ist hin, My peace is gone
Mein Herz ist schwer; my heart is sore,
Ich finde sie nimmer I'll find it never
Und nimmermehr. and nevermore.
Mein Busen drängt sich My bosom presses
nach ihm hin; toward his skin;
Ach, dürft' ich fassen oh, may I hold him
Und halten ihn and draw him in
Und küssen ihn, and may I kiss him
So wie ich wollt', as wants my heart,
An seinen Küssen under his kisses
Vergehen sollt'! to fall apart!
Addition: Summary to Faust I by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The story begins with a bet between the devil - Mephistopheles - and god about the soul of a human called Faust.
Dr. Heinrich Faust, an academic, who has studied all kind of subjects, is tired and disappointed about life and the research of the deeper meaning of it.
Just before he's about to commit suicide he instead decides to turn himself to the spirits of evilness.
Faust adjures the devilish ghosts until Mephistopheles appears.
In his state of desperation he decides to make a pact with Mephisto.
The devil promises him to be his slave and to fulfill all his wishes if Faust promises him his soul after the end of his earthly life.
When Faust falls in love with an extraordinary holy girl named Gretchen, the devil helps him to make her fall in love with him.
To make the love affair work Faust and Mephisto influence Gretchen to first kill her mother and after her brother.
The fact of having extinct her family makes her go insane.
In a condition of lunatism she at least also kills her new-born child.
Being accused for harlotry and murdering she is to lie under the death row.
However the liability of living a sinners life makes Gretchen commit suicide even before.
Her soul gets rescued and she's able to go to heaven.
-While Faust and Mephistopheles have to escape out of the city.
-> Faust II
