Cathedral
(MARGARET among much people: the EVIL SPIRIT behindMARGARET.)
HOW otherwise was it, Margaret,When thou, still innocent,Here to the altar cam’st,And from the worn and fingered bookThy prayers didst prattle,Half sport of childhood,Half God within thee!Margaret!Where tends thy thought?Within thy bosomWhat hidden crime?Pray’st thou for mercy on thy mother’s soul,That fell asleep to long, long torment, and through thee?Upon thy threshold whose the blood?And stirreth not and quickensSomething beneath thy heart,Thy life disquietingWith most foreboding presence?
Woe! woe!Would I were free from the thoughtsThat cross me, drawing hither and thitherDespite me!
Diesira, dies illa,Solvet soeclum in favilla!(Sound of the organ.)
Wrath takes thee!The trumpet peals!The graves tremble!And thy heartFrom ashy restTo fiery tormentsNow again requickened,Throbs to life!
Would I were forth!I feel as if the organ hereMy breath takes from me,My very heartDissolved by the anthem!
Judex ergo cum sedebit,Quidquid latet, ad parebit,Nil inultum remanebit.
I cannot breathe!The massy pillarsImprison me!The vaulted archesCrush me!—Air!
Hide thyself! Sin and shameStay never hidden.Air? Light?Woe to thee!
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus,Quem patronem rogaturus,Cum vix Justus sit securus?
They turn their faces,The glorified, from thee:The pure, their hands to offer,Shuddering, refuse thee!Woe!
Words in this poem
- fingered a.
- Having fingers.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- childhood n.
- The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty. [AS. cildhad; cild child + -had. See Child, and hood.]
- ashy a.
- Pertaining to, or composed of, ashes; filled, or strewed with, ashes.
- anthem v. t.
- To celebrate with anthems.
- ergo conj.
- Therefore; consequently; -- often used in a jocular way. [L.]
- massy a.
- Compacted into, or consisting of, a mass; having bulk and weight ot substance; ponderous; bulky and heavy; weight; heavy; as, a massy shield; a massy rock.
- quid n.
- A portion suitable to be chewed; a cud; as, a quid of tobacco. [See Cud.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Cathedral is in the public domain. This text is taken from Faust, Part One, Project Gutenberg ebook #14591, the Bayard Taylor translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Cathedral, in Faust, Part One (1870), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14591, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/goethe-faust/cathedral.html, id L14402.
Form and metre
Cathedral is 60 lines in 11 stanzas. 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.7 syllables. 19 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 2 A-----BAACC-B----- margaretA · innocent · cam'st · book · prattle · childhood · theeB · margaretA · thoughtA · bosomC · crimeC · soul · theeB · blood · quickens · heart · disquieting · presence
- 4 AA- illaA · favillaA · organ
- 7 AAA sedebitA · parebitA · remanebitA
- 10 AAA dicturusA · rogaturusA · securusA
- 11 -A-A- faces · theeA · offer · theeA · woe
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| (MARGARET among much people: the EVIL SPIRIT behind | 12 | /˘···/˘·//·· |
| MARGARET.) | 3 | /˘˘ |
| HOW otherwise was it, Margaret, | 9 | ·/˘···/˘˘ |
| When thou, still innocent, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Here to the altar cam’st, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And from the worn and fingered book | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thy prayers didst prattle, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Half sport of childhood, | 5 | ···/· |
| Half God within thee! | 5 | ····· |
| Margaret! | 3 | /˘˘ |
| Where tends thy thought? | 4 | ···· |
| Within thy bosom | 5 | ···/˘ |
| What hidden crime? | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Pray’st thou for mercy on thy mother’s soul, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| That fell asleep to long, long torment, and through thee? | 12 | ··˘/···/···· |
| Upon thy threshold whose the blood? | 8 | ···/···· |
| And stirreth not and quickens | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Something beneath thy heart, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Thy life disquieting | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| With most foreboding presence? | 7 | ··˘/˘/˘ |
| Woe! woe! | 2 | ·· |
| Would I were free from the thoughts | 7 | ······· |
| That cross me, drawing hither and thither | 10 | ···/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Despite me! | 3 | ˘/· |
| Diesira, dies illa, | 6 | ······ |
| Solvet soeclum in favilla! | 8 | ········ |
| (Sound of the organ.) | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Wrath takes thee! | 3 | ··· |
| The trumpet peals! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The graves tremble! | 4 | ··/˘ |
| And thy heart | 3 | ··· |
| From ashy rest | 4 | ·/˘· |
| To fiery torments | 6 | ·/˘˘/· |
| Now again requickened, | 7 | ·˘/···˘ |
| Throbs to life! | 3 | ··· |
| Would I were forth! | 4 | ···· |
| I feel as if the organ here | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My breath takes from me, | 5 | ····· |
| My very heart | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Dissolved by the anthem! | 7 | ˘/˘··/˘ |
| Judex ergo cum sedebit, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Quidquid latet, ad parebit, | 8 | ········ |
| Nil inultum remanebit. | 8 | ········ |
| I cannot breathe! | 4 | ·/˘· |
| The massy pillars | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Imprison me! | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| The vaulted arches | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Crush me!—Air! | 3 | ··· |
| Hide thyself! Sin and shame | 6 | ·˘/··· |
| Stay never hidden. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Air? Light? | 2 | ·· |
| Woe to thee! | 3 | ··· |
| Quid sum miser tunc dicturus, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Quem patronem rogaturus, | 8 | ········ |
| Cum vix Justus sit securus? | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| They turn their faces, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The glorified, from thee: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The pure, their hands to offer, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Shuddering, refuse thee! | 6 | /˘˘˘/· |
| Woe! | 1 | · |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.