Farewell to the Reader
A maiden blush o'er every feature straying,The Muse her gentle harp now lays down here,And stands before thee, for thy judgment praying,--She waits with reverence, but not with fear;Her last farewell for his kind smile delaying.Whom splendor dazzles not who holds truth dear.The hand of him alone whose soaring spiritWorships the beautiful, can crown her merit.
These simple lays are only heard resounding,While feeling hearts are gladdened by their tone,With brighter phantasies their path surrounding,To nobler aims their footsteps guiding on.Yet coming ages ne'er will hear them sounding,They live but for the present hour alone;The passing moment called them into being,And, as the hours dance on, they, too, are fleeing.
The spring returns, and nature then awaking,Bursts into life across the smiling plain;Each shrub its perfume through the air is shaking,And heaven is filled with one sweet choral strain;While young and old, their secret haunts forsaking,With raptured eye and ear rejoice again.The spring then flies,--to seed return the flowers.And naught remains to mark the vanished hours.
Words in this poem
- choral a.
- Of or pertaining to a choir or chorus; singing, sung, or adapted to be sung, in chorus or harmony. Choral service, a service of song. [LL. choralis, fr. L. chorus. See Chorus.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Farewell to the Reader is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Poems of Schiller — Third period, Project Gutenberg ebook #6796; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Friedrich Schiller, Farewell to the Reader, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/farewell-to-the-reader.html, id L21929.
Form and metre
Farewell to the Reader is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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.
- 1 ABABAB-- strayingA · hereB · prayingA · fearB · delayingA · dearB · spirit · merit
- 2 ABA-ABCC resoundingA · toneB · surroundingA · on · soundingA · aloneB · beingC · fleeingC
- 3 ABABABCC awakingA · plainB · shakingA · strainB · forsakingA · againB · flowersC · hoursC
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. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A maiden blush o'er every feature straying, | 12 | ·/˘··/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| The Muse her gentle harp now lays down here, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And stands before thee, for thy judgment praying,-- | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| She waits with reverence, but not with fear; | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Her last farewell for his kind smile delaying. | 11 | ···/····˘/˘ |
| Whom splendor dazzles not who holds truth dear. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| The hand of him alone whose soaring spirit | 11 | ····˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Worships the beautiful, can crown her merit. | 11 | /˘·/˘˘···/˘ |
| These simple lays are only heard resounding, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| While feeling hearts are gladdened by their tone, | 11 | ·/˘··/˘˘··· |
| With brighter phantasies their path surrounding, | 10 | ·/˘····˘/˘ |
| To nobler aims their footsteps guiding on. | 10 | ·/˘··/·/˘· |
| Yet coming ages ne'er will hear them sounding, | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| They live but for the present hour alone; | 11 | ·····/˘/˘˘/ |
| The passing moment called them into being, | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| And, as the hours dance on, they, too, are fleeing. | 12 | ···/˘·····/˘ |
| The spring returns, and nature then awaking, | 11 | ··˘/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| Bursts into life across the smiling plain; | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Each shrub its perfume through the air is shaking, | 11 | ···˘/····/˘ |
| And heaven is filled with one sweet choral strain; | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘· |
| While young and old, their secret haunts forsaking, | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| With raptured eye and ear rejoice again. | 11 | ·/˘˘···˘/˘/ |
| The spring then flies,--to seed return the flowers. | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| And naught remains to mark the vanished hours. | 11 | ··˘/···/˘/˘ |
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.