The Division of the Earth
"Take the world!" Zeus exclaimed from his throne in the skiesTo the children of man--"take the world I now give;It shall ever remain as your heirloom and prize,So divide it as brothers, and happily live."
Then all who had hands sought their share to obtain,The young and the aged made haste to appear;The husbandman seized on the fruits of the plain,The youth through the forest pursued the fleet deer.
The merchant took all that his warehouse could hold,The abbot selected the last year's best wine,The king barred the bridges,--the highways controlled,And said, "Now remember, the tithes shall be mine!"
But when the division long-settled had been,The poet drew nigh from a far distant land;But alas! not a remnant was now to be seen,Each thing on the earth owned a master's command.
"Alas! shall then I, of thy sons the most true,--Shall I, 'mongst them all, be forgotten alone?"Thus loudly he cried in his anguish, and threwHimself in despair before Jupiter's throne.
"If thou in the region of dreams didst delay,Complain not of me," the Immortal replied;"When the world was apportioned, where then wert thou, pray?""I was," said the poet, "I was--by thy side!"
"Mine eye was then fixed on thy features so bright,Mine ear was entranced by thy harmony's power;Oh, pardon the spirit that, awed by thy light,All things of the earth could forget in that hour!"
"What to do?" Zeus exclaimed,--"for the world has been given;The harvest, the market, the chase, are not free;But if thou with me wilt abide in my heaven,Whenever thou comest, 'twill be open to thee!"
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- happily adv.
- By chance; peradventure; haply. Piers Plowman. [From Happy.]
- husbandman n.
- The master of a family.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Division of the Earth 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, The Division of the Earth, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/the-division-of-the-earth.html, id L21849.
Form and metre
The Division of the Earth is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 6 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%).
See other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
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 ABAB skiesA · giveB · prizeA · liveB
- 2 ABAB obtainA · appearB · plainA · deerB
- 3 ABAB holdA · wineB · controlledA · mineB
- 4 -A-A been · landA · seen · commandA
- 5 ABAB trueA · aloneB · threwA · throneB
- 6 ABAB delayA · repliedB · prayA · sideB
- 7 ABAB brightA · powerB · lightA · hourB
- 8 -A-A given · freeA · heaven · theeA
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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "Take the world!" Zeus exclaimed from his throne in the skies | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| To the children of man--"take the world I now give; | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| It shall ever remain as your heirloom and prize, | 11 | ··/˘/··/··· |
| So divide it as brothers, and happily live." | 11 | ·˘/··/˘·/˘· |
| Then all who had hands sought their share to obtain, | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| The young and the aged made haste to appear; | 10 | ········˘/ |
| The husbandman seized on the fruits of the plain, | 11 | ·/˘˘······· |
| The youth through the forest pursued the fleet deer. | 11 | ····/˘˘/··· |
| The merchant took all that his warehouse could hold, | 11 | ·/˘····/··· |
| The abbot selected the last year's best wine, | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘····· |
| The king barred the bridges,--the highways controlled, | 11 | ····/˘·/·˘/ |
| And said, "Now remember, the tithes shall be mine!" | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
| But when the division long-settled had been, | 11 | ···˘/˘·/˘·· |
| The poet drew nigh from a far distant land; | 11 | ·/˘·····/˘· |
| But alas! not a remnant was now to be seen, | 12 | ·˘/··/˘····· |
| Each thing on the earth owned a master's command. | 11 | ·······/˘˘/ |
| "Alas! shall then I, of thy sons the most true,-- | 11 | ˘/········· |
| Shall I, 'mongst them all, be forgotten alone?" | 11 | ······˘/˘˘/ |
| Thus loudly he cried in his anguish, and threw | 11 | ·/˘····/˘·· |
| Himself in despair before Jupiter's throne. | 11 | ˘/·˘/··/˘˘· |
| "If thou in the region of dreams didst delay, | 11 | ····/˘···˘/ |
| Complain not of me," the Immortal replied; | 11 | ˘/····˘/˘˘/ |
| "When the world was apportioned, where then wert thou, pray?" | 12 | ····˘/˘····· |
| "I was," said the poet, "I was--by thy side!" | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| "Mine eye was then fixed on thy features so bright, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Mine ear was entranced by thy harmony's power; | 12 | ···˘/··/˘˘/˘ |
| Oh, pardon the spirit that, awed by thy light, | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| All things of the earth could forget in that hour!" | 12 | ······˘/··/˘ |
| "What to do?" Zeus exclaimed,--"for the world has been given; | 12 | ····˘/·····/ |
| The harvest, the market, the chase, are not free; | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| But if thou with me wilt abide in my heaven, | 12 | ······˘/··/˘ |
| Whenever thou comest, 'twill be open to thee!" | 12 | ˘/˘·····/˘·· |
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.