The German Art

Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) · 1805

trochaic tetrameter · AABCCB · 18 lines · from The Poems of Schiller: Third Period

By no kind Augustus reared,To no Medici endeared,German art arose;Fostering glory smiled not on her,Ne'er with kingly smiles to sun her,Did her blooms unclose.

No,--she went by monarchs slightedWent unhonored, unrequited,From high Frederick's throne;Praise and pride be all the greater,That man's genius did create her,From man's worth alone.

Therefore, all from loftier mountains,Purer wells and richer fountains,Streams our poet-art;So no rule to curb its rushing--All the fuller flows it gushingFrom its deep--the heart!

Words in this poem

went n.
Course; way; path; journey; direction.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The German Art 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 German Art, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/the-german-art.html, id L21862.

Form and metre

The German Art is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).

See other poems in trochaic 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. 1 AABCCB rearedA · endearedA · aroseB · herC · herC · uncloseB
  2. 2 AAB--B slightedA · unrequitedA · throneB · greater · her · aloneB
  3. 3 AABCCB mountainsA · fountainsA · artB · rushingC · gushingC · heartB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.

LineSyl.Stress
By no kind Augustus reared,7···˘/˘·
To no Medici endeared,7··˘/˘˘/
German art arose;5/˘·˘/
Fostering glory smiled not on her,8/˘/˘····
Ne'er with kingly smiles to sun her,8··/˘····
Did her blooms unclose.5···˘/
No,--she went by monarchs slighted8····/·/˘
Went unhonored, unrequited,8·····˘/˘
From high Frederick's throne;5··/˘·
Praise and pride be all the greater,8······/˘
That man's genius did create her,8··/˘·˘/·
From man's worth alone.5···˘/
Therefore, all from loftier mountains,9····/˘˘/˘
Purer wells and richer fountains,8/˘··/˘/˘
Streams our poet-art;6·/˘/˘·
So no rule to curb its rushing--8······/˘
All the fuller flows it gushing8··/˘··/˘
From its deep--the heart!5·····

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.

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