Thekla
Whither was it that my spirit wendedWhen from thee my fleeting shadow moved?Is not now each earthly conflict ended?Say,--have I not lived,--have I not loved?
Art thou for the nightingales inquiringWho entranced thee in the early yearWith their melody so joy-inspiring?Only whilst they loved they lingered here.
Is the lost one lost to me forever?Trust me, with him joyfully I strayThere, where naught united souls can sever,And where every tear is wiped away.
And thou, too, wilt find us in yon heaven,When thy love with our love can compare;There my father dwells, his sins forgiven,--Murder foul can never reach him there.
And he feels that him no vision cheatedWhen he gazed upon the stars on high;For as each one metes, to him 'tis meted;Who believes it, hath the Holy nigh.
Faith is kept in those blest regions yonderWith the feelings true that ne'er decay.Venture thou to dream, then, and to wanderNoblest thoughts oft lie in childlike play.
Words in this poem
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- childlike a.
- Resembling a child, or that which belongs to children; becoming a child; meek; submissive; dutiful.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Thekla 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, Thekla, in The Poems of Schiller: Third Period (1805), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6796, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/schiller-third-period/thekla.html, id L21872.
Form and metre
Thekla is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 A-A- wendedA · moved · endedA · loved
- 2 ABAB inquiringA · yearB · inspiringA · hereB
- 3 ABAB foreverA · strayB · severA · awayB
- 4 -A-A heaven · compareA · forgiven · thereA
- 5 ABAB cheatedA · highB · metedA · nighB
- 6 ABAB yonderA · decayB · wanderA · playB
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Whither was it that my spirit wended | 10 | /˘····/˘/˘ |
| When from thee my fleeting shadow moved? | 10 | ····/˘/··˘ |
| Is not now each earthly conflict ended? | 10 | ····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Say,--have I not lived,--have I not loved? | 10 | ·····˘···· |
| Art thou for the nightingales inquiring | 11 | ····/˘˘˘/˘˘ |
| Who entranced thee in the early year | 10 | ·˘/˘···/˘· |
| With their melody so joy-inspiring? | 10 | ··/˘˘··˘/˘ |
| Only whilst they loved they lingered here. | 10 | /˘···˘·/˘· |
| Is the lost one lost to me forever? | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| Trust me, with him joyfully I stray | 9 | ····/˘˘·· |
| There, where naught united souls can sever, | 10 | ···˘/˘··/˘ |
| And where every tear is wiped away. | 10 | ··/˘˘···˘/ |
| And thou, too, wilt find us in yon heaven, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| When thy love with our love can compare; | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| There my father dwells, his sins forgiven,-- | 10 | ··/˘···˘/˘ |
| Murder foul can never reach him there. | 9 | /˘··/˘··· |
| And he feels that him no vision cheated | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| When he gazed upon the stars on high; | 10 | ···˘······ |
| For as each one metes, to him 'tis meted; | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Who believes it, hath the Holy nigh. | 9 | ·˘/···/˘· |
| Faith is kept in those blest regions yonder | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| With the feelings true that ne'er decay. | 9 | ··/˘···˘/ |
| Venture thou to dream, then, and to wander | 10 | /˘······/˘ |
| Noblest thoughts oft lie in childlike play. | 9 | /˘····/·· |
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.