Analysis of Celebrity
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)
ON bridges small and bridges great
Stands Nepomucks in ev'ry state,
Of bronze, wood, painted, or of stone,
Some small as dolls, some giants grown;
Each passer must worship before Nepomuck,
Who to die on a bridge chanced to have the ill luck,
When once a man with head and ears
A saint in people's eyes appears,
Or has been sentenced piteously
Beneath the hangman's hand to die,
He's as a noted person prized,
In portrait is immortalized.
Engravings, woodcuts, are supplied,
And through the world spread far and wide.
Upon them all is seen his name,
And ev'ry one admits his claim;
Even the image of the Lord
Is not with greater zeal ador'd.
Strange fancy of the human race!
Half sinner frail, half child of grace
We see HERR WERTHER of the story
In all the pomp of woodcut glory.
His worth is first made duly known,
By having his sad features shown
At ev'ry fair the country round;
In ev'ry alehouse too they're found.
His stick is pointed by each dunce
"The ball would reach his brain at once!"
And each says, o'er his beer and bread:
"Thank Heav'n that 'tis not we are dead!"
Scheme | AABBCCDDEFGGHHIIJJKKLLBBMMDNOO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (37%) |
Metre | 11010101 11011 11110111 11111101 110110011 111101111011 11011101 01010101 111101 0101111 11010101 01010100 0101101 01011101 01111111 0110111 10010101 11110101 11010101 11011111 111101010 01011110 11111101 11011101 1110101 011111 11110111 01111111 011101101 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,056 |
Words | 202 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 30 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 834 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 198 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 02, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 96 Views
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"Celebrity" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/21631/celebrity>.
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