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Marienbad Elegy

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Originally published
  
1823

Similar
  
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe books, Other books

The "Marienbad Elegy" is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Analysis

This poem, considered one of Goethe's finest and most personal, reflects the devastating sadness the poet felt when Baroness Ulrike von Levetzow declined his proposal (Goethe did not propose to her personally, but via a friend, Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach). Goethe was 73 years old, she was 18. He started writing the poem on 5 September 1823 in a coach which carried him from Cheb to Weimar and by his arrival on 12 September, it was finished. He showed it only to his closest friends.

Goethe never returned to Bohemia again. He died in Weimar in 1832.

References

Marienbad Elegy Wikipedia