4600 4605 4610 Mephistopheles erscheint draußen. Auf oder ihr seid verloren. Unnüßes Zagén! Zaudern und Plaudern! Der Morgen dämmert auf. Margarete. Was steigt aus dem Boden herauf? Der der Schick' ihn fort! Was will der an dem heiligen Ort? Er will mich! Faust. Du sollst leben! Margarete. Gericht Gottes! Dir hab' ich mich übergeben! Mephistopheles zu Faust. Komm! komm! Ich lasse dich mit ihr im Stich. Margarete. Dein bin ich, Vater! Rette mich ! Mephistopheles. Sie ist gerichtet! Stimme von oben. Ist gerettet! Mephistopheles zu Faust. Her zu mir! Verschwindet mit Faust. Stimme von innen, verhallend. Heinrich! Heinrich ! ABBREVIATIONS. Cf. C.M. D.M. Fgm. Intr. Compare, see. Christlich Meynenden Faust-book (Intr. p. xvii). Goethe-Jahrbuch. Introduction Werke. page. Paralipomena (see under Strehlke, Appendix I). Wörterbuch Goethe's Works, Weimar Edition (Intr. p. x, foot-note). Other common abbreviations, including those of familiar grammatical and philological terms, books of the Bible, etc., do not require explanations. Where a work is referred to by the author's name only, consult the bibliographical list in Appendix I. (232) Zucignung. THESE fine stanzas, written, as we now know from Goethe's diary, ›n the 24th of June, 1797, are in no sense a part of the drama of Faust, but simply an 'occasional' lyric. The poet, now in middle life, has determined to resume work upon Faust. In dedicating' himself to the task he gives expression to the feelings that come to him as he thinks of his youth when the work was begun. Cf. Intr. p. lix. The meter, a regular eight-line stanza with feminine rimes a, c, and masculine rimes b, combining according to the system abababcc, was a favorite one with Goethe in pensive, elegiac moods. 1. schwankende Gestalten, wavering forms'; Faust, Mephistopheles, Gretchen, etc., conceived as air-phantoms. Goethe often alludes to his poetic musings under the image of communing with spirits. Cf. his Tasso, 1.562. In a letter to Schiller of July 1, 1797, he speaks of the ‘airphantoms of Faust.' — Wieder, ‘again,' with allusion to their first approach in the poet's youth. 2. trüben, 'dim'; his early vision was not yet clear. 4. Wahn; not exactly 'illusion,' nor delusion,' but 'fantastic idea,' viz., the early project of dramatizing the Faust-legend. To the Goethe of 1797 this project, as he had long ago conceived it, appears quixotic, based on illusion. Cf. Intr. p. lix. 5. mögt ihr walten, 'you may have your way.' 6. Wie ihr .... steigt. At the noontide of his life the poet has reached a clear height, from which the youthful Faust and its mental associations present themselves as a region of 'foggy mist.' Cf. the letter to Schiller of June 22, 1797, where, as here, Dunst und Nebel is a hendiadys for Nebeldunft. From out this dim medium the forms' rise about him and mutely insist upon a renewal of the earlier comradeship. He resolves to yield to their importunity. |