Skip to content
Linespedia

Explanation Of An Antique Gem,

Topics: classic

A Young fig-tree its form lifts high     Within a beauteous garden;     And see, a goat is sitting by.     As if he were its warden.     But oh, Quirites, how one errs!     The tree is guarded badly;     For round the other side there whirrs     And hums a beetle madly.     The hero with his well-mail'd coat     Nibbles the branches tall so;     A mighty longing feels the goat     Gently to climb up also.     And so, my friends, ere long ye see     The tree all leafless standing;     It looks a type of misery,     Help of the gods demanding.     Then listen, ye ingenuous youth,     Who hold wise saws respected:     From he-goat and from beetles-tooth     A tree should be protected!

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"A Young fig-tree its form lifts high..."

"Explanation Of An Antique Gem," is a quintessential example of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Classified Tags

Related lines

"Chords are touch'd by Apollo, the death-laden bow, too, he bendeth;     While he the shepherdess charms, Python he lays in the dust.      -"

"Could this early bliss but rest     Constant for one single hour!     But e'en now the humid West     Scatters many a vernal shower.     Sho"

"He who with life makes sport,     Can prosper never;     Who rules himself in nought,     Is a slave ever.     MAY each honest effort be"

"Fly, dearest, fly! He is not nigh!     He who found thee one fair morn in Spring     In the wood where thou thy flight didst wing.     Fly, d"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Continue Reading

"Chords are touch'd by Apollo, the death-laden bow,..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.