May Song
May Song - meaning Summary
Spring as Personal Joy
Goethe's "May Song" celebrates spring as an outward sign and inward cause of joy and love. The speaker responds to blooming fields, sunshine, and birdsong by addressing both nature and a beloved, equating seasonal renewal with erotic and creative vitality. The poem links sensory abundance to emotional warmth, portraying love as mutual, life-affirming, and generative—fueling dance, poetry, and hopes for enduring happiness together.
Read Complete AnalysesHow sweetly Nature Brightens round me! How the sun’s shining! How the fields gleam! Blossoms are bursting From every leaf, Thousands of voices From bushes beneath, And joy and bliss From every eye. O Earth, O Sun! O Joy, O Delight. O Love, O Love! So golden fair, Like morning clouds On the hillside there! Your splendour blesses The fields so fresh, The whole wide world In a blossoming mist. O Darling, Darling, How I love you! How your eyes shine! How you love too! So the lark loves Singing on high, And flowers at dawn The scented sky, As I love you With veins on fire, You who give me Youth, Joy, Desire For new dances New poetry. Be happy forever, As you love me!
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