Roman Elegies II
First Version
Roman Elegies II - context Summary
Composed in Rome, 1788
This poem is one of Goethe’s Roman Elegies, written in Rome in 1788 and published 1795. It records the poet’s reactions while abroad: distancing himself from the fictional Werther and the public scandal surrounding that earlier work. Addressing readers and society, Goethe contrasts his Roman freedom and personal life with the sensational fame of Werther and Lotte, presenting his Italian experience as a corrective, liberating perspective.
Read Complete AnalysesAsk now, whoever you wish, you can’t reach me, Lovely Ladies, and you, fine Men of the World! Did Werther really live? Was it really like that? Which town can truly claim Lotte as resident? Ah, how often I’ve cursed those foolish pages, That showed my youthful sufferings to everyone! If Werther had been my brother, and I’d killed him, His sad ghost could hardly have persecuted me more. So Malbrouk persecuted the British traveller From Paris to Leghorn, then from Leghorn to Rome, Then down to Naples, and if he’d sailed to Madras There too the harbour would have been filled with the song. Luckily I’ve escaped! She’s barely heard of Lotte Or Werther, or knows the name of this man of hers. She sees in him a free, and vigorous stranger, Who lives among mountains and snow, in a wooden house.
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