Song of the Spirits Over the Waters
Song of the Spirits Over the Waters - meaning Summary
Soul Compared to Water
Goethe likens the human soul to water, tracing its cyclical journey from heaven to earth and back. The poem maps different states—pure jets, foaming falls, slow streams, and reflective lakes—to moods and destinies, showing how obstacles and currents shape expression. Wind appears as an external force that stirs and alters the water, suggesting fate’s role. Overall it presents nature as a metaphor for inner life and the interplay of agency and circumstance.
Read Complete AnalysesThe soul of man Is like water: It comes from heaven, It rises to heaven, And back down To earth it must again, Eternally changing. When from the high Sheer wall of rock The pure jet streams, It gently dusts Down on the smooth stone In waves of clouds, And, lightly embraced, Undulates, veils, Softly murmuring Down to the deep. If cliffs obstruct Its fall, It foams angrily Step by step Into the abyss. In the flat river bed It steals through the valley’s meadows, And in the smooth lake All the stars Feast on their own faces. Wind is the wave’s Fine lover; Wind mixes the foaming swell From the bottom of the lake. Soul of man, How like water you are! Fate of man, How like the wind!
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