Poetry and Truth From My Own Life Author:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1908 Original Publisher: Bell Subjects: Literary Criticism / European / German Poetry / Continental European Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition o... more »f this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: POETRY AND TRUTH FROM MY OWN LIFE PART THE THIRD IT IS PROVIDED THAT TREES SHOULD NOT GROW INTO THE SKY ELEVENTH BOOK In telling my tale in the arbour at Sesenheim, I had interwoven the commonplace and the marvellous with the best skill I could muster, and when I drew to a close, I found that my hearers, who had followed me throughout with exceptional interest, were quite spell-bound bythe novelty of my story. They urged me to write the tale, that they might often hear it again, by reading it among themselves, and to others. I promised this all the more readily, as I hoped it would form a pretext for repeating my visit, and give me an opportunity of forming a closer acquaintance. The party broke up for a while, and all were inclined to feel that, after a day spent so pleasantly, the evening might perhaps fall rather flat. I was freed from this anxiety by my friend, who asked permission for us both to take leave at once, because, as an industrious academical student, regular in his studies, he wished to pass the night at Drusenheim, and to be in Strasburg early in the morning. We both rode to our quarters for the night in silence; I, because of the longing in my heart, which drew me back; he, because he had something else on his mind, which he confided to me as soon as we arrived. " It is strange," he began, " that you should hit just upon this tale. You must VOL. II. , B have noticed that it made quite a remarkable impression ? " "Of course," I answered, "how could I help observing that...« less