At the forest by Eduard Mörike
The interpretation of Eduard Mörike's poem "Am Walde" is to be seen in close connection with Mörike's self-image as a poet.
Eduard Mörike (1804 to 1875) had studied theology and took up a position as a Protestant pastor, but was retired at the age of almost 40. From then on he devoted himself exclusively to his poetry. Mörike saw himself - like Mozart, with whom he identified himself in his novella "Mozart on the Journey to Prague" - as artistic genius who cannot cope with bourgeois life and enjoys his life, but who finds an early death will. This setting is also for the interpretation of "Am Walde" fundamentally.
Interpretation of "Am Walde"
In his sonnet "Am Walde" Eduard Mörike describes himself as an outsider of society who is one with nature and lives out his artistic identity in the idyll on the edge of the forest. Another important motif for the interpretation is the image of the distance with which Mörike concludes his sonnet.
- The first stanza shows the idyllic picture at the edge of the forest full of harmony and leisure. Key words here are, for example, "consonance", "weigh in" or "peaceful".
- The second stanza outlines the counter-image from which the poet evidently fled: The formulations "worst plague" and "grimaces of society" mark this very drastically.
- The last two stanzas represent the poet's lyrical activity: the "wreaths crowded together in the sonnet" "weave as if by themselves" under the hands of the "poet".
- "Meanwhile, the eyes wander in the distance: In contrast to the" fine people "who assume that he is a waste of time, he is able to look forward look, to look into the distance - something that Mörike apparently does not trust society, because he suspects that she will "ultimately even." envy". The distance can also be understood here as an image for death.
You want to prepare a poem interpretation and you don't know exactly how to do it ...
It is true that Eduard Mörike is often the main representative of the literature of the Biedermeier period, especially in the sonnet "Am Walde", however, he proves to be strongly influenced by Romanticism. The motif of the longing for death, which is expressed in the view into the distance - in the important last line of the sonnet may come, and the flight from the world, which is described so extensively and ideally in the poem, are clear indications thereon.
Eduard Mörike's "Am Walde" - a sonnet
Eduard Mörike himself points this out in the poem: "Am Walde" is a sonnet. This demanding lyrical form (which, in his hands, appears to be of its own accord, as he is not without pride in remarking) consists of two quartets (the first two, four-line stanzas) and two thirds (the two three-line stanzas), which rhyme according to the Italian model according to the scheme abba, abba, cde, cde. The two quartets juxtapose thesis and antithesis in terms of content, the two trios deepen the subject.
