Marienbad Elegy

It is named after the spa town of Marienbad (now Mariánské Lázně) where Goethe, 72-years-old, spent the summer of 1821.

On that occasion, he asked Ulrike, via his friend, Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, to marry him.

This poem, considered one of Goethe's finest and most personal,[1][2][3] reflects the devastating sadness the poet felt when his proposal for marriage was declined.

[4] Mir ist das All, ich bin mir selbst verloren, Der ich noch erst den Göttern Liebling war; Sie prüften mich, verliehen mir Pandoren, So reich an Gütern, reicher an Gefahr; Sie drängten mich zum gabeseligen Munde, Sie trennen mich, und richten mich zugrunde.

To me is all, I to myself am lost, Who the immortals' fav'rite erst was thought; They, tempting, sent Pandoras to my cost, So rich in wealth, with danger far more fraught; They urged me to those lips, with rapture crown'd, Deserted me, and hurl'd me to the ground.