Goethe’s “Osterspaziergang” Poem

The Easter (Ostern) observance in the German-speaking world tends to be much longer than in Anglo-American regions. Good Friday (Karfreitag), the day commemorating Jesus’s crucifixion, starts the final countdown over a period of four days. Holy Saturday (Karsamstag), Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday follow, creating a nice long weekend, during which Germany, Austria and Switzerland pretty much close down completely. (Make sure you’ve got your grocery shopping done before Good Friday, an official public holiday!)

Which brings us to another popular Germanic Easter custom: the Easter walk or Easter stroll. With the advent of spring and (hopefully) warmer weather, people go for an Easter stroll or hike – usually on Easter Monday, a legal holiday in Germany and much of Europe. If possible, this takes place in the countryside next to a brook or river of some kind. (A nice big park will also work.) Easter is seen as a time to reconnect with nature after long, cold winter.

Why a stream or brook? That is inspired by a well-known poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. (It may also be the other way around: Goethe’s poem was inspired by the historic custom.) Usually referred to as “Osterspaziergang” (“Easter Walk/Stroll”), the poem is actually part of Goethe’s famous masterwork, Faust, Part 1, a two-part lyric drama by Germany’s “Shakespeare.” The poem is in a section of Goethe’s “Faust” drama titled Vor dem Tor (“Before the Gate”). The first line of the poem reads:

“Vom Eise befreit sind Strom und Bäche”
(“From the ice freed are stream and brooks”)

The poem’s last line proclaims:

“Hier bin ich Mensch, hier darf ich’s sein!”
(“Here I am human, here I can be that!”)
See the entire poem below, in German and English.

And that is the basic idea behind the Easter walk: to be once again a part of the natural world, feeling like a human being (der Mensch), as a sort of resurrection, coming out of hibernation and experiencing nature. And most Germans are very much lovers of nature, forests, and the outdoors. An Easter hike or stroll fits very well into that mindset.

About the English Translations
Any translation, particularly for poetry, has to make compromises and adjustments for language differences. The old somewhat sexist saying seems to apply: If a translation is beautiful, it’s not faithful. If it’s faithful, it’s not beautiful.

Most critics claim that the 1853 Bowring English translation (No. 1 below) fails to capture the rhythm of Goethe’s original verses, while also using dated language. But Bowring was translating in the 19th century, closer to Goethe’s time than any modern translation. The rhythm criticism may hold, but keeping the meaning, rhyme, and beat of a poem in translation is no minor challenge. The second translation by Roland Freischlad (No. 2 below) is far more recent. But we offer two English translations, written 168 years apart. You can be the judge of which one is better – or not.

A painting of Goethe in 1828, age 79. The portrait by Karl Joseph Stieler (1781–1858) is on display at the Neue Pinakothek in Munich. PHOTO: Public Domain

Also see: German Easter and Springtime Traditions

Osterspaziergang

From “Faust 1” (Vor dem Tor/Before the Gate)
See two English versions of this poem below.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)

Vom Eise befreit sind Strom und Bäche
Durch des Frühlings holden, belebenden Blick;
Im Tale grünet Hoffnungsglück;
Der alte Winter, in seiner Schwäche,
Zog sich in rauhe Berge zurück.

Von dorther sendet er, fliehend, nur
Ohnmächtige Schauer körnigen Eises
In Streifen über die grünende Flur;
Aber die Sonne duldet kein Weißes,
Überall regt sich Bildung und Streben,
Alles will sie mit Farben beleben;
Doch an Blumen fehlt’s im Revier,
Sie nimmt geputzte Menschen dafür.

Kehre dich um, von diesen Höhen
Nach der Stadt zurückzusehen.
Aus dem hohlen, finstern Tor
Dringt ein buntes Gewimmel hervor.
Jeder sonnt sich heute so gern.
Sie feiern die Auferstehung des Herrn,
Denn sie sind selber auferstanden;
Aus niedriger Häuser dumpfen Gemächern,
Aus Handwerks- und Gewerbesbanden,
Aus dem Druck von Giebeln und Dächern,
Aus der Straßen quetschender Enge,
Aus der Kirchen ehrwürdiger Nacht
Sind sie alle ans Licht gebracht.

Sieh nur, sieh! wie behend sich die Menge
Durch die Gärten und Felder zerschlägt,
Wie der Fluß in Breit’ und Länge
So manchen lustigen Nachen bewegt,
Und bis zum Sinken überladen
Entfernt sich dieser letzte Kahn.
Selbst von des Berges fernen Pfaden
Blinken uns farbige Kleider an.

Ich höre schon des Dorfs Getümmel,
Hier ist des Volkes wahrer Himmel,
Zufrieden jauchzet groß und klein:
Hier bin ich Mensch, hier darf ich’s sein!

Easter Walk (1)

English Translation 1 by Edgar Alfred Bowring, 1853
From “Faust 1” (Vor dem Tor/Before the Gate)
See the original German version of this poem above.

From the ice they are freed, the stream and brook,
By the Spring’s enlivening, lovely look;
The valley’s green with joys of hope;
The Winter old and weak ascends
Back to the rugged mountain slope.

From there, as he flees, he downward sends
An impotent shower of icy hail
Streaking over the verdant vale.
Ah! but the Sun will suffer no white,

Growth and formation stir everywhere,
‘Twould fain with colors make all things bright,

Though in the landscape are no blossoms fair.
Instead it takes gay-decked humanity.

Now turn around and from this height,
Looking backward, townward see.

Forth from the cave-like, gloomy gate
Crowds a motley and swarming array.

Everyone suns himself gladly today.
The Risen Lord they celebrate,

For they themselves have now arisen
From lowly houses’ mustiness,
From handicraft’s and factory’s prison,
From the roof and gables that oppress,

From the bystreets’ crushing narrowness,
From the churches’ venerable night,
They are all brought out into light.

See, only see, how quickly the masses
Scatter through gardens and fields remote;
How down and across the river passes
So many a merry pleasure-boat.
And over-laden, almost sinking,
The last full wherry moves away.
From yonder hill’s far pathways blinking,
Flash to us colors of garments gay.

Hark! Sounds of village joy arise;
Here is the people’s paradise,
Contented, great and small shout joyfully:
“Here I am Man, here dare it to be!”

This park on the Havel River in Potsdam-Babelsberg is a perfect place for an Easter walk. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons

Easter Walk (2)

English Translation 2 by Roland Freischlad, 2021
From “Faust 1” (Vor dem Tor/Before the Gate)
See the original German version of this poem above.

Freed from its ice are brook and river,
For spring has granted its life-giving smile;
Verdant the valley mile after mile!
Old man Winter, diminished, did beat
Into rough mountains a hasty retreat.

From there he is flinging, still on the run,
Impotent showers of sleet which is falling
Swathe after swathe to cover what’s green.
The sun, however, won’t bide such white;
She’s shaping, and striving, and bringing to light
All kinds of colors – most vibrant the sight;
The flowers have not arrived just yet,
She’ll settle for clean-scrubbed people, instead.

Turn to look back and to venture a glance
Back on the town from the hills you are hiking:
Out of its hollow and darkish gate,
Out spills a crowded and colorful spate.
Each one today gladly basks in the sun,
And celebrates Christ as the Risen-One,
For they themselves have been resurrected,
From low-slung houses and stifling rooms,
As craftsmen, tradesmen, guild-laws-connected,
From under oppressively gabled roofs,
From narrow streets, confining and tight,
Out of the churches reverend night –
All resurrected and thus brought to light.

Look, ah, behold! How nimbly the crowd
Is beating a path through gardens and plots,
How the river is filled with all kinds of boats,
With skiffs and rafts and various crafts.
There, overloaded, yea, well-nigh sinking
Departs the very last of what rows.
Even the mountains’ distant pathways
Show people in pretty colorful clothes.

I hearken the village, hear joy of livin’ –
Here is the people’s genuine heaven;
Contented are shouting the great and the small:
Here I am man, and here I walk tall!

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