{"id":29,"date":"2023-04-17T18:24:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T18:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/german-environments\/?p=29"},"modified":"2023-04-20T14:01:40","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T14:01:40","slug":"erlkonig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/german-environments\/2023\/04\/17\/erlkonig\/","title":{"rendered":"Erlk\u00f6nig"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Franz Schubert: Erlk\u00f6nig\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JS91p-vmSf0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Composition by Franz Schubert<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cErlk\u00f6nig\u201d is a poem that was originally written by the famous German author Goethe in 1782, but arguably more popular is the musical composition by Franz Schubert, which takes Goethe\u2019s poem and puts it to music.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The story follows a young boy and his father. The young child, simply referred to as \u201cder Kind\u201d, has fallen ill, and his father (der Vater) as they ride on horseback through the forest. The child is frightened, as he believes they are being chased by the Erlk\u00f6nig, though the father says there is nothing following them. The Erlk\u00f6nig attempts to coerce the child with promises of games and beautiful flowers. The father cannot ride fast enough, and the Erlk\u00f6nig reaches out to grasp the child; they eventually reach their destination, but the father discovers his son is dead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Goethe\u2019s early work clearly defined the Sturm und Drang period. Translating to \u201cstorm and stress,\u201d was a German artistic movement preceding Romanticism that focused on the realities of life, extreme emotional states, and tragedies. This is clear in \u201cErlk\u00f6nig\u201d with the death of the young child.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of the biggest German aspects of the poem is the fact that it takes place in a forest. Germany has a long history with the forest, as it was heavily featured in early fairytales, studied during early environmentalism, and focused on by German scholars today. In traditional German fairytales, the forest was associated with danger and mystery. Often, antagonists of the stories would live in the forest, such as the witch in Hansel and Gretel. This is true in \u201cErlk\u00f6nig\u201d, as the Erlk\u00f6nig lives and \u201cattacks\u201d in the forest. Even the father, who cannot see the Erlk\u00f6nig, describes the forest as ominous.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ending of the poem can be interpreted through a climate activism standpoint. The forest and the Erlk\u00f6nig represent climate change, and how the rapid deterioration of the planet is catching up with humanity. If the harm to the planet becomes irreversible, we may not have a future generation: represented by the death of the child. The poem ends with the word \u201cdead,\u201d showing how there is no action after the death of the climate and the future generations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Though written hundreds of years ago, \u201cErlk\u00f6nig&#8221; can teach readers about the history of the forest and perhaps creates a sense of urgency to pursue climate justice. Also, it is easier for people to understand complex topics through emotions, rather than a scientific paper.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">References:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Boyle, Nicholas. &#8220;Johann Wolfgang von Goethe&#8221;. Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 Mar. 2023, https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe. Accessed 17 April 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Britannica, the Editors of Encyclopaedia. &#8220;The Erl-King&#8221;. Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Feb. 2015, https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/The-Erl-King. Accessed 17 April 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. &#8220;Sturm und Drang&#8221;. Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Mar. 2020, https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/event\/Sturm-und-Drang. Accessed 17 April 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. \u201cErlk\u00f6nig.\u201d 1782. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oxford Lieder<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/www.oxfordlieder.co.uk\/song\/1420<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Accessed 17 April 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Composition by Franz Schubert \u201cErlk\u00f6nig\u201d is a poem that was originally written by the famous German author Goethe in 1782, but arguably more popular is the musical composition by Franz Schubert, which takes Goethe\u2019s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/german-environments\/2023\/04\/17\/erlkonig\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4986,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-and-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/german-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/german-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/german-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/german-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4986"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/german-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/german-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/german-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/german-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/german-environments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}