Poem Review: The Erl King

O who rides by night through the woodland so wild?

It is the fond father embracing his child;

And close the boy nestles within his loved arm,

To hold himself fast and to keep himself warm.

Sore trembled the father; he spurred thro' the wild,

Clasping to his bosom his shuddering child;

He reached his dwelling in doubt and in dread,

But, clasped to his bosom, the infant was dead.

   Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a many-sided genius. His works show him to be a man of impressive power. He is known for being a novelist, an essayist, and  a poet. He also had his masterpiece which is entitled "Faust". This work was based on the legend of a magician who sold his soul to the devil for the acquisition of excessive knowledge.

   All my life, I find reading poetry one of the best things I spend my time on. I always enjoy challenging myself in understanding the deep, diverse, and impressive thoughts of poets. I have already  read lots of poems and there's one that I, up until such time as now, still couldn't forget due to the fact that it was just the best. The Erl-King was a fine literary work by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. This poem relates how the king of the elves persuades the sick child to follow him to his kingdom even as the father desperately tries to hold on to his child.

   It's on one fateful evening when a father and his feverish child were traveling at night. The boy could see the Erl King which his father couldn't. The father denies that it was but a dark wreath of the cloud. The Erl King spoke to the child and asked him and go with him in his kingdom for there were many toys and playmates there. The child was so afraid but his father asked him to be at ease and reminded him that it was just his imagination. As time passed by, the sick child was consumed by his own fears. The Erl King finally took him by force, and at the end, the father arrived home and he found out that the child he was embracing in has arms is already dead.

   For me, this is simply the best poem I've ever read. It has a plot twist that I didn't even think of in the first place. The father symbolizes light and the Erl King symbolizes darkness or death... or they may symbolize it otherwise. In my first argument, I can say that the Erl King is death. He was trying to get the child but the father serves as the light not to let go of his life yet. The father tells him to look at the positive path and hold on to what is present. On the other hand, the Erl King might be symbolyzing independence. It's like the kid is coming of age and he has to live his life on his own foot, yet the father is preventing him from growing up. In the end, the child's heart has become bewildered.

   In retrospect, The Erl King is beyond spectacular and striking. Whatever my argument may be, this will always leave me questioning what this poem is really about. Still and all, this piece of art is something that I'll always find time to read over and over again.

Written by Eiffel Ruby Valeros

Photo credit:  http://comons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erlk%C3%B6nig_Carl_Gottlieb_Peschel_1840_Goethe.jpg