"Der Erlkönig" (A Poem)

I first stumbled on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's poem, "Der Erlkönig," over a decade ago when I heard it recited in French at a local open-mic night. Although the individual was exceedingly melodramatic in his recitation and the atmosphere was heavy with pseudo-intellectualism, the haunting imagery of Goethe's text - a testament to the author's talent - overpowered everything: "Mon père, mon père, n’entends-tu donc pas...." Written in 1782, the work utilizes the longstanding myth of der Erlkönig - the King of the Alders who haunts the gnarled woods of Germany and claims the hapless souls who venture into its darkened recesses - as a means to explore the menacing encroachment of death. More than that, though, the poem, as Marina Warner emphasizes, "personifies death as a danger above all to the young, who are credited with more intense perception of the other world in the first place; this intimacy with the supernatural makes them vulnerable to its charms and its desires." Presented here is Sir Walter Scott's definitive English translation from 1797.

The Earl-King

O who rides by night thro' 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. 

"O father, see yonder! see yonder!" he says; 
"My boy, upon what dost thou fearfully gaze?" 
"O, 'tis the Erl-King with his crown and his shroud." 
"No, my son, it is but a dark wreath of the cloud." 

          [The Earl-King Speaks] 
"O come and go with me, thou loveliest child; 
By many a gay sport shall thy time be beguiled; 
My mother keeps for thee many a fair toy, 
And many a fine flower shall she pluck for my boy." 

"O father, my father, and did you not hear 
The Erl-King whisper so low in my ear?" 
"Be still, my heart's darling--my child, be at ease; 
It was but the wild blast as it sung thro' the trees." 

          [Earl-King] 
"O wilt thou go with me, thou loveliest boy? 
My daughter shall tend thee with care and with joy; 
She shall bear three so lightlyt thro' wet and thro' wild, 
And press thee, and kiss thee, and sing to my child." 

"O father, my father, and saw you not plain 
The Erl-King's pale daughter glide past thro' the rain?" 
"Oh yes, my loved treasure, I knew it full soon; 
It was the grey willow that danced to the moon." 

          [Earl-King] 
"O come and go with me, no longer delay, 
Or else, silly child, I will drag thee away." 
"O father! O father! now, now, keep your hold, 
The Erl-King has seized me--his grasp is so cold!" 

Sore trembled the father; he spurr'd thro' the wild, 
Clasping close to his bosom his shuddering child; 
He reaches his dwelling in doubt and in dread, 
But, clasp'd to his bosom, the infant was dead. 

Works Referenced

Scott, Walter. "The Earl-King." The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott. Vol. 5. Ed. John Dennis. London: George Bell and Sons, 1982. pp. 139-140. 

Warner, Marina. Monsters of Our Own Making: The Peculiar Pressures of Fear. Lexington, KY: The University of Kentucky Press, 2007.