5. _The Siziliane_, likewise Italian, consists of eight iambic lines of five feet each, the rhyme being _abababab_ (135 and 136). 6. _The Modified Nibelungen Stanza_, an adaptation of the stanza of the Nibelungenlied introduced by Uhland, is a stanza of four verses rhyming in couplets; each verse has six accented syllables with a fixed pause as indicated below in the scansion of the first two lines of 32: X -- X -- X -- X || X -- X -- X-- X -- X -- XX -- X || X -- X -- X -- Each line is in reality composed of two verses and thus we have here the form so commonly used by Heine (48, 49, 50, 51, 52 and others). Each verse has in reality four measures, the last measure being taken up by a pause: Es stand in al ten Zei ten | | ein Schloss so hoch und hehr. X -- X -- X -- X * X -- X -- X -- ** In music these pauses may be taken up in whole or in part by lengthening the preceding notes (to some extent this holds true in reading, adding to the effect of the enjambement). _Die Lorelei_ offers a good example: [Musical notation in original for following lyric. Transcriber.] Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten, daß ich so traurig bin; ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten, das kommt mir nicht aus bem Sinn. Die Luft ist kühl und es dunkelt, und ruhig fließt der Rhein; der Gipfel des Berges funkelt im Abendsonnenschein. * * * * * NOTES GOETHE Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the world's greatest lyric genius, was born August 28, 1749, in Frankfurt am Main. In his being there were happily blended his mother's joyous fancy and the sterner traits of his father. Thus a rich imagination, a wealth of feeling, and the power of poetic expression went hand in hand with an indomitable will. In the spring of 1770 the young poet went to Strassburg to complete his law course. There Herder happened to be, even then a famed critic and scholar, and he aroused in Goethe a love and understanding of what was really great and genuine in literature: especially Homer, the Bible, Shakspere, and the _Volkslied_ i.e., the simple folksong. In the fall of the year Goethe met Friederike Brion in the parsonage at Sesenheim, a village near Strassburg. Now Herder's teaching bore fruit in an outburst of real song (1, 2 and 4). The influence of the _Volkslied_ is clearly discernible in the unaffected naturalness, spontaneity, and simplicity of these lyrics. Thus _das Heidenröslein_, which symbolizes the tragic close of the sweet idyll of Sesenheim, is to all intents and purposes a _Volkslied_.