The following years, spent for the most part in Frankfurt, were the period of _Sturm und Drang_ (Storm and Stress) in the poet's life and work. His love for Lili Schönemann, a rich banker's daughter and society belle of Frankfurt, only heightened this unrest (3). In the fall of 1775 the young duke Karl August called Goethe to Weimar. Under the influence of Frau von Stein, a woman of rare culture, Goethe developed to calm maturity. Compare the first _Wanderers Nachtlied_ (written February 1776), a passionate prayer for peace, and the; second (written September 1780), the embodiment of that peace attained. Even more important in this development is the fact that Goethe, in assuming his many official positions in the little dukedom, entered voluntarily a circle of everyday duties (7 and 8). Thus the heaven-storming Titan, as Goethe reveals himself in his _Prometheus_, learns to respect and revere the natural limitations of mortality (15 and especially 16). As Goethe matured, his affinity for classic antiquity became more marked, and a consuming desire impelled him to spend two years in Italy (1786-1788). The rest of his years Goethe spent in Weimar, his life enriched above all else by his friendship with Schiller. In this second Weimar period Goethe reached the acme of his powers. Even his declining years, although marked by loneliness and bringing him a full measure of grief (his wife, Christiane Vulpius, whom he had met shortly after his return from Italy, died in 1816, followed in 1830 by his only son), exemplified that earnest striving so characteristic of Goethe. A serene optimism, a deep love of life, was his to the very last. To this _das Lied des Türmers_, written May 1831, bears eloquent witness. A ripe mellowness seems to blend here with the joyous spirit of youth. Goethe died March 22, 1832. 1. A visit to Sesenheim is the experience that called forth this poem. (Compare Goethe's first letter to Friederike, October 15, 1770) Notice how all nature is personified and assumes human attributes. In the opening stanzas impetuous haste is stirring, the first two lines have a marked rising rhythm. Notice the quieting effect of the metrical inversion at the beginning of 17, 18, and 19 and of the break in 25 after ach and how the whole poem ends with a note of deep joy. 15, 16. WELCHES, WELCHE = _what_. 21. ROSENFARBNES FRÜHLINGSWETTER, _the roseate hues of spring-time._ 29. ERDEN, old dative singular. 2. Notice that the second and third stanzas are joined as also the last three. The exuberant fullness of joy creates its own form and overleaps the confines of a single stanza.