Goethe's Wanderer's Nightsong

In exploring German's literature, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, stands quite familiarly with the rest of the world. He was a German poet, dramatist, novelist, theorist, humanist, scientist, painter and polymath. His most enduring work, the two-part dramatic poem Faust, is considered one of the peaks of world literature.

Goethe is also the originator of the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"), having taken great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, and Persia, among others. His influence on German philosophy is virtually immeasurable, having major impact especially on the generation of Hegel and Schelling.

The Wanderer's Nightsong is the title of two poems by him. This second poem is considered by some as the most beautiful lyrical poem of the German language.

Wanderer's Nightsong Part 2

Up there all summits
are still.
In all the tree-tops
you will
feel but the dew.

The birds in the forest stopped talking.
Soon, done with walking,
you shall rest, too.