Erotic Poems

This unique bilingual edition of Goethe's erotic poems contains the Roman Elegies (1789), The Diary (1810), and a selection from the Venetian Epigrams of 1790. David Luke's translations do full justice to Goethe's aim of liberating German poetry and restoring sexual love to its central position in human life. Hans Vaget's fine introduction provides the background to these poems, as well as showing some of the profound and little-known connections between them.

Editorial censorship has long obscured Goethe's Roman Elegies, which were inspired by Goethe's sexual liberation in Italy and his love for the woman he took as his unofficial wife on his return to Germany. They are here presented as Goethe boldly conceived them, together with the long-supressed narrative poem known as The Diary. Completing the edition is a selection from Goethe's more light-hearted and much censored cycle of erotica, the Venetian Epigrams. An illuminating Introduction by Hans Vaget provides the background to these poems, as well as showing some of the profound and little-known connections between them.