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    "endpoint": "/api/sources/goethe-works/faust/faust-i/06-scene-3-the-study-exorcism.json"
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  "work": {
    "slug": "faust-i",
    "name": "Faust I (1808)"
  },
  "parents": [
    {
      "slug": "goethe-works",
      "name": "Works of Goethe",
      "url": "/sources/goethe-works/"
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    {
      "slug": "faust",
      "name": "Faust (Parts I and II)",
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  "chapter": {
    "num": 6,
    "slug": "06-scene-3-the-study-exorcism",
    "title": "Scene III — The Study (The Exorcism)",
    "of": 28,
    "words": 2307,
    "text": "Faust.\n(Entering, with the poodle.)\n\nEHIND me, field and dieddow sleeping,\nI leave in deep, prophetic night,\nWithin whose dread and holy keeping\nThe better soul awakes to light.\nThe wild desires no longer win us,\nThe deeds of passion cease to chain ;\nThe love of Man revives within us,\n\nThe love of God revives again.\n\nBe still, thou poodle! make not such racket and riot!\nWhy at the threshold wilt snuffing be?\n\nBehind the stove repose thee in quiet !\n\nMy softest cushion I give to thee.\n\nAs thou, up yonder, with running and leaping\n\nAmused us hast, on the mountain's crest,\n\nScene ITT.\n\nSo now I take thee into my keeping,\n\nA welcome, but also a silent, guest.\n\nAh, when, within our narrow chamber\nThe lamp with friendly lustre glows,\nFlames in the breast each faded ember,\nAnd in the heart, itself that knows.\nThen Hope again lends sweet assistance,\nAnd Reason then resumes her speech :\nOne yearns, the rivers of existence,\n\nThe very founts of Life, to reach.\n\nSnarl not, poodle! To the sound that rises,\nThe sacred tones that my soul embrace,\nThis bestia] noise is out of place.\n\nWe are used to see, that Man despises\nWhat he never comprehends,\n\nAnd the Good and the Beautiful vilipends,\nFinding them often hard to measure:\n\nWill the dog, like man, snarl /zs displeasure?\n\nBut ah! I feel, though will thereto be stronger,\nContentment flows from out my breast no longer.\nWhy must the stream so soon run dry and fail us,\n\nAnd burning thirst again assail us?\n\n68 Faust.\n\nTherein I 've borne so much probation !-\n\nAnd yet, this want may be supplied us;\n\nWe call the Supernatural to guide us ;\n\nWe pine and thirst for Revelation,\n\nWhich nowhere worthier is, more nobly sent,\nThan here, in our New Testament.\n\nI feel impelled, its meaning to determine, —\nWith honest purpose, once for all,\n\nThe hallowed Original\n\nTo change to my beloved German.\n\n(He opens a volume, and commences.)\n\n\"T is written: 'In the Beginning was the Word.\" 46\nHere am I balked: who, now, can help afford?\nThe Word? — impossible so high to rate it ;\n\nAnd otherwise must J translate it,\n\nIf by the Spirit I am truly taught.\n\nThen thus: 'In the Beginning was the Thought.\"\nThis first line let me weigh completely,\n\nLest my impatient pen proceed too fleetly.\n\nIs it the Thought which works, creates, indeed ?\n\"In the Beginning was the Power,\" I read.\n\nYet, as I write, a warning is suggested,\n\nThat I the sense may not have fairly tested.\n\nScene III.\n\nThe Spirit aids me: now I see the light!\n\"In the Beginning was the ct,\" I write.\n\nIf I must share my chamber with thee,\nPoodle, stop that howling, prithee!\nCease to bark and bellow!\n\nSuch a noisy, disturbing fellow\n\nIll no longer suffer near me.\n\nOne of us, dost hear me!\n\nMust leave, I fear me.\n\nNo longer guest-right I bestow ;\n\nThe door is open, art free to go.\n\nBut what do I see in the creature?\n\nIs that in the course of nature?\n\nIst actual fact? or Fancy's shows?\nHow long and broad my poodle grows!\nHe rises mightily : |\nA canine form that cannot be!\n\nWhat a spectre I 've harbored thus!\nHe resembles a hippopotamus,\n\nWith fiery eyes, teeth terrible to see:\nO, now am I sure of thee!\n\nFor all of thy half-hellish brood\n\nThe Key of Solomon is good.'\n\n7O\n\nFaust.\n\nSpirits (in the corridor).\nSome one, within, is caught !\nStay without, follow him not!\nLike the fox in a snare,\nQuakes the old hell-lynx there.\nTake heed — look about!\nBack and forth hover,\nUnder and over,\nAnd he 'll work himself out.\nIf your aid can avail him,\nLet it not fail him;\nFor he, without measure,\n\nHas wrought for our pleasure.\n\nFaust.\n\nFirst, to encounter the beast,\n\nThe Words of the Four be addressed : 4\nSalamander, shine glorious! _\nWave, Undine, as bidden!\n\nSylph, be thou hidden!\n\nGnome, be laborious!\n\n-~Who knows not their sense\n\n(These elements), —\n\nScene IL. 71\n\nTheir properties\nAnd power not sees, —\nNo mastery he inherits\n\nOver the Spirits.\n\nVanish in flaming ether,\nSalamander !\n\nFlow foamingly together,\nUndine! _\n\nShine in meteor-sheen,\n\nSylph!\n\nBring help to hearth and shelf,\nIncubus! Incubus!\n\nStep forward, and finish thus!\n\nOf the Four, no feature\n\nLurks in the creature.\n\nQuiet he lies, and grins disdain :\n\nNot yet, it seems, have I given him pain.\nNow, to undisguise thee,*9\n\nHear me exorcise thee!\n\nArt thou, my gay one,\n\nHell 's fugitive stray-one?\n\nThe sign witness now,\n\nFaust.\n\nBefore which they bow,\nThe cohorts of Hell!\n\nWith hair all bristling, it begins to swell.\n\nBase Being, hearest thou?\nKnowest and fearest thou\n\nThe One, unoriginate,5°\n\nNamed inexpressibly,\n\nThrough all Heaven impermeate,\n\nPierced irredressibly !\n\nBehind the stove still banned,\n\nSee it, an elephant, expand!\n\nIt fills the space entire,\n\nMist-like melting, ever faster.\n\n*T is enough: ascend no higher, —\nLay thyself at the feet of the Master |\nThou seest, not vain the threats I bring thee:\nWith holy fire I'll scorch and sting thee !\nWait not to know\n\nThe threefold dazzling glow!\n\nWait not to know\n\nThe strongest art within my hands!\n\nScene ILI. 72\n\nJMEPHISTOPHELES 5!\n\n~-\n\n(while the vapor ts dissipating, steps forth from behind the stove, in\nthe costume of a Travelling Scholar).\n\nWhy such a noise? What are my lord's commands?\n\nFaust.\n\nThis was the poodle's real core,\n\nA travelling scholar, then? The casus is diverting.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nThe learned gentleman I bow before:\n\nYou 've made me roundly sweat, that 's certain!\n\nFaust.\n\nWhat is thy name?\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\nA question small, it seems,\nFor one whose mind the Word so much despises ;\nWho, scorning all external gleams,\n\nThe depths of being only prizes.\n\nFaust.\nWith all you gentlemen, the name's a test,\nWhereby the nature usually is expressed.\n\nClearly the latter it implies\n\n74 faust.\n\nIn names like Beelzebub, Destroyer, Father of Lies.5?\nWho art thou, then?\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nPart of that Power, not understood,\n\nWhich always wills the Bad, and always works the Good.\n\nFaust.\n\nWhat hidden sense in this enigma lies?\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\nI am the Spirit that Denies ! 53\nAnd justly so: for all things, from the Void\nCalled forth, deserve to be destroyed :\n\"T were better, then, were naught created.\nThus, all which you as Sin have rated, —\nDestruction, — aught with Evil blent, —\n\nThat is my proper element.\n\nFaust.\n\nThou nam'st thyself a part, yet show'st complete to me?\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nThe modest truth I speak to thee.\n\nScene IT. 70\n\nIf Man, that microcosmic fool, can see\n\nHimself a whole so frequently,\n\nPart of the Part am I, once All, in primal Night, —\nPart of the Darkness which brought forth the Light,\nThe haughty Light, which now disputes the space,\nAnd claims of Mother Night her ancient place.\n\nAnd yet, the struggle fails ; since Light, howe'er it weaves,\nStill, fettered, unto bodies cleaves :\n\nIt flows from bodies, bodies beautifies ;\n\nBy bodies is its course impeded ;\n\nAnd so, but little time is needed,\n\nI hope, ere, as the bodies die, it dies!\n\nFaust.\n\nI see the plan thou art pursuing:\nThou canst not compass general ruin,\n\nAnd hast on smaller scale begun.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nAnd truly 't is not much, when all is done.\n\nThat which to Naught is in resistance set, —\nThe Something of this clumsy world, — has yet,\nWith all that I have undertaken,\n\nNot been by me disturbed or shaken:\n\n76 Faust.\n\nFrom earthquake, tempest, wave, volcano's brand,\nBack into quiet settle sea and land!\n\nAnd that damned stuff, the bestial, human brood, —\nWhat use, in having that to play with?\n\nHow many have I made away with!\n\nAnd ever circulates a newer, fresher blood.\n\nIt makes me furious, such things beholding :\nFrom Water, Earth, and Air unfolding,\n\nA thousand germs break forth and grow,5+\n\nIn dry, and wet, and warm, and chilly ;\n\nAnd had I not the Flame reserved, why, really,\n\nThere 's nothing special of my own to show!\n\nFaust.\n\nSo, to the actively eternal\n\nCreative force, in cold disdain\n\nYou now oppose the fist infernal,\nWhose wicked clench is all in vain!\nSome other labor seek thou rather,\n\nQueer Son of Chaos, to begin!\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nWell, we 'll consider: thou canst gather\n\n—\n\nScene ITT. 79\n\nMy views, when next I venture in.\n\nMight I, perhaps, depart at present f\n\nFaust.\n\nWhy thou shouldst ask, I don't perceive.\nThough our acquaintance is so recent,\nFor further visits thou hast leave.\n\nThe window 's here, the door is yonder ;\n\nA chimney, also, you behold.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nI must confess that forth I may not wander,\nMy steps by one slight obstacle controlled, —\n\nThe wizard's-foot, that on your threshold made is.55\n\nFaust.\n\nThe pentagram prohibits thee ?\nWhy, tell me now, thou Son of Hades,\nIf that prevents, how cam'st thou in to me?\n\nCould such a spirit be so cheated ?\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nInspect the thing: the drawing 's not completed.\n\n78 faust.\n\nThe outer angle, you may see,\n\nIs open left — the lines don't fit it.\n\nva Faust.\n\nWell, — Chance, this time, has fairly hit it!\nAnd thus, thou 'rt prisoner to me?\n\nIt seems the business has succeeded.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nThe poodle naught remarked, as after thee he speeded ;\nBut other aspects now obtain :\n\nThe Devil can't get out again.\n\nFaust.\n\nTry, then, the open window-pane |\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nFor Devils and for spectres this is law :\nWhere they have entered in, there also they withdraw.\n\nThe first is free to us; we're governed by the second.\n\nFaust.\n\nIn Hell itself, then, laws are reckoned ?\n\nScene LIL. 79\n\nThat 's well! So might a compact be\nMade with you gentlemen — and binding, — surely?\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nAll that is promised shall delight thee purely ;\nNo skinflint bargain shalt thou see.\n\nBut this is not of swift conclusion ;\n\nWe 'll talk about the matter soon.\n\nAnd now, I do entreat this boon —\n\nLeave to withdraw from my intrusion.\n\nFaust.\n\nOne moment more I ask thee to remain,\n\nSome pleasant news, at least, to tell me.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nRelease me, now! I soon shall come again ;\n\nThen thou, at will, mayst question and compel me.\n\nFaust.\n\nI have not snares around thee cast;\nThyself hast led thyself into the meshes.\nWho traps the Devil, hold him fast!\n\nNot soon a second time he 'Il catch a prey so precious.\n\n80 Faust.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nAn 't please thee, also I'm content to stay,\nAnd serve thee in a social station ;\nBut stipulating, that I may\n\nWith arts of mine afford thee recreation.\n\nFaust.\n\n'Thereto I willingly agree,\n\nIf the diversion pleasant be.\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nMy friend, thou 'It win, past all pretences,\nMore in this hour to soothe thy senses,\nThan in the year's monotony.\n\nThat which the dainty spirits sing thee,\nThe lovely pictures they shall bring thee,\nAre more than magic's empty show.\nThy scent will be to bliss invited ;\n\nThy palate then with taste delighted,\nThy nerves of touch ecstatic glow !\n\nAll unprepared, the charm I spin:\nWe're here together, so begin!\n\nScene ITT. 81\n\nSpriritTs.5®\n\nVanish, ye darkling\nArches above him!\nLoveliest weather,\nBorn of blue ether,\nBreak from the sky!\nO that the darkling ©\nClouds had departed !\nStarlight is sparkling,\nTranquiller-hearted\nSuns are on high.\nHeaven's own children\nIn beauty bewildering,\nWaveringly bending,\nPass as they hover ;\nLonging unending\nFollows them over.\nThey, with their glowing\nGarments, out-flowing,\nCover, in going,\nLandscape and bower,\nWhere, in seclusion,\n\nLovers are plighted,\n\nFaust.\n\nLost in illusion.\n\nBower on bower!\n\n~ Tendrils unblighted !\n\nLo! in a shower\nGrapes that o'ercluster\nGush into must, or\nFlow into rivers\n\nOf foaming and flashing\n\nWine, that is dashing\n\nGems, as it boundeth\nDown the high places,\nAnd spreading, surroundeth\nWith crystalline spaces,\nIn happy embraces,\nBlossoming forelands,\nEmerald shore-lands !\nAnd the winged races\nDrink, and fly onward —\nFly ever sunward\n\nTo the enticing |\nIslands, that flatter,\nDipping and rising\n\nLight on the water!\nHark, the inspiring\n\nScene IL. 83\n\nSound of their quiring!\nSee, the entrancing\nWhirl of their dancing !\nAll in the air are\n\nFreer and fairer.\n\nSome of them scaling\nBoldly the highlands,\nOthers are sailing,\nCircling the islands ;\nOthers are flying ;\nLife-ward all hieing, —\nAll for the distant\n\nStar of existent\n\nRapture and Love!\n\nMEPHISTOPHELES.\n\nHe sleeps! Enough, ye fays! your airy number\n\nHave sung him truly into slumber :\n\nFor this performance I your debtor prove. —\n\nNot yet art thou the man, to catch the Fiend and hold\nhim ! — |\n\nWith fairest images of dreams infold him,\n\nPlunge him in seas of sweet untruth!\n\nYet, for the threshold's magic which controlled him,\n\n84 faust.\n\nThe Devil needs a rat's quick tooth. .\nI use no lengthened invocation :\n\nHere rustles one that soon will work my liberation.\n\nThe lord of rats and eke of mice,\nOf flies and bed-bugs, frogs and lice,\nSummons thee hither to the door-sill,\nTo gnaw it where, with just a morsel\nOf oil, he paints the spot for thee : —\nThere com'st thou, hopping on to me!\nTo work, at once! The point which made me craven\nIs forward, on the ledge, engraven.\nAnother bite makes free the door :\nSo, dream thy dreams, O Faust, until we meet once\nmore |\nFaust (awaking). —\nAm I again so foully cheated?\nRemains there naught of lofty spirit-sway,\nBut that a dream the Devil counterfeited,\n\nAnd that a poodle ran away?\n\nScene IV.\n\nIV.\nTHE STUDY.\nFaust. MEPHISTOPHELES.",
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}