# The Origin and Development of Eurythmy 1912–1918

## GA 277a — 2 September 1915, Dornach

### The Apollonian Course XVI

*In this lesson, Rudolf Steiner gave an overview of rhyme forms, before going on to discuss full rhyme and alliteration in more detail. Presumably, an example from the Heliand was given for alliteration, but it was not until the following lesson (September 6, 1915) that a text from Wilhelm Jordan's Demiurgos was elaborated in connection with assonance. The three- and four-line forms given in the following lessons were given as examples of the rhyme forms used here.*

**The rhyme**

Rhyme = consonance. A distinction is made between:

1. Alliteration or stabreim (staves - identical initial sounds)  
2. Assonance or half rhyme  
3. Full rhyme, end rhyme

*End or full rhyme*


Consider the rhyme: First line vowel-based. Second line consonant-based.

Maintain the rhyme: 1 maintains the rhyme in the movement; 2 maintains the rhyme in the movement; 3 also maintains the rhyme in the movement; 4 maintains the rhyme in the movement.

Principle: At the end of the verse, the rhymes must be present in the gesture.

The sound of the rhyme is sustained and reformed with the next rhyming word.

With full rhymes, a distinction is made between: pure and impure rhymes - hill - rein; hill - mirror.

I masculine or blunt rhyme, e.g. valley - time; overheard - exchanged  
II feminine or sounding rhyme, e.g. stars - distance; sun - delight  
III gliding or dactylic rhyme, e.g. betrübende — übende; lebende — webende  
IV rich rhyme, e.g. “Gebet” by Emanuel Geibel:  
"Lord, whom I carry deep in my heart, be with me!  
You, my refuge in happiness and sorrow, be with me!“

*Couplet rhyme*

> *Friedrich Rückert: ”The sky shed a tear"*
> The sky shed a tear,  
> which thought it would be lost in the sea.  
> The shell came and enclosed it:  
> You shall now be my pearl.  
> You shall not fear the waves,  
> I will carry you calmly through them.  
> O my pain, my pleasure,  
> You heavenly tear in my breast!  
> Grant, heaven, that I may guard with a pure mind  
> The purest of your drops.

The change can take place as follows: MSt,


> 4 3 / 2 1 / b.gep. change 1 + 2 + 3 + 4

Poems can be danced in such a way that as many people are lined up as there are rhymes. For example, if paired rhymes rhyme like this: a a b b a a- and then the rhyme [a] returns after b, for example, the first ones strike it again. - Example:

*Ludwig Uhland: “Des Knaben Berglied” (excerpt)*

> I am the shepherd boy from the mountain,  
> I look down on all the castles;  
> The sun shines here first,  
> It stays longest with me;  
> I am the boy from the mountain!

1. Rhymes in four-line stanzas  
a. The first and second lines rhyme. The third and fourth lines rhyme. — Example:

> *Friedrich Hebbel: “Autumn Feeling” (excerpt)*
> 1. Green, blooming, fragrant, shining  
> 2. Richest life without limits  
> 3. Everything increasing, nowhere stagnating  
> 4. Even the boldest wishes enticing.


> 1st line: One stands in a square.


> 2nd line: 1 and 2 move towards 4 and 3. When they arrive, 4 and 3 take a step forward.


> Line: 1, 2, 3, 4 move to the 7 previous positions of 1 and 2.


> 4th line: 3 and 4 move to their previous positions.

*From further work (1916)*

[...] I found the following poem from the L.MS of that time in my C. F. Meyer [(...)]. “The End of the Feast”: “As Socrates and his friends drank 97.11.1964 / and their heads sank onto the cushions / A young man came, I remember, / With two slender flute players.”


1 makes his line standing / 2 goes with his line rhythmically or only lengths behind 1, who repeats the rhyme / 3 makes his line standing / 4 goes behind 3, in the same way as 1 behind 2. In a short pause, they change places. 1 becomes 2 and 2 becomes 1. Likewise 3 and 4.

*Crossed or intertwined rhymes*/p> ![277a-258](images/277a-258.webp) ![277a-259](images/277a-259.webp) ![277a-260](images/277a-260.webp) ![277a-261](images/277a-261.webp) ![277a-262](images/277a-262.webp) ![277a-263](images/277a-263.webp) ![277a-264](images/277a-264.webp) ![277a-265](images/277a-265.webp) ![277a-266](images/277a-266.webp) ![277a-267](images/277a-267.webp) ![277a-268](images/277a-268.webp) ![277a-269](images/277a-269.webp) ![277a-270](images/277a-270.webp) ![277a-271](images/277a-271.webp) ![277a-272](images/277a-272.webp) ![277a-273](images/277a-273.webp) ![277a-274](images/277a-274.webp) ![277a-275](images/277a-275.webp) ![277a-276](images/277a-276.webp) ![277a-277](images/277a-277.webp) ![277a-278](images/277a-278.webp) ![277a-279](images/277a-279.webp) ![277a-280](images/277a-280.webp)

*Crossed rhyme: a b, a b; c d, c d. - Example:*

> *Johann Wolfgang Goethe: “The Fisherman” (excerpt)*
> The water rushed, the water swelled, a  
> A fisherman sat there, b  
> Looking calmly at his fishing rod, a  
> Cool to the heart. b  
> And as he sits and listens, c  
> The tide rose; d  
> From the moving water rushed c  
> A wet woman. d

> then cd, ad / ef, fe Cross rhyme / change after the stanza 1 + 2, 3 + 4

The first and third lines rhyme, the second and fourth lines rhyme. - Example:

> *Friedrich Hebbel: “Autumn Picture” (excerpt)*
> 1. This is an autumn day like I've never seen before!  
> 2. The air is still, as if hardly anyone were breathing,  
> 3. And yet, rustling, far and near,  
> 4. The most beautiful fruits fall from every tree.

> The first line: One stands in a square:

> The second line: 1 moves to 3:

> The third line: 2 moves to 4. 4 takes a step forward:

> The 4th row: 4 and 3 move to the previous positions of 1 and 2. 1 and 2 take a step forward.

> Variations for rhymes:  
> a.) strongly emotional:

> b.) unfolding and unwinding spirals

> *Friedrich Rückert: “Am See” (excerpt)*  
> Not in the murky water is reflected  
> The face of heaven,  
> Nor in the heart stirred up  
> By desires, God's light.

*Comprehensive or embracing rhyme*

The first and fourth lines rhyme. The second and third lines rhyme. — Example:

> *Friedrich Hebbel: “Nachtlied” (excerpt)*
> 1. Springing, swelling night,  
> 2. Full of lights and stars:  
> 3. In the eternal distance,  
> 4. Tell me, what has awakened there!

1st line: One stands in a square:

2nd line: 1 moves to 2 and takes a step forward:

3rd line: 2 moves to 3. 3 takes a step forward:

4th line: 4 and 3 go to positions 1 and 2. 1 and 2 take a step forward:

**The sonnet**

The sonnet or “Klang” is a form borrowed from Italian. It usually consists of four stanzas, the first two of which have four verses (lines) each, and the last two of which have three verses (lines) each. In the first two stanzas, the rhyme scheme is ba;a b ba; in the last two stanzas, it is a b a; b a b or a b c, a b c. — Example:

> *Johann Wolfgang Goethe: “Nature and Art”*
> Nature and art, they seem to flee from each other  
> And have found each other before you know it;  
> My aversion has also disappeared,  
> And both seem to attract me equally.
> All that is needed is honest effort!  
> And once we have devoted ourselves to art  
> With spirit and diligence in measured hours,  
> May free nature glow again in the heart.
> So it is with all education:  
> Unbound spirits will obediently  
> Strive for the perfection of pure heights.
> Those who want great things must pull themselves together;  
> It is in limitation that the master reveals himself,  
> And only the law can give us freedom.

A sonnet can be danced on the trapeze. - Example:

> *Friedrich Rückert: “The man is brave”*
> The man is brave who, using his pound,  
> Turns his strength to the service of his country:  
> Now then, my spirit, go about your business,  
> Polishing your arm with your own weapons.
> Like bold warriors now, defiant with fiery eyes,  
> Lining up in rows, raise their shafts;  
> So too, warriors, albeit only imitated,  
> A few dozen armored sonnets.
> Come then, you who spring from the veins of my heart  
> Like giants from the riverbed,  
> Take your places in your roaring squadrons!
> Close your ranks into a united chain  
> And cry out, joining in the great strife,  
> First: Arms! Arms! And then: Save! Save!

> Forces Business / Riverbed Squadron / Chain Strife / Use Clean / Vein / Chain

When four people write a sonnet, the order can be as follows:

1. For the first two stanzas:

2. For the last two stanzas:

One line for all four ladies.

1 remains in the rhyme, then 2 in the rhyme - repeat the rhyming word when 3 is in the rhyming word. 1 and 4. Then the numbers swap places.

The rhymes are kept.

Four ladies in the trapeze.

First, all at the same time. 1 + 2 keep the rhyme. Then 3 makes the line and 4 keeps the rhyme. Then 4 and 3 repeat the rhyme. Then 2 completes the verse and 1 keeps the rhyme.

Characteristic of a sonnet: it should always begin with a new impulse—listen to L.M.S, DF!

*Later versions of sonnet forms (1917)*

> *Friedrich Hebbel: “Mystery”*
> Oh, if only I could find the thread  
> That connects me to God and nature,  
> And, unwound, reveals the most secret,  
> Hidden in the mind and senses!
> How I would spin it back courageously,  
> Until it finally jumped off the spindle,  
> And slipped into the center,  
> Showing me how the universe and I merge into one.
> Only I fear that, like my own thoughts,  
> Which flashed like comets, I already suffocated,  
> Before I perished in their glowing light,
> So also the universe is an I, which, forgetting its limitations,  
> Ticked at the mystery of the world,  
> out of self-defense, before it penetrates deeper, destroy.

1st stanza: dark blue (the small square, then the transition, half lemniscate)  
2nd verse, light blue (the small square, then transition to half lemniscate)  
3rd verse, yellow (the large triangle, then transition to semicircle)  
4th verse, orange (the large triangle, then transition to semicircle)

***Ghasele***

The ghazal (poem of praise) is a Persian form. It usually consists of any number of two-line stanzas (usually no fewer than 7 and no more than 17 stanzas). The most “rich” rhyme is first struck twice and then continued with an interruption (a a, b a, c a, d a, etc.).

A ghazal can be danced as follows: As many people are lined up as there are rhyme repetitions. First, everyone starts, and gradually one person consumes the other. At first, two can make vowels and consonants, the others only vowels.

For a ghazal, line up as many people as there are numbers in the main rhyme. Some must make the consonants.

The previous person repeats the entire phrase of the next person (otherwise as in the sonnet).

***Alliteration***

> From the “Heliand”:
> Many have been driven [by courage]  
> To begin [to proclaim the mystery of God]  
> To mankind, [the Christian, the mighty one.]  
> In the human race [with power]  
> In words and deeds.

Alliteration or stabreim (staves - identical initial sounds). Repetition of the same consonant, e.g., house and yard; shame and disgrace. For alliterations, etc., it is good to stand in a semicircle or trapezoid (also in a full circle), but for rhymes, stand in a square (change after each stanza).

Alliterations can now be danced as follows: For example, six people stand in a circle, a seventh joins them from the chaos and begins.

7 steps out of the chaos and stands behind 1. 1 makes the first alliteration and then stands behind 2 and repeats his (1st) alliterating consonant, while 2 makes the next alliteration, stands behind 3, etc. Two people can stand in the middle and make the vowels.

The alliterations are made while moving in a circle, when the same-sounding sound stops and another alliteration begins. The first person repeats their first alliteration word, while the second person moves, and so on.

Middle circle consonants, outer circle around it. Each time, one person must run when the alliteration begins. This must be picked up by the others. (When a new alliteration begins, the circle is made larger, moving out of the circle.)

One person makes vowels, one consonants. Each time, the next person must pick up where the alliteration begins. When a new one begins, the circle must be made slightly larger.

One person from the chaos starts next to the place of 2, etc. For alliterating consonants: The person who has stopped at the letter must repeat the last movement when the other person stops.

The number of people standing in the circle and in the middle can vary. The alliterations are done while moving in a circle, when the same-sounding sound stops and another alliteration begins. The first person repeats their alliteration word when the second person does theirs for the first time, and so on. In the middle of the circle, one (two or more) calmly recite the vowels of the text so that all sounds are expressed. Consonants are recited in the circle, and only the stressed vowels are recited. In the circle, consonants are recited, and only the stressed vowels are recited.

Alliteration at a rapid pace. ![277a-359](images/277a-359.webp)

> *From: Wilhelm Jordan, “Demiurgos”*
> There the treetops surge and sway,  
> There the trees roar  
> And bend anxiously.
> With swift steps  
> And hollow howls  
> The wind bride wanders  
> Racing toward us.
> Bulging clouds  
> Roll and grow,  
> Flaming and flickering,  
> High above  
> And envelop the sky  
> In gloomy darkness  
> Solemnly terrible.
> Blinding flashes  
> Zigzag through  
> The wall of clouds,  
> Like giant cracks  
> Revealing behind them  
> A hidden fire.
> Dull and threatening  
> The thunder rumbles,  
> As it rolls away into the  
> Distant distance.  
> But the ground  
> Shakes and even the  
> Roaring, powerful  
> Voice of the storm  
> Falls silent  
> Next to the nearby [transition assonance]  
> Weather clamor.

The ghazal can be performed in this way:

The position, for example:

> *From: Friedrich Rückert: “Creation has gone to rest”*
> 1. Creation has gone to rest, oh wake up in me:  
> 2. Sleep wants to overcome me too, oh wake up in me!  
> 3. The eye that watches over the sky with a starry gaze  
> 4. When my eyes close, oh wake up in me!
> 1 makes the first line  
> 1 2 makes the second line  
> 1 2 3 makes the third line  
> 1 2 3 4 makes the fourth line

“O awake within me!” is made by all four together each time. The whole thing is done calmly (or with forms), but without transition from one position to another.