How does the poem "Totentanz" represent the recurring theme in Goethe's works, that mankind should not meddle with the activities of the supernatural? (What happens to the man in the poem?)

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Craig Lamb

English

5 March, 21:17

How does the poem "Totentanz" represent the recurring theme in Goethe's works, that mankind should not meddle with the activities of the supernatural? (What happens to the man in the poem?)

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Jordin Mcdaniel · Answer 1

In Totentanz,

"the skeleton corners the unfortunate Türmer, who quivers in cowardice, and is about to deliver a deathly blow when providence saves the Türmer just in time". The poem is about the skeletons of men and women who have died dance in the middle of the night. When their shrouds fall across the graveyard, the warder picks one up. When the dead try to go back into their tombs, the one whose shroud was taken stays awake. He seeks out the warder and seeks the warder's death unless he returns it.