Abstract:
The images of nature work as a recurring motif in Goethe’s poem “Der Erlkönig”, where it
becomes a characteristic feature of Romanticism as well. Similar to most romantic poets, Goethe
also appreciated the beautiful aspects of nature as well as nature’s hazardous countenance. This
poem’s plot develops as a conversation between the father, child and the Elf king, where the child
hallucinates the darker features of nature and he fantasizes them to be the Elf king and his
daughters: presence of the supernatural creatures, which is a feature associated with
Romanticism. Hence, the objective of this paper is to find the symbolic impact in the use of
images of nature on the development of the poem’s main plot and the implication of the thematic
aspects. By engaging in a textual analysis of the original German poem “Der Erlkönig”, it was
found that the imagery of nature has been employed to develop the dramatic plot and that the
particular imagery are also connected allegorically to the major theme: destruction of innocence
by the cruelty of the human world. The analysis shows that Goethe has employed images of nature
to characterize the ominous behavior and sinister traits of the Elf King in contradiction to the
innocence of the child and the maturity of his father. The conflict begins with the intrusions of
the Elf king which make the child afraid while on the other hand, they are realistically explained
by the father by connecting them with natural elements. The findings of this research illustrate
the presence of Romanticism within the poem and encourage the academics to study the depiction
of nature in German poetry.
