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sagittalslice t1_iu790o7 wrote

“Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind…”

Can’t believe I still remember this poem from high school German class

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big-bootyjewdy t1_iu7giiw wrote

Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind!

One of my favorites in general. I love Goethe.

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Vtyy1997 t1_iu8j8lv wrote

Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm.

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mauganra_it t1_iu9um1m wrote

Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.

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Tarantiyes t1_iuaavgg wrote

Mein Sohn was birgst du so bang dein Gesich?

I didn’t know other high schools had to memorize it too

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MacadamiaMarquess t1_iu7p3lk wrote

Middle school for me. Herr Nielsen had us memorize both that, and Wilhelm Tell.

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Arborerivus t1_iu81vsi wrote

How did you memorize Wilhelm Tell, it's a whole play?!

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MacadamiaMarquess t1_iu8x3wg wrote

Lots and lots of in class repetition for multiple years.

And my memory is sketchy, but it may only have been select scenes. I’m looking at the page count now and I’m doubting that we performed all 210 pages.

Our last year of middle school we performed at least a portion of the play in a local German language competition that was mostly high school participants. In theory we only had to memorize our own lines, but most of the main character actors knew most of the other characters’ lines, too, for whatever portion we performed.

EDIT: I expect most (native speaker) adult performers of it have nearly the whole thing memorized, though. Props to them.

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