The title which Goethe himself
gave it at a later date, _Gedicht der Ankunft des Herrn_, more fitly
describes it than the title _Der Ewige Jude_. Of the two main sections
into which the poem is divided, the first, extending to over seventy
lines, corresponds most closely to the original conception. In twenty
introductory lines the poet describes how the inspiration to sing the
wondrous experiences of the much-travelled man had come to him. The
note struck in these lines is maintained throughout the remainder of
the fragment. It is a note of ironic persiflage which is plainly
indicated to the reader. In lack of a better Pegasus, a broomstick
will serve the poet's purpose, and the reader is invited to take or
leave the gibberish as he pleases. Then follows a description of the
shoemaker, who is represented as half Essene, half Methodist or
Moravian, but still more of a Separatist--certainly not the type
originally conceived by Goethe as that of the Wandering Jew. The
shoemaker is, in fact, a sectary of Goethe's own time, discontented
with the religious world around him, and convinced that salvation is
only to be found in his own petty sect.
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