I'm still enjoying Faust. One of the things I like best about it so far is how Goethe (I'm assuming this is a product of the original German, not something added into the translation) mixes different styles of poetry and prose depending on the mood or the character. Some of the characters use very short, clipped rhymes and meter and some use longer, more sonnet-like poetry when they speak. It adds a whole other dimension to an already complex fabric of words and emotion which I'm really enjoying.
This quote I just like because of the images it conjures up, and because it talks about reading classic literature, obviously a soft spot for me!
"Excuse me! in these olden pages
We catch the spirit of the by-gone ages,
We see what wisest men before our day have thought,
And to what glorious heights we their bequests have brought."
The word of the day is "famulus" which is "an assistant or servant, esp. one working for a magician or scholar." (definition from The New Oxford American Dictionary).
I hope all my American readers had a happy Thanksgiving. Let the Christmas festivities begin!
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