6 passages
“Into thine eyes gazed I lately, O Life: gold saw I gleam in thy night-eyes,—my heart stood still with delight: —A golden bark saw I gleam on darkened waters, a sinking, drinking, reblinking, golden swing-bark! At my…
Zarathustra tells how he gazed into Life's eyes and danced after her. She flees and beckons, he loves her from afar and fears her near, he falls, grows weary of being her shepherd, and raises his whip.
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Then did Life answer me thus, and kept thereby her fine ears closed: “O Zarathustra! Crack not so terribly with thy whip! Thou knowest surely that noise killeth thought,—and just now there came to me such delicate…
Life replies with her ears closed against the whip. She asks for friendliness, admits she is envious of his Wisdom, and says her love would leave him if his Wisdom did.
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Thereupon did Life look thoughtfully behind and around, and said softly: “O Zarathustra, thou art not faithful enough to me! Thou lovest me not nearly so much as thou sayest; I know thou thinkest of soon leaving me.…
Life says Zarathustra is not faithful enough and thinks of leaving her when the midnight clock booms. He whispers something into her ear, she is amazed that he knows it, and they weep together on the meadow.
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Then, however, was Life dearer unto me than all my Wisdom had ever been.
After weeping together, Zarathustra says Life has become dearer to him than his Wisdom.
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_One!_ O man! Take heed! _Two!_ What saith deep midnight’s voice indeed? _Three!_ “I slept my sleep— _Four!_ “From deepest dream I’ve woke and plead:— _Five!_ “The world is deep, _Six!_ “And deeper than the day could…
Twelve strokes of the clock are interleaved with the lines of midnight's voice. The voice says the world is deep, its woe deep, and joy deeper than grief, and that all joys want eternity.
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“But joys all want eternity—
Midnight's voice says that joys all want eternity, in answer to woe's cry 'Hence! Go!'
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What the critics said
Brandes defines dance in Nietzsche's language as the lofty lightness of mind exalted above the gravity of earth and all stupid seriousness, introducing the Second Dance Song in which Zarathustra dances with Life as a woman.
Brandes says that the midnight clock's song closing the Second Dance Song, interpreted line by line in Part IV, concentrates Nietzsche's esoteric doctrine in its shortest formula: joy and woe are inseparable, saying Yea to one joy is saying Yea to all woe, and all joy wants deep eternity.
Brandes says that the midnight clock's song closing the Second Dance Song, interpreted line by line in Part IV, concentrates Nietzsche's esoteric doctrine in its shortest formula: joy and woe are inseparable, saying Yea to one joy is saying Yea to all woe, and all joy wants deep eternity.