_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 read.
_Seven!_
“Deep is its woe—
_Eight!_
“Joy—deeper still than grief can be:
_Nine!_
“Woe saith: Hence! Go!
_Ten!_
“But joys all want eternity—
_Eleven!_
“Want deep profound eternity!”
_Twelve!_
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.
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.
This is an experiment in interactive reading, and in using AI to help you grow. Thus Spake Zarathustra is notoriously difficult for a modern reader; yet taken as a set of mental exercises, it is guaranteed to transform your thinking by the time you reach the end. Along the way you will have help from the companion, who is always beside the book.
Do you accept the challenge?
What the critics said
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.