Social Commentaries

The Frogs

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749–1832

Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring (1853) · From Parables

Social Commentaries

A POOL was once congeal'd with frost;
The frogs, in its deep waters lost,

No longer dared to croak or spring;
But promised, being half asleep,
If suffer'd to the air to creep,
As very nightingales to sing.

A thaw dissolved the ice so strong,--
They proudly steer'd themselves along,
When landed, squatted on the shore,
And croak'd as loudly as before.

MLA

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “The Frogs.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/240/.

Chicago

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. “The Frogs.” Translated by Edgar Alfred Bowring. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/goethe/240/.

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