Editing Prometheus (section)

====Goethe's poems====
{{Listen|type=speech|image=none|filename=De-Prometheus Gedicht-wikisource.ogg|title="Prometheus"|description=spoken {{in lang|de}}<br />(2:06 minutes, 1 [[Megabyte|MB]])}}
''[[Prometheus (Goethe)|Prometheus]]'' is a poem by [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]], in which a character based on the mythic Prometheus addresses God (as [[Zeus]]) in a romantic and [[Misotheism|misotheist]] tone of accusation and defiance. The poem was written between 1772 and 1774. It was first published fifteen years later in 1789. It is an important work as it represents one of the first encounters of the Prometheus myth with the literary Romantic movement identified with Goethe and with the [[Sturm und Drang]] movement.

The poem has appeared in Volume 6 of Goethe's poems (in his Collected Works) in a section of ''{{Lang|de|Vermischte Gedichte}}'' (assorted poems), shortly following the ''[[Harzreise im Winter]]''. It is immediately followed by [[Ganymed (Goethe)|"Ganymed"]], and the two poems are written as informing each other according to Goethe's plan in their actual writing. ''Prometheus'' (1774) was originally planned as a drama but never completed by Goethe, though the poem is inspired by it. Prometheus is the creative and rebellious spirit rejected by God and who angrily defies him and asserts himself. [[Ganymede (mythology)|Ganymede]], by direct contrast, is the boyish self who is both adored and seduced by God. As a high Romantic poet and a humanist poet, Goethe presents both identities as contrasting aspects of the Romantic human condition.

The poem offers direct biblical connotations for the Prometheus myth which was unseen in any of the ancient Greek poets dealing with the Prometheus myth in either drama, tragedy, or philosophy. The intentional use of the German phrase "{{Lang|de|Da ich ein Kind war...}}" ("When I was a child"): the use of ''{{Lang|de|Da}}'' is distinctive, and with it Goethe directly applies the [[Martin Luther|Lutheran]] translation of [[Paul the Apostle|Saint Paul]]'s [[First Epistle to the Corinthians]], [[s:Bible (King James)/1 Corinthians#13:11|13:11]]: "{{Lang|de|Da ich ein Kind war, da redete ich wie ein Kind...}}" ("When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things"). Goethe's Prometheus is significant for the contrast it evokes with the biblical text of Corinthians rather than for its similarities.

In his book titled ''Prometheus: Archetypal Image of Human Existence'', C. Kerényi states the key contrast between Goethe's version of Prometheus with the ancient Greek version.{{sfnp|Kerényi|1997|p=11}} As Kerényi states, "Goethe's Prometheus had Zeus for father and a goddess for mother. With this change from the traditional lineage the poet distinguished his hero from the race of the Titans." For Goethe, the metaphorical comparison of Prometheus to the image of the Son from the New Testament narratives was of central importance, with the figure of Zeus in Goethe's reading being metaphorically matched directly to the image of the Father from the New Testament narratives.