Die Gottin Der Vernunft: Trauerspiel in Funf Akten (1870)

Decade: The First Ten Years is a collection of poetry written and developed over ten years. It brings together every experience from the author’s life since he was seventeen years old. Thematically, Decade is a study of the transition from idealistic, angst-ridden teenager to responsible (though reluctant) young adult. The book opens with Penobscot Violin, a poem about an idyllic town’s refusal to let go of the past. Decade ends with Beco, a lyric dedicated to a man who passed without aging. The book reveals what it means to grow spiritually as a person while trying to understand relationships with other people; it is about fitting in and not fitting in.