JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE was a monumental European presence - dramatist, impresario, novelist, essayist, scientist, administrator and extraordinarily prolific poet. This selection from his early and middle years includes the 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' (the title of which became famous a hundred years later through Dukas' well-known orchestral piece) and also highlights the dramatic element in Goethe's poetry (a speech from Faust and a monologue from an unfinished play about Prometheus). Several poems set to music by Brahms and Schubert are also featured.

John Greening's ingenious translations offer refreshing new angles for those who are already familiar with Goethe's poetry and are an excellent introduction for those coming to it for the first time.