New section of Second Study Scene Faust rendered into English verse Mark Scrivener

In the next section of the second study scene Faust and the Devil continue their argumentative discussion. Faust exits and the Devil dons his academic gown to give a new student "advice".

 FAUST

You have a perfect right to that.

I did not lightly rate my bet.

If I'm a servant, this I swear,

To you or what else- who could care?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Today, at once now, at the doctor’s feast

I’ll do my duty serving you.

One thing! In terms with life and death

I’d beg from you a line or two.

FAUST

Demanding writing too, pedantic bird?

And have you never known a man or man’s true word?

And isn’t it enough my speaking can

Direct my days for all eternity?

Does not the world in all its streams rush on

And shall a promise fasten me?

Yet this illusion lies within our hearts, and who

Would willingly be free of it?

Oh, happy’s he whose heart clear-bears the true,

No sacrifice will he regret!

But only parchment, written up, all stamped and neat,

Is like a ghost before which all retreat.

The word has died within the pen,

For wax and leather rule it then.

Foul spirit, what shall I complete?

Brass, marble, parchment, paper sheet?

And will a chisel, pen or stylus do?

I give you every freedom for your choice.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Now why adopt this heated voice,

And overdone rhetoric too?

Just any scrap of paper’s fine.

Just take a little drop of blood and sign.

FAUST

Well, if it makes you happy- I'm

Prepared to let this farce stay in the act.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Blood is a very special fluid.

FAUST

You needn’t fear that I shall break this pact!

With all my might I'm striving toward

Precisely what I pledged, in fact.

I'd puffed-up thoughts about my role,

But I’m just one of your degree.

The mighty spirit scorned my soul,

And nature’s shut her gates on me.

The thread of thinking’s snapped. All knowing

Has long been sickening to me.

In deeps of sensuality

Let us quench passion’s fiery glowing!

In never-yet-pierced veils of magic might

Be every wonder ready for our sight!

We’ll plunge into the rush of time, we’ll swing

Into the whirl of happening!

Then may the pleasure and the pain,

The chagrin and the gain,

Swap with each other, as they can;

Only restless-active makes the man.

MEPHISTOPHELES

For you no mark or measure’s set.

If it please you to taste of everything

Or snatch up something on the wing;

May what delights, go well with you. Just grip

Right onto me and don’t be shy!

FAUST

I’ve said that joy is not the question. I

Shall now devote myself to giddy passion, find

Most painful of enjoyments, like the bind

Of loving hate or quickening distress.

Completely cured of all this,

This will to knowledge, then my heart

In future will not shut out pain and strife.

Whatever’s portioned out as mankind’s part

I wish to taste in my own inward life,

Grasp in my spirit high points and the low,

Pile on my breast all of its weal and woe,

Thus widen my own self to self of humankind,

And so like it, be shipwrecked in the end.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Oh, believe me, who, for many a thousand year,

Has chewed upon this hard old thing,

That from the cradle to the bier,

No man’s digested this old leavening.

Take it from one of us. The whole design

Is made but for a god. He finds

Himself in an eternal shine;

He’s thrown us into darkness with his might,

You’re only fit for day and night.

FAUST

But I alone will!

MEPHISTOPHELES

Well said, friend!

I fear but one thing makes you wrong:

That time is short and art is long.

You ought to be instructed then.

So find some poet, if you please.

Let him rove through what thoughts he’s bred,

And all the noble qualities

Heap up upon your honourable head,

The lion’s daring,

The hind’s fleet footedness,

Italian’s fiery blood and bearing,

The northerner’s tough steadfastness.

Let him teach you the secret mix

Of generosity and tricks:

With warm and youthful impulses you can

Then fall in love according to a plan.

I’d like to meet a man like that- good day

Sir Microcosm, I would say.

FAUST

What am I then, if there’s a bar

On ever gaining mankind’s crown,

That all our senses strive to own?

MEPHISTOPHELES

You’re ultimately- what you are.

Put on a periwig that has a million curls,

Or fit your feet with boots with yard-high soles,

You’ll still remain just what you are.

FAUST

I feel that I have gathered up in vain

The treasures of the human spirit. When

At last I sit and ponder it is plain

No new force wells within; I am not then

One hair breath higher because of it,

No nearer to the infinite.

MEPHISTOPHELES

My friend, you see the thing as those

Who merely see the thing. We must

Look sharper here, don’t you suppose,

Before the joy of living flies from us.

Confound it! Hands, feet, head and bum,

Are yours to have and own- that’s fine.

But things I find are really fun,

Now why are they at all less mine?

If I’ve six stallions as my own,

There strength is mine too, isn’t it?

I rush along and what a man I’ve grown,

As if I had two dozen pairs of feet.

Look alive! Let all reflecting be

And plunge into the world quite free.

I say the fool who ponders everything

Is like a beast upon an arid heath

That some strange, evil spirit leads round in a ring,

While beautiful green meadows lie beneath.

FAUST

How shall we set about it?

MEPHISTOPHELES

We’ll simply flee.

What sort of torture chamber could this be?

What kind of life is this for you,

To bore yourself and the youngsters too?

Leave it to neighbour Paunch to lead.

Why plague yourself by threshing straw?

The best of what you know, indeed,

You may not tell the youths you get.

Right now I hear one in the hall.

FAUST

I really can’t see him just yet.

MEPHISTOPHELES

The poor boy’s waited long to call,

He mustn’t go away upset.

Come, give me now your cap and gown;

On me this costume reeks renown.

HE CHANGES CLOTHES

Just leave it to my ready wit!

I only need a quarter hour for it.

And meantime you prepare for our fine trip!

FAUST EXITS

Start of next scene Study (2) Faust rendered into English Verse

In the second study scene Mephistopheles returns to strike a bargain with Faust.

STUDY

FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES

FAUST

A knock? Come in! Who wants to bother me?

MEPHISTOPHELES

It is I.

FAUST

Come in!

MEPHISTOPHELES

Now you must make it three.

FAUST

Come in then.

MEPHISTOPHELES

That’s how you’ll please me.

I hope we’ll get on well together!

To chase away your fancy’s bother,

Here I’m a noble squire- see

My suit of red with braids of gilt,

A little cloak of heavy silk,

My cock’s bright feather on my hat,

Long, pointed rapier one side.

In brief, let me advise you that

You dress the same way and decide,

Thus being free and not held fast,

To learn what living is a last.

FAUST

In any clothes I’d feel the pain of this

Restricted earth-imprisoned stay.

I am too old to merely play,

Too young to be without a wish.

What has the world to offer me?

Renounce, renounce you shall- entirely!

Yes, that is the eternal song

That in each person’s ears is ringing,

That thus, throughout our whole life long,

Each hour is ever hoarsely singing.

I only wake with horror in the morning,

And could weep bitterly to see the sun

Proclaim the risen day that in its forming

Will not fulfill one wish, not one;

With stubborn quibbling it will crush all traces,

All hints of any faint delight;

What stirs as heart’s creative might

It hinders with a thousand hideous grimaces.

What’s more, when night descends then I lie down

So anxiously upon my bed,

That there for me no rest is found,

But wild dreams frighten me instead.

The god that dwells within my heart,

Though inmost depths stir to his call,

Though ruling all my powers, his art

Can’t move the world outside at all.

So all existence is so burdened that

Life’s hateful to me, I desire death.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Yet death is never an entirely welcome guest.

FAUST

O happy he who dies with triumph’s glance,

A bloody laurel round his brow; or tires

After maddened, swift and frantic dance

And in a girl’s soft arms expires!

Oh, that before that high-born spirit’s power,

In rapture I’d sunk down- a lifeless pile!

MEPHISTOPHELES

And yet somebody failed, one late night hour,

To drink the brown juice from a phial.

FAUST

It looks like spying is your sport.

MEPHISTOPHELES

All-knowing I am not, and yet I know a lot.

FAUST

Though from a fearful turmoil, I

Was drawn by sweet-familiar ringing;

Though echoes of glad times gone by

Fooled what is left of childhood feeling;

I curse what circles soul's own ways

With lures, glitz, and trickery,

And bans it to this sad, sad cave

With force of sham and flattery!

Cursed first of all the high importance

In which the spirit wraps its being,

Cursed be the dazzle of appearance

That crowds on us from all our seeing.

Cursed be what feigns in dreams of fame,

False dreams of long-enduring name,

Cursed what so flatters as possession’s power,

As wife and child, as servant and as plough.

And cursed be Mammon when, with treasure,

He spurs us on to daring deeds,

Or lures us to idle leisure,

Adjusts the cushions to our needs.

Cursed be the fluid balm of grape.

Cursed be the highest gift of love. Let fall

A curse on hope! A curse on faith!

And cursed be patience most of all!

SPIRIT CHOIR (INVISIBLE)

Woe! Woe!

With forceful fist

You've destroyed and scattered

The beautiful world;

It tumbles, it’s shattered!

A demi-god has struck, uncaring!

We’re bearing

The ruins into the void;

Despairing,

We lament lost beauty’s worth.

Great one in

The sons of earth,

Build again,

More splendid-bright,

Build it up within your heart!

And a new life path

Begin

With clearest sight,

Let new songs ring,

Ring and sound forth!

MEPHISTOPHELES

Small ones these be

Serving me.

Hear their sage advice to you-

Out to deeds and pleasure too!

Into wide creation,

From this isolation,

Where sense and sap grow still,

They would lure your will.

Hear this- don’t play so with your grieving

Which feeds on your life like a vulture; even

The worst companionship would find

You feeling like a man within mankind.

This does not mean we’ll see

You thrust into the rabble’s state;

Although I’m not one of the great,

Yet if you're closely joined with me

To take your steps through life, then I’m

Quite happy to submit my time

To be yours on the spot. So then

I shall be your friend,

And, if I suit you,

I’ll be your humble servant too!

FAUST

And what, for you, must I do in return?

MEPHISTOPHELES

There’s lots of time for that, so don’t insist.

FAUST

No, no, the devil is an egotist,

Not lightly serving God’s concern,

To give what’s needed for another. First list

All your conditions face to face,

Such servants brings much danger to one’s place.

MEPHISTOPHELES

I’ll bind myself to service to you here,

Be at your call without a rest. When we

Are yonder over there drawn near,

Then you shall do the same for me.

FAUST

That “yonder” is no trouble in my eyes.

Once you have smashed to bits this world,

Then let the other one arise.

For from this earth comes all my gladness,

And this sun shines upon my sadness;

Once I can part from them, let be unfurled

What will and can then, in whatever guise.

I’ll hear no more of this: of whether

One finds in that realm hate and love;

Or if, within those spheres hereafter,

There’s some Below and some Above.

MEPHISTOPHELES

With such an outlook you can risk it.

Commit yourself. As coming weeks slip,

With joy you’ll view my art’s vast scene,

I’ll give to you what no man’s ever seen.

FAUST

And what, poor devil, will you be giving?

When will the human spirit, with its noble striving,

Be grasped by such as live by lies?

For have you food that never satisfies,

Red gold that ceaseless runs and flies

Right through your fingers like quicksilver’s kin?

A game that you can never win,

A girl that as I hold her tight

Already binds my neighbour with her eyes,

Great honour’s most divine delight

That like some meteor swift-flies?

Show me the fruit that rots before it’s picked,

And trees that daily will renew their green.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Well, tasks like that don’t have me licked;

I’ll serve you with such treasure’s gleam.

And yet a time will also come, my friend,

To feast in peace upon those things which please.

FAUST
If ever I lie tranquil on a bed of ease,

Then let that instant be my end!

If flattering you fool me so,

That I’m pleased with my self and way,

Deceive me so with pleasure’s glow,

Then let that be my final day!

This bet I offer.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Done.

FAUST

And done I say!

If I, to any moment, say- Remain,

And linger on, you are so fair!

Then you may cast me into chains,

Then gladly I shall perish there!

Then may the tones of death-knell toll,

Then from your service you’ll be free,

The clock may stop, the hands may fall,

For then let time be done for me!

MEPHISTOPHELES

Consider well, for we shall not forget.

Faust The rest of the Study scene.

Faust and Mephistopheles discuss Mephistopheles' role and nature and Mephistopheles escapes by calling spirits to weave an illusion around Faust.

FAUST

So this was the kernel of the cur!

A travelling scholar , the casus makes me laugh.

MEPHISTOPHELES

I must salute you, greatly learned sir

You didn’t make me sweat by half.

FAUST

What are you called?

MEPHISTOPHELES

That question seems so small

For one who scorns the word so much; who’s fleeing

So far from mere appearance, all

His striving works towards depths of being.

FAUST

With sirs like you the being’s aim

Is mostly read out from the name.

And it is all too plainly shown

When you’re called lord of flies, destroyer, lying one.

All right- who are you then?

MEPHISTOPHELES

A part of the power that would

Will ever for the bad and ever makes the good.

FAUST

What meaning do these riddling words disguise?

MEPHISTOPHELES

I am the spirit that ever denies!

And rightly so, for all that is created

Deserves to be annihilated.

It would be best if it could not begin.

So everything, what you call sin,

Destruction too- in short, where evil’s meant,

I’m in my own true element.

FAUST

You say you’re part, yet stand before me whole?

MEPHISTOPHELES

The modest truth is all I've told.

Though man, that microcosmic fool, well might,

As usual, just deem himself a whole,

I’m part of that great part that to begin was all:

Part of the dark that from itself gave birth to light;

Imperious light that now competes for space,

Disputing mother night’s old place;

Yet can’t succeed. No matter how it strives, it will

Remain enchained to bodies still.

It streams from bodies, makes them beautiful,

And other bodies block its way,

And so I hope soon comes the day

When it and bodies to destruction fall.

FAUST

So now I know your worthy duty!

You can’t destroy a lot of booty,

So you will start on something small.

MEPHISTOPHELES

And frankly little is done that way at all.

Yes, that which sets itself against the Nothing,

This clumsy universe, this Something,

As much as I’ve already tried,

Just how to harm it leaves me mystified.

Though flame, storm, wave, and rain I send,

The sea and land stay peaceful in the end.

That brood of beasts and men, that damned stuff of creation,

You cannot do it any harm:

How much already I’ve put down!

And always fresh, new blood returns to circulation.

Enough to drive one crazy with despair!

From earth, from water, and from the air,

A thousand fertile seeds are sown;

In dry and damp, in warm and cold.

And if I’d not reserved the flame of old,

I’d now have nothing for my own.

FAUST

So you oppose the ever-moving,

The curative, creative might,

The icy devil’s fist thus choosing

To clench in vain, malicious spite.

You should start trying something new,

Oh, ancient, chaos’ strange son.

MEPHISTOPHELES

We’ll really have to think that through-

So more next time we meet! May one

Take one’s good leave this time and go?

FAUST

I don’t see why you’re asking me.

I’ve made your strange acquaintance, so

Come visit as you will- feel free.

Here is the window, there’s the door,

The chimney too is on display.

MEPHISTOPHELES

I must say I’d have strolled out long before

Had not a tiny hindrance blocked my way:

The witch’s foot, your threshold spell.

FAUST

The pentagram there gives you pain?

Now tell me this, you son of hell,

If it bars you then how did you get in?

Yes, how was such a spirit cheated?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Observe with care. It isn’t quite completed.

One angle-tip, out-facing from my view,

Is, as you see, just opened out a bit.

FAUST

That was an excellent, chance hit!

So you’re my prisoner now, are you?

A lucky accident, it would appear.

MEPHISTOPHELES

The poodle noticed nothing as he bounced in here.

But now the thing is turned about:

The devil finds he can’t get out.

FAUST

Yet why not use the window’s way?

MEPHISTOPHELES

It is a law that fiends and ghosts obey:

Where we’ve slipped in, that’s where we must go out.

We’re free to choose the first, by the second we are bound.

FAUST

In hell itself then rules are found?

That’s good, for it would let one make a sure

And binding pact with gentlemen like you.

MEPHISTOPHELES

What’s promised you’ll taste fully, for

You’ll not be cheated of one thing you’re due.

Yet that’s not fixed with so much speed;

We shall discuss it presently.

But now I beg you urgently,

For this one time let me be freed.

FAUST

Just stay a moment longer in this room

And give some good report or news.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Now let me go! I shall return quite soon,

Then you may ask whatever you may choose.

FAUST

I didn’t trip this trap for you;

You strolled into the snare yourself.

With devil held, you hold like glue!

He won’t be caught a second time without much stealth.

MEPHISTOPHELES

If it’s your pleasure, I’m prepared to stay,

To stay here too as company;

But on condition my art’s way

May pass time’s passing worthily.

FAUST

I’ll view it gladly. So be free;

But see your art works pleasingly.

MEPHISTOPHELES

You’ll gain more for your senses, friend,

Before this hour comes to an end,

Than in a year’s monotony.

For what the tender spirits sing,

The beautiful pictures that they bring,

Are not an empty magic’s sway.

For they’ll entrance your sense of smell,

Your palate please by their rare play,

Your touch enrapture by their spell.

No preparation’s needed then-

We are together, now begin!

SPIRITS

Vanish, you dark

Arches above!

Let the blue sky

Look in from high

With friendly love!

Would that the darkling

Clouds would all go!

Small stars are sparkling,

Milder suns glow,

Shine from above.

Wavering ones,

Spirit of beauty’s

Heavenly sons,

Bending down, hover,

Go floating over.

Yearning affection

Trails their direction;

And their out-flowing

Robes, ribbons blowing,

Over lands going,

Cover the arbours,

Where, deep in thought,

Lovers incline,

Pledging life’s course.

Arbour on arbour!

Sprouting of vine!

Grapes in most massive

Bunches go tumbling

Into the vats of

Crowded wine presses;

Wines fall and foam,

Rush in small rivers,

Rippling though pure,

Precious, clear stones,

Leaving heights lying,

Back there recumbent,

Broaden to lakes

Round the abundant,

Green-covered hills.

Wild fowl there will

Sip in delight,

Take sunward flight,

Fly towards the bright

Islands which seem

Rocking on billows,

Stirring in dream.

There, where before us,

Joyously chorus

Those whose dance wheels

Over the fields;

All of them scatter,

Free, without fetter.

Some of them climb

Over the peaks,

Some of them swim

Over the lakes,

More float in air-

All toward life there,

All toward far sight

Of loving starlight,

Most blissful grace.

MEPHISTOPHELES

He sleeps! Well done- soft, airy youths, your number

Have truly sung him into slumber.

I am indebted for this concert’s grace.

You are not yet the man to hold the devil fast.

Play-weave about with sweet dream figures, pass

Him down into an ocean of illusion.

To break this threshold’s magic cast

I need a rat’s tooth. And for this collusion

I shall not need to conjure long;

One’s rustling near and straight away will hear my song.

The lord of rats and busy mice,

Of blowflies, bedbugs, frogs and lice,

Now orders you to venture near

And gnaw into the threshold here

Where I have dotted it with oil-

You hop already to despoil!

Now straight to work! The tip that bans my kind

Is furthest from me, past that line.

Just one more bite, the work is done-

Now, Faust, until we meet again, dream on.

FAUST (AWAKENING)

Have I been tricked once more ? So does it seem

That this now-vanished spirit company

Just spun a fancied devil from false dreams,

And here a poodle simply fled from me?