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The Bride of the Grave QUOTES

The Bride of the Grave QUOTES

1 " Walter was a powerful lord in Burgundy, who, in his earliest youth, had been smitten with the charms of the fair Brunhilda, a beauty far surpassing in loveliness all her rivals; for her tresses, dark as the raven face of night, streaming over her shoulders, set off to the utmost advantage the beaming lustre of her slender form, and the rich dye of a cheek whose tint was deep and brilliant as that of the western heaven: "

― Ludwig Tieck , The Bride of the Grave

2 " Wherefore, fond wretch, dost thou grieve thus, for what is now a hideous mass of mortality — mere bones, and nerves, and veins? Nations have fallen unlamented; even worlds themselves, long ere this globe of ours was created, have mouldered into nothing; nor hath any one wept over them; why then should’st thou indulge this vain affliction for a child of the dust — a being as frail as thyself, and like thee the creature but of a moment? "

― Ludwig Tieck , The Bride of the Grave

3 " Once more do I warn thee,’ answered the old man with undisturbed composure, “Wake not the dead” — let her rest.’ ‘Aye, but not in the cold grave: she shall rather rest on this bosom which burns with eagerness to clasp her. "

― Ludwig Tieck , The Bride of the Grave

4 " Imperious as before her death, she quickly imposed her iron yoke on every one around her, while she seemed even far more terrible than ever, since a dread of some supernatural power attached to her, appalled all who approached her. A malignant withering glance seemed to shoot from her eye on the unhappy object of her wrath, as if it would annihilate its victim. In short, those halls which, in the time of Swanhilda were the residence of cheerfulness and mirth, now resembled an extensive desert tomb. "

― Ludwig Tieck , The Bride of the Grave

5 " They either beheld their children sink one after the other into the grave, or their youthful forms, withered by the unholy, vampire embrace of Brunhilda, assume the decrepitude of sudden age. "

― Ludwig Tieck , The Bride of the Grave