The Childhood Homecoming

The Sorrows of Young Werther

This flow follows Werther's return to his birthplace and the contrast between remembered childhood freedom and adult disappointment.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

The Road Home The Road Home from "The Sorrows of Young Werther". A Planned Return A pause in travel Werther decides to visit his native place on the way from the court.

The Road Home from "The Sorrows of Young Werther". A Planned Return A pause in travel Werther decides to visit his native place on the way from the court.

A Planned Return A pause in travel Werther decides to visit his native place on the way from the court. He expects familiar landmarks to restore the pleasure and freedom of childhood. Memory as destination The journey is less a practical visit than an attempt to recover an earlier self. His expectations already expose the distance between remembered happiness and his present condition.

The Old Elm The Old Elm from "The Sorrows of Young Werther". A Familiar Landmark Recollection awakens Werther gets out of the carriage beneath the elm that once marked the limit of his walks.

The Old Elm from "The Sorrows of Young Werther". A Familiar Landmark Recollection awakens Werther gets out of the carriage beneath the elm that once marked the limit of his walks.

A Familiar Landmark Recollection awakens Werther gets out of the carriage beneath the elm that once marked the limit of his walks. Looking toward the mountains, he recalls yearning to explore the world beyond them. The world returned Now he comes back from those journeys with disappointed hopes and failed plans. The same landscape holds both the promise of childhood and the evidence that adult experience has not fulfilled it.

Changed Streets Changed Streets from "The Sorrows of Young Werther". Recognition and Alteration Familiar places transformed Werther recognizes old summerhouses and gardens but dislikes new changes.

Changed Streets from "The Sorrows of Young Werther". Recognition and Alteration Familiar places transformed Werther recognizes old summerhouses and gardens but dislikes new changes.

Recognition and Alteration Familiar places transformed Werther recognizes old summerhouses and gardens but dislikes new changes. The former schoolroom has become a shop, a small alteration that revives the pressure he felt as a child. Memory gathers detail Each step brings back an earlier feeling. His pilgrimage through the village turns ordinary places into records of what has passed and what cannot be restored.

The Stream of Childhood The Stream of Childhood from "The Sorrows of Young Werther". Following an Imagined World A boyhood game Werther revisits the stream where he once made ducks and drakes.

The Stream of Childhood from "The Sorrows of Young Werther". Following an Imagined World A boyhood game Werther revisits the stream where he once made ducks and drakes.

Following an Imagined World A boyhood game Werther revisits the stream where he once made ducks and drakes. As a boy he followed its course in imagination, inventing the distant lands through which it might flow. Knowledge and wonder He contrasts that limited but vivid vision with the knowledge that the world is round. Facts have enlarged his understanding without necessarily enlarging his capacity for joy.

Small Earth, Final Rest Small Earth, Final Rest from "The Sorrows of Young Werther". A Reflection on Human Scale Little needed for happiness Werther concludes that a person needs little earth for enjoyment and less still for burial.

Small Earth, Final Rest from "The Sorrows of Young Werther". A Reflection on Human Scale Little needed for happiness Werther concludes that a person needs little earth for enjoyment and less still for burial.

A Reflection on Human Scale Little needed for happiness Werther concludes that a person needs little earth for enjoyment and less still for burial. The thought joins the simplicity of childhood to an adult awareness of mortality. No recovery of the past The homecoming does not restore the happiness it sought. Instead, it clarifies that memory can preserve an earlier world while also making its loss more painful.

May 5, after Werther resigns

May 9, outside Werther's native village

May 9, while walking through the village

May 9, at the stream beyond the village

At the close of the village visit