The painful elements in Traumgekrönt, the successor to Larenopfer, are legion. Divided into “Träumen” (Dreaming) and “Lieben” (Loving), it has patches of extreme sentimentality: “Nur heute sind es Tränen, — / und gestern war es Tau” (SW 1:77; Only today it is tears, — / and yesterday it was dew); cuteness: “mäuschenstille Plätze” (85; places still as a little mouse) and “ihr Händchen, elfenschlank” (91; her little hand, elfin-slender); and hints at sexual involvement ending badly. The lover has been given his walking papers and feels

In his announcement of Traumgekrönt René talked of confessions and dreams. The language is studded with post-positive adjectives: “Die Welt, die laute, kranke” (79; the world, the loud [and] sickly), “das Volk, das drohnenträge” (79; The people, dronelike-sluggish); with overwhelming alliterations: “und nur ein ewig wildes Weh wacht” (82; and only an eternally wild woe watches), “Weltenweiter Wandrer, / walle fort in Ruh” (82; worldwide wanderer, / wend your way in peace); mosaic rhymes: “lallt es” / “jahrhundertaltes” (82; it babbles, / century-old), “beisammen sein” / “Flammenreihn” (88; to be together / rows of flames); and huge composite nouns, among them “Götterbildermarmorweiße” (87; divine-imagesmarble-whiteness), which takes the cake.