Reading Comprehension: Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra

Mr. Steel

"The Night Song"

1. What might night symbolize in this passage? Explain.

2. What might light symbolize in this passage? Explain.

3. What relation is portrayed between images of light and darkness? Explain.

4, What does Zarathustra mean when he speaks of his soul as a fountain? What might the fountain symbolize?

5. Why might Zarathustra describe his soul as "the song of a lover"?

6. Why does Zarathustra associate being "light" with loneliness? Why does he wish her were night?

7. What does Zarathustra mean when he laments his endless giving?

8. Why does Zarathustra express a "craving for love", or a desire to "crave to crave"?

9. Why might Zarathustra hunger for "malice"?

10. Why does Zarathustra describe givers as lonely? Why does he say that the danger of those who always give is that they lose their "sense of shame"?

11. Why does Zarathustra lament being sun-like, and envy "the dark ones"?

12. What is the metaphoric significance of Zarathustra repeating: "Night has come"?