Some Remarks on the Images in Goethe's Poem "Willkommen undAbschied" (Welcome and Farewell). The poem "Willkommen und Abschied" has a high ranking in German literature. For McWilliams (1978/79) it is placed amongst "the most famous poems in the German language". Boyle (1991) classifies it as "something like a revolution". It symbolises a cultural-historical turning point as "Lyrik des Durchbruchs" (poetry of the break through) of subjectivity. The poet, who was at that time 21 years of age stood at a turning-point of his life. The poem is classed as an "Erlebnisgedicht" ( experience-poem) and refers to the biographical connection to Goethe's love to Friederike Brion. Psychoanalytical orientated authors, who pointed out a connection between the anxiety pictures and sexuality, could not explain the images of terror confronting the poem's narrator as he rides to his beloved. The question was posed as to whether or not preverbal experiences, also prenatal and perinatal influences, played a role in the poet's fantasyworld. Already Freud came to the conclusion, that earlier life anxiety could be a model of latter anxiety. This means that in times of radical change and affective arousals, alongside the actual conflict anxiety, also earlier biographical anxiety from the preverbal time will be actualised. As we know prenatal and perinatal experiences, early deprivations, separations, losses also make themselves noticed in neurophysiological structures and become part of experiences. From biographical and pathographical observations and the way Goethe interacted with people, especially with women, many observers came to the conclusion, that Goethe's personality was influenced by earlier traumatical experiences. The images of terror in this poem appear to point towards the earlier serious threatening experiences, which have flown as unconscious fantasies of the poet into his experience of the actual situation and into his work. The movement in the poem from darkness to brightness, through a lot of resistance and excitation, with the feeling of being abandoned at the end, could refer to a pre- and perinatal symbolism. Goethe made a number of revisions in "Willkommen und Abschied". In these he weakened the affects and muted anxiety and excitation. Perhaps the author was concerned that the terror-inducing phenomena and the heavy affects in the poem could reveal too much of his early traumatic anxieties.