Gingo biloba

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Gingo biloba (later: Ginkgo biloba) is a poem written by the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

The poem was published in his work West-östlichen Divan, first published in 1819. In his work he changed "Ginkgo" into "Gingo" for literary reasons.

Goethe sent Marianne von Willemer a Ginkgo leaf and on September 15, 1815 he read his draft of the poem to her and friends. On September 23, 1815 he saw Marianne for the last time. Then he showed her the Ginkgo tree in the garden of Heidelberg Castle from which tree he took the two leaves pasted on the poem. After that he wrote the poem and sent it to Marianne on September 27, 1815.

Directly across from the Goethe memorial tablet, stands the Ginkgo tree, from which Goethe gave a leaf to Marianne von Willemer as a symbol of friendship. The poem was published later as „Suleika“ in Westöstlichen Divan.

Translated into English, the poem begins as follows:

Gingo Biloba

This leaf from a tree in the East,

Has been given to my garden.

It reveals a certain secret,

Which pleases me and thoughtful people.

...

The letter containing this poem with which Goethe included two Ginkgo leaves can be viewed in the Goethe Museum in Düsseldorf. The Ginkgo, planted in 1795, that Goethe lead Marianne von Willemer to in September 1815, is no longer standing today. Since 1928 the Ginkgo tree in the castle garden was labelled that it was "the same tree that inspired Goethe to create his fine poem". The tree was probably still standing in 1936.