The "Marienbad Elegy" is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It is named after the spa town of Marienbad (now Mariánské Lázně) where Goethe, 73 years old, spent the summer of 1821. There he fell in love with the 17-year-old Ulrike von Levetzow. Goethe returned to Marienbad in the summer of 1823 to celebrate his birthday. On that occasion, he asked Ulrike, via his friend, Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, to marry him. She declined. Source: Wikipedia (en)