(1819-1892)
Bodenstedt was born at Peine, Hanover, April 22d, 1819. From his
earliest years his poetic nature broke through the barriers of his
prosaic surroundings; but in spite of these significant manifestations,
the young poet was educated to be a merchant. He was sent to a
commercial school in Brunswick, and then put to serve an apprenticeship
in business. His inclinations, however, were not to be repressed; and he
devoted all of his holidays and many hours of the night to study and
writing. At last he conquered his adverse fate, and at the age of
twenty-one entered the University. He studied at Göttingen, Munich, and
Berlin, and then through a fortunate chance went to Moscow as tutor in
the family of Prince Galitzin. Here he remained three years, during
which time he diligently studied the Slavonic languages and literature.
[Illustration: Bodenstedt]
The first fruits of these studies were translations from the poems of
Kaslow, Pushkin, and Lermontoff (1843); which were considered equal to
the originals in poetic merit. In Stuttgart, two years later, appeared
his 'Poetische Ukraine' (Poetical Ukraine). He went to Tiflis in 1842 as
instructor in Latin and French in the Gymnasium. Here he studied the
Tartar and Persian languages, under the direction of the "wise man"
Mirza-Schaffy (Scribe Schaffy), and began to translate Persian poems.
"It was inevitable," he afterwards said, "that with such occupations and
influences many Persian strains crept into my own poetry." Here he wrote
his first poems in praise of wine. Later he became an extensive
traveler, and made long tours through the Caucasus and the East. The
fruit of these journeys was the book 'Die Völker des Caucasus und ihre
Freiheitskämpfe gegen die Russen' (The People of the Caucasus and their
Struggle for Freedom against the Russians), published in 1848. After his
return to Germany he settled in Münich to study political economy in the
University.
Two years later, in 1850, appeared his delightful book in prose and
poetry, 'Tausend und ein Tag im Orient' (Thousand and One Days in the
East), a reminiscence of his Eastern wanderings and his sojourn at
Tiflis, The central figure is his Oriental friend Mirza-Schaffy. "It
occurred to me," he says, "to portray with poetic freedom the Caucasian
philosopher as he lived in my memory, with all his idiosyncrasies, and
at the same time have him stand as the type of an Eastern scholar and
poet; in other words, to have him appear more important than he really
was, for he never was a true poet, and of all the songs which he read to
me as being his own, I could use only a single one, the little
rollicking song, 'Mullah, pure is the wine, and it's sin to despise it.'
For his other verse I substituted poems of my own, which were in keeping
with his character and the situations in which he appeared." The poems
by themselves, together with others written at different times and
places, Bodenstedt published in 1856 under the title 'Lieder des
Mirza-Schaffy' (Songs of Mirza-Schaffy). Quite unintentionally they have
occasioned one of the most amusing of literary mystifications. For a
long time they were supposed to be real translations; and even to-day,
despite the poet's own words, the "Sage of Tiflis" is considered by some
a very great poet. A Tartar by birth, who had absorbed Persian culture,
he was a skillful versifier, and could with facility translate simple
songs from the Persian into the Tartar language. Bodenstedt put into
Mirza-Schaffy's mouth the songs which were written during his
intercourse with the Eastern sage, to give vividness to the picture of
an Eastern divan of wisdom.
They portray Oriental life on its more sensuous, alluring side. In most
musical, caressing verse they sing of wine and love, of the charms of
Zuleika and Hafisa, of earthly bliss and the delights of living. Yet
with all their warm Eastern imagery and rich foreign dress they are
essentially German in spirit, and their prevailing note of joyousness is
now and again tempered by more serious strains.
The book was received with universal applause, and on it Bodenstedt's
fame as poet rests. It has been translated into all the European
languages, even into Hebrew and Tartar, and is now in its one hundred
and forty-third German edition. Twenty-four years later Bodenstedt
followed it with a similar collection, 'Aus dem Nachlass des
Mirza-Schaffy' (From the Posthumous Works of Mirza-Schaffy: 1874), where
he shows the more serious, philosophic aspect of Eastern life.
Bodenstedt's poems and his translations of Persian poetry are the
culmination of the movement, begun by the Romantic School, to bring
Eastern thought and imagery home to the Western world. Other well-known
examples are Goethe's 'West-Eastern Divan,' and the poems and
paraphrases of Rückert and others; but the 'Songs of Mirza-Schaffy' are
the only poems produced under exotic influences which have been
thoroughly acclimatized on German soil.
Bodenstedt was for a time director of the court theatre at Meiningen;
and though he held this difficult position for only a short time, he did
much to lay the foundation of the success which the Meininger, as the
best German stock company of actors, achieved later on their starring
tours through the country. He was ennobled in 1867, while in this
position. He spent the last year of his life at Wiesbaden, where he
died in 1892.
Bodenstedt was a voluminous writer; his work includes poems, romances,
novels, and dramas. 'Vom Atlantischen zum Stillen Ocean' (From the
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean: 1882) is a description of his lecturing
tour to the United States the year before. His autobiography,
'Erinnerungen aus Meinem Leben' (Recollections of my Life), gives
interesting glimpses into his eventful career. His mind was more
receptive than creative, and this, combined with his great technical
skill and his quick intuition, fitted him peculiarly to be a translator
and adapter. His translation of Shakespeare's works, in conjunction with
Paul Heyse, Kurz, and others (fifth edition, Leipzig, 1890), is
especially noteworthy, as also his rendering of Shakespeare's sonnets.
But he will live in German literature as the poet Mirza-Schaffy.
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