HERDER.
Herder's Interest in the Orient--Fourth Collection of his
Zerstreute Blätter--His Didactic Tendency And Predilection For
Saʻdī.
The epoch-making work of the English Orientalists, and above all, of the
illustrious Sir William Jones, at the end of the eighteenth century not
only laid the foundation of Sanskrit scholarship in Europe, but also
gave the first direct impulse to the Oriental movement which in the
first half of the nineteenth century manifests itself so strikingly both
in English as well as in German literature, especially in the work of
the poets. In Germany this movement came just at the time when the idea
of a universal literature had taken hold of the minds of the leading
literary men, and so it was very natural that the pioneer and prophet of
this great idea should also be the first to introduce into German poetry
the new _west-östliche Richtung_.
Herder's theological studies turned his attention to the East at an
early age. As is well known, he always had a fervid admiration for the
Hebrew poets, but we have evidence to show, that, even before the year
1771, when Jones' _Traité sur la poésie orientale_ appeared, he had
widened the sphere of his Oriental studies and had become interested in
Saʻdī.[79] Rhymed paraphrases made by him of some stories from the
_Gulistān_ date from the period 1761-1764,[80] and, as occasional
references prove, Saʻdī continued to hold his attention until the
appearance, in 1792, of the fourth Collection of the _Zerstreute
Blätter_, which contains the bulk of Herder's translation from Persian
and Sanskrit literature, and which therefore will have to occupy our
attention.[81]
Of this collection the following are of interest to us: 1°. Four books
of translations, more or less free, of maxims from the _Gulistān_,
entitled _Blumen aus morgenländischen Dichtern gesammlet_. 2°.
Translations from the Sanskrit consisting of maxims from the
_Hitōpadēśa_ and from Bhartṛhari and passages from the _Bhagavadgītā_
under the name of _Gedanken einiger Bramanen_. 3°. A number of versions
from Persian, Sanskrit, Hebrew and Arabic poets given in the Suphan
edition as _Vermischte Stücke_.
The first three books of the _Blumen_ consist entirely of maxims from
the _Gulistān_, the versions of Gentius, or sometimes of Olearius, being
the basis, while the fourth book contains also poems from Rūmī, H̱āfiḍ
and others (some not Persian), taken mostly from Jones' well known
_Poeseos_.[82] For the _Gedanken_ our poet made use of Wilkins'
translation of the _Hitōpadēśa_ (1787) and of the _Bhagavadgītā_ (1785),
together with the German version of Bhartṛhari by Arnold from Roger's
Dutch rendering.
As Herder did not know either Sanskrit or Persian, his versions are
translations of translations, and it is not surprising if the sense of
the original is sometimes very much altered, especially when we consider
that the translations on which he depended were not always accurate.[83]
In most cases, however, the sense is fairly well preserved, sometimes
even with admirable fidelity, as in "Lob der Gottheit" (_Bl._ i. 1),
which is a version of passages from the introduction to the _Gulistān_.
No attention whatever is paid to the form of the originals. For the
selections from Saʻdī the distich which had been used for the versions
from the Greek anthology is the favorite form. Rhyme, which in Persian
poetry is an indispensable requisite, is never employed.
* * * * *
The moralizing tendency which characterizes all of Herder's work, and
which grew stronger as he advanced in years, rendered him indifferent
to the purely artistic side of poetry. He makes no effort in his
versions to bring out what is characteristically Oriental in the
original; on the contrary, he often destroys it. Thus his "Blume des
Paradieses" (_Bl._ iv. 7 = H̱. 548) is addressed to a girl instead of a
boy. The fourth couplet is accordingly altered to suit the sense, while
the last couplet, which according to the law governing the construction
of the Persian _γazal_ contained the name of the poet, is omitted. So
also in "Der heilige Wahnsinn" (_Verm._ 6 = _Gul._ v. 18, ed. Platts, p.
114) the characteristic Persian phrase
از دريچهء چشم مجنون بجمال ليلی بايستی مطالعه کردن
"It is necessary to survey Laīlā's beauty from the window of
Majnūn's eye"
appears simply as "O ... sieh mit meinen Augen an."
This exclusive interest in the purely didactic side induced Herder also
to remove the maxims from the stories which in the _Gulistān_ or
_Hitōpadēśa_ served as their setting. So they appear simply as general
sententious literature, whereas in the originals they are as a rule
introduced solely to illustrate or to emphasize some particular point of
the story. Then again a story may be considerably shortened, as in "Die
Lüge" (_Bl._ ii. 28 = _Gul._ i. 1), "Der heilige Wahnsinn" (see above).
To atone for such abridgment new lines embodying in most cases a general
moral reflection are frequently added. Thus both the pieces just cited
have such additions. In "Verschiedener Umgang" (_Ged._ 3 = Bhart.
_Nītiś._ 67; Böhtl. 6781) the first three lines are evidently
inspired by the last line of the Sanskrit proverb: _prāyēṇā
'dhamamadhyamōttamaguṇaḥ saṃsargatō jāyatē_ "in general the lowest, the
middle and the highest quality arise from association," but they are in
no sense a translation.
What we have given suffices to characterize Herder as a translator or
adapter of Oriental poetry. His Eastern studies have scarcely exerted
any influence on his original poems beyond inspiring some fervid lines
in praise of India and its dramatic art as exhibited in _Śakuntalā_,[84]
which had just then (1791) been translated by Forster into German from
the English version of Sir William Jones. Unlike his illustrious
contemporary Goethe he received from the East no impulse that stimulated
him to production. His one-sided preference for the purely didactic
element rendered him indifferent to the lyric beauty of H̱āfiḍ and
caused him to proclaim Saʻdī as the model most worthy of imitation.[85]
Yet it was H̱āfiḍ, the prince of Persian lyric poets, the singer of wine
and roses, who fired the soul of Germany's greatest poet and inspired
him to write the _Divan_, and thus H̱āfiḍ became the dominating
influence and the guiding star of the _west-östliche Richtung_ in German
poetry.
FOOTNOTES:
[79] See the edition by Meyer (KDNL. vol. 74) i. 1. pp. 164, 165.
[80] Given by Redlich in the edition by Suphan, vol. 26, p. 435 seq.
[81] We may state here that the work in question has been thoroughly
commented on by such scholars as Düntzer and Redlich, and their comments
may be found in the editions of Suphan and Meyer. The same has been done
for Goethe's Divan by Düntzer and Loeper. The former's notes are in his
Goethe-edition in the Kürschner-series, the latter's in the edition of
Hempel. In this investigation, therefore, the chapters on Herder and
Goethe are somewhat briefer than they otherwise would be, as further
details as to sources, etc., are easily accessible in the editions just
mentioned. In all cases, however, the Sanskrit or Persian originals of
the passages cited have been examined.
[82] Poeseos Asiaticae commentariorum libri vi, publ. at London, 1774.
Reprinted by Eichborn at Leipzig, 1777.
[83] Compare, for instance. Hit. couplet 43 = Böhtl. 3121 with the
rendering of Wilkins in Fables and Proverbs from the Sanskrit, London,
1888 (Morley's Univ. Lib.), pp. 41, 42. And then compare with Herder's
Zwecke des Lebens (Ged. 15).
[84] Indien, ed. Suphan, vol. 29, p. 665.
[85] "An Hafyz Gesängen haben wir fast genug; Sadi ist uns lehrreicher
gewesen." Adrastea vi. ed. Suphan, vol. 24, p. 356.