CONCLUSION.
Now that we have come to the end of our investigation, it may be well to
survey briefly the whole field and to summarize the results we have
reached.
We have seen that to mediæval Europe India and Persia were lands of
magic and enchantment; their languages and literatures were utterly
unknown. Whatever influence these literatures exerted on that of Europe
was indirect and not recognized. Nor did the Portuguese discoveries
effect an immediate change. It was only by slow degrees that the West
obtained any knowledge of Eastern thought. The _Gulistān_ and _Būstān_
of Saʻdī, some maxims of Bhartṛhari and a few scattered fragments were
all that was known in Europe of Indic or Persian literature before the
end of the eighteenth century.
Then the epoch-making discoveries of Sir William Jones aroused the
attention of the Western world and laid the foundations of a new
science. New ideas of world-wide significance presented themselves to
the European mind. Nowhere were these ideas welcomed with more
enthusiasm than in Germany, the home of philological scholarship. Herder
pointed the way, and by means of translations and imitations tried to
introduce the treasures of Oriental thought into German literature. That
he did not meet with unqualified success was due, as we have seen, to
his one-sided didactic tendency. To him, however, belongs the credit of
the first impulse. Then Friedrich Schlegel founded the study of Sanskrit
in Germany, while at the same time Hammer was busily at work spreading a
knowledge of the Persian poets in Europe. The effect of the latter's
work was instantaneous, for, as has been pointed out, it was his
translation of H̱āfiḍ that inspired the composition of Goethe's _Divan_
and thus started the Oriental movement in Germany.
We have examined the share which Rückert, Platen, Bodenstedt and Schack
had in this movement and have touched briefly on the work of some of the
minor lights. It will be noticed that the Persian tendency found a far
greater number of followers than the Indic. And this is but natural. It
was far more easy to sing of wine, woman and roses in the manner of
H̱āfiḍ, such as most of these poets conceived this manner to be, than to
assimilate and reproduce the philosophic and often involved poetry of
India. Add to this the charming form and the rich rhyme of Persian
poetry and we can readily understand why it won favor. But we can also
understand readily enough why most of the so-called Hafizian singing is
of very inferior quality. Those men who did the most serious work for
the West-Eastern movement in Germany, men like Rückert and Schack, were
not one-sided in their studies. It was their earnest intention to offer
to their countrymen what was best in the literatures of both India and
Persia, and that they have carried out this intention nobly no one who
has followed this investigation will be disposed to deny.
* * * * *
It only remains to say a few words on the question of the value of this
Oriental movement to German literature. We are not inclined to put too
high an estimate on the poetry that arose under its influence. In fact,
we do not think that it has produced what may be called really great
poetry. It is significant that the fame of most of the poets considered
in this investigation does not rest on that part of their work which was
inspired by Oriental influence. We cannot possibly agree with the view
that would place Goethe's _Divan_ side by side with the master's best
productions. We do not believe that he ever would have become famous
through that. Platen's _Ghaselen_ have neither the merit nor the
reputation of his sonnets or his ballads. Even among the _Ghaselen_ and
_Östliche Rosen_ of Rückert, the finest poems, such as "Sei mir
gegrüsst" and "Du bist die Ruh," both immortalized by the genius of
Schubert, are precisely those that are least Oriental, and we think it
is safe to say that the _Liebesfrühling_ exceeds in fame any one of
Rückert's Oriental collections, including the _Weisheit des Brahmanen_.
The exception to the rule is Bodenstedt. His reputation rests almost
solely on the Mirza Schaffy songs; but it will scarcely be pretended
that this is great poetry.
From what has been said it may be inferred that the chief value of the
Oriental movement does not consist in its original contributions to
German literature, but rather in the reproductions and translations it
inspired. For it was through these that the treasures of Eastern thought
were made the literary heritage, not of Germany alone, but of Europe. As
far as the literature of Germany itself is concerned, this movement was
of the greatest significance, in that it introduced the Oriental element
and thereby helped powerfully to impart to German letters the spirit of
cosmopolitanism for which men like Herder and Goethe had so earnestly
striven. The great writers of ancient Greece and Rome had long since
been familiar to the German people; Shakespere, Dante and Calderon had
likewise won a place by the side of the German classics through the
masterly work of the Romanticists; and now the spirit and form of a new
literature--light from the East--was brought in by the movement which
has been the subject of this investigation and assumed its place as a
recognized element in the literature of Germany. The fond dream of a
_Weltlitteratur_ thus became a reality, and the German language became
the medium of acquaintance with all that is best in the literature of
the world. The Oriental movement is the clearest proof of that spirit of
universality, which is at once the noblest trait and the proudest boast
of German genius.
[Illustration]
Transcriber's Notes
There are many spelling and capitalization inconsistencies in the
original of this text. These have been retained in this version, except
those noted below.
Page vi: Changed Behāristān to Bahāristān.
Page 2: Added marker for Footnote 2.
Page 6: Changed fourteeth to fourteenth.
Page 7: Changed "ferren India" to "fernen India."
Page 44: Changed "Iskandarnāmah" to "Iskandar Nāmah" in Footnote 159.
Page 52: Changed "Pratap Sinh" to "Pratap Singh."
Changed "d' herb" to "d'herb" where it occurs.
Normalized spelling for "H̱āfiḍ" throughout the text.