(To August Varnhagen von Ense)
"Heavens! where, dear Ludoviso,
Did you steal this crazy stuff?"
With these words did Cardinal
D'Este Ariosto greet
When that poet read his work
On Orlando's madness. This
He unto His Eminence
Humbly sought to dedicate.
Yes, Varnhagen, dear old friend,
Yes, I see these very words
Tremble on thy lips, that same
Faint and devastating smile.
Sometimes o'er a book thou laughest,
Then again in earnestness
Thy high forehead wrinkles o'er
As old memories come to thee.
Hark unto the dreams of youth!
Such Chamisso dreamed with me,
And Brentano, Fouqué, too,
In blue nights beneath the moon.
Comes no sound of saintly chimes
From that vanished forest fane,
And no tinkling of the gay
Unforgotten cap-and-bells?
Through the choir of nightingales
Rumbles now the growl of bears,
Low and fierce, and changes then
To the gibbering of ghosts!
Madness in the guise of sense,
Wisdom with a broken spine!
Dying sobs which suddenly
Into hollow laughter pass!
Aye, my friend, such strains arise
From the dream-time that is dead,
Though some modern trills may oft
Caper through the ancient theme.
Spite of waywardness thou'lt find
Here and there a note of pain;--
To thy well-proved mildness now
Do I recommend my song!
'Tis, perchance, the final strain
Of the pure and free Romance:--
In to-day's wild battle-clash,
Miserably it must end.
Other times and other birds!
Other birds and other songs!
What a chattering as of geese
That had saved a capitol!
What a chirping!--sparrows these
Penny tapers in their claws,
Yet have they assumed the ways
Of Jove's eagle with the bolt.
What a cooing! Turtle-doves,
Cloyed with love, now long to hate,
And thenceforth in place of Venus'
They would drag Bellona's car!
What a buzz that shakes the skies!--
These must be the great May-beetles
Of the nation's dawning Spring,
With a Viking fury seized!
Other times and other birds!
Other birds and other songs;--
These, perchance, might yield delight
Were I blest with other ears!
[Illustration]
NOTES TO "ATTA TROLL"
BY DR. OSCAR LEVY
PREFACE
THE GOD OF SCHELLING. The German philosopher Schelling (1775-1854) was
at first a follower of Spinoza, and had published in his youth a
pantheistic philosophy which had made him famous. In later life he began
to doubt his former beliefs, and promised to the world another and more
Christian explanation of God and the universe. The promised book,
however, never appeared.
The gap, thus left by Schelling, has since been filled up by a host of
more courageous, if less conscientious, investigators.
"SEA-SURROUNDED SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN" OYSTERS. "Schleswig-Holstein
Meerumschlungen (sea-surrounded)" was the German Marseillaise after 1846
and again in 1863-64.
ARNOLD RUGE (1802-1880) was the leader of the New Hegelian school, and
published certain famous annuals for art and science at Halle. In 1848
he was elected to the Parliament at Frankfort, but was forced to flee to
London, where he struck up a fast friendship with Mazzini. In the
Revolutionary Committee of London he represented Germany, as
Ledru-Rollin represented France and Mazzini Italy.
CHRISTIAN-GERMANIC. One of the favourite phrases and shibboleths of the
Romantic School, which may still be heard in the Germany of to-day.
FERDINAND FREILIGRATH (1810-1876). A well-known poet and skilful
translator of French and English poets, such as Burns, Byron, Thomas
Moore, and Victor Hugo. His own poems betray his dependence upon Hugo.
Frederick William IV, King of Prussia, bestowed a pension upon him in
1842. When his friends, however, charged him with having sold himself to
the Government, the poet refused the pension. Thereafter he devoted
himself more and more to the democratic party and wrote many political
poems. In 1848 he went abroad, living in London the greater part of the
time. He returned to Germany in 1868, and in 1870 published several
patriotic poems which met with great acclaim.
The sudden conversion from international Democracy to Nationalism is
easily explained. Modern states have become democratic, and
democrats--but they alone--find it easy to feel comfortable and
patriotic in such a milieu.
CANTO I
DON CARLOS. After the death of Ferdinand VII of Spain (1833) a lengthy
civil war broke out between his younger brother, Don Carlos, and the
Queen-widow Christina, who had assumed the regency for her daughter
Isabella.
SCHNAPPHAHNSKI. A comic word composed of the German word "schnappen,"
to snap, and "hahn," cock. It has also been incorporated into French in
the form "chenapan." It is applied here to Prince Felix Lichnowski
(1814-1848), who left the Prussian Army in 1838 and entered the service
of Don Carlos, who appointed him a brigadier-general. After his return
from Spain, Lichnowski wrote his "Reminiscences," the publication of
which involved him in a duel in which he was badly wounded. The
"Reminiscences" are couched in Heine's own style, and their hero is
called Schnapphahnski.
JULIET. Juliet is to be understood as referring to Heine's mistress and
subsequent wife, Mathilde.
CANTO II
QUEEN MARIA CHRISTINA. She was the wife of Ferdinand VII and assumed the
regency after his death. Soon after the king's demise, she married a
member of her bodyguard, one Don Ferdinand Muñoz, who was afterwards
given the title of Duke of Rianzares. She bore him several children.
PUTANA. Italian for strumpet.
CANTO IV
MASSMANN. A German philologist and one of Heine's favourite butts. He
was one of the most enthusiastic advocates of German gymnastics.
Athletics was one of the pet ideas of the German patriots; the
Government, however, held it in suspicion, inasmuch as the so-called
"Turner" (gymnasts) cherished political ambitions. In time, however, the
exercise of the muscles cured the revolutionary brain-fag, and the
Government was enabled to assume a sort of protectorship over
gymnastics. Though enthusiastically carried on to this very day in
Germany, the movement no longer has any political significance.
FRESH, PIOUS, GAY, AND FREE. FRISCH, FROMM, FRÖHLICH, FREI--the four
F's--formed the motto of the German "Turner."
CANTO V
BATAVIA. Apparently a well-known female ape in Heine's day, trained in
theatrical feats of skill.
FREILIGRATH (see above). As a refuge from the crassness of his times,
Freiligrath usually chose exotic themes for his poems, frequently
African in nature, as, for instance, in his "Löwenritt." The allusion to
the mule (in German "camel," which bears the same opprobrious meaning as
"ass") gives us reason to believe that Heine's preface must not be taken
too seriously and that his opinion of the poet Freiligrath was by no
means a high one.
FRIEDRICH LUDWIG GEORG VON RAUMER (1781-1873). A well-known German
historian, author of the "History of the Hohenstaufens."
CANTO VIII
TUISKION. The god whom the Germans, according to Tacitus (vide
"Germania," cap. II) regard as the original father of their race.
LUDWIG FEUERBACH (1804-1872). An honest thinker, who recognised that
there was an unbridgable gulf between philosophy and theology. He left
the Hegelian school, which can be so well adapted to the need of
theologians, and considered as the only source of religion--the human
brain. "The Gods are only the personified wishes of men," he used to
say. He brought German philosophy down from the clouds to cookery by
declaring: "Der Mensch ist, was er isst" ("Man is what he eats"). He was
a believer in what he called "Healthy sensuality," which made him the
philosopher of artists in the 'thirties and 'forties of the last
century, amongst others of Richard Wagner. The latter, however,
afterwards repented, and, by way of Schopenhauer, turned Christian.
Feuerbach came from a family that would have been the delight of Sir
Francis Galton, author of "Hereditary Genius." Feuerbach's father was a
famous jurist, who had five sons, all of whom attained the honour of
appearing in the German Encyclopædias. The philosopher was the fourth
son. Again: the famous painter Anselm Feuerbach was his nephew, the son
of his eldest brother.
BRUNO BAUER (1809-1882). A destructive commentator of the New Testament.
He belonged to the school of "higher" criticism which has done so much
to "lower" Christianity in the eyes of savants and professors and so
little in those of mankind at large. His "Critique of the Evangelistic
History of Saint John" (1840) and his "Critique of the Evangelistic
Synoptists" (1841-42) had just been published when Heine wrote "Atta
Troll."
CANTO IX
MOSES MENDELSOHN (1729-1786). Grandfather of the famous composer. He was
a Jewish philosopher and a friend of Lessing's, who, it is supposed,
took him as his model for "Nathan the Wise." He freed his German
co-religionaries from the oppressive influence of the Talmud.
CANTO X
PROPERTY IS THEFT. A dictum of Prudhon.
CANTO XII
REIGN OF DWARFS. The approaching rule of clever little trades-people,
whose turn it will soon be if democracy progresses as at present.
Compare Nietzsche's "Zarathustra," Part III, 49, "The Bedwarfing
Virtue": "I pass through this people and keep mine eyes open: they have
become _smaller_, and ever become _smaller: the reason thereof is their
doctrine of happiness and virtue_."
THIS CONCLUSION. "Lo, I kiss, therefore I live"--a witty travesty of
Descartes' "Cogito, ergo sum."
CANTO XIV
SO I TOOK TO HUNTING BEARS. Heine considers Atta Troll, the bear bred by
the French Revolution, as a much greater and more dangerous foe, and
therefore a worthier opponent of his than the sorry German bears--or
patriots--with whom he was forced to contend in his native country and
who incessantly worried (and still worry) him.
CANTO XV
CAGOTS. The remnant of an ancient tribe, driven out of human society as
unclean--Cagot from _Canis gothicus_. The Cagots may still be found in
obscure parts of the French Pyrenees; they have their own language and
are distinguished by their yellow skins from the peoples of Western
Europe. In the Middle Ages they were persecuted as heretics and were
excluded from all contact with their neighbours. They were forced to
bear a tag upon their clothes so that they might be known as inferiors.
Even to-day, despite the fact that they possess the same rights as other
Frenchmen, they are considered as somewhat debased and unclean.
CANTO XVIII
THE WILD HUNT which Heine describes in this canto is an old German
legend which poets and painters have found to be a fertile source of
inspiration. The wild huntsman must ride through the world every night,
followed by all evil-doers, and wherever he appears, thither, according
to old folk-belief, does misfortune come. Tradition herds all the foes
of Christianity among this rout of evil-doers; for this reason does
Heine include Goethe--the "great pagan," as the Germans call him--in
that crew. There have been other foes of Christianity since, and some
very great figures amongst them, so that in time the Wild Huntsman's
Company may become quite presentable.
HENGSTENBERG (1802-1869). A fanatical theologian professor at Berlin who
made an attack upon Goethe's "Elective Affinities," which then had not
yet become a classic, and was thus still liable to the attacks of the
"learned."
FRANZ HORN. A contemporary of Heine's of no particular importance, a
poet of the Romantic School and a verbose literary historian. He wrote a
work in five volumes upon Shakespeare's plays. In this he interprets the
poet in a wholly romantic sense and winds up by presenting him as an
enthusiastic Christian.
CANTO XIX
ABUNDA--in the Celtic (Breton) folk-lore Dame Abonde and even Dame
Habonde. The Celtic element (as, for instance, the legend of King
Arthur's Round Table) played a great part in the romantic poetry of
Germany, and later in the music dramas of Wagner. Romanticism is
therefore represented in Heine's poem by the fairy Abunda, in
contradistinction to the Greek and Semitic inspiration--represented by
Diana and Herodias. Heine's conception of Herodias as being in love with
the Baptist and taking her revenge on him for his Josephian attitude
towards her, has, no doubt, influenced later writers on the subject,
especially Flaubert and Oscar Wilde, save that these had not the courage
(nor perhaps the insight) to regard the hero in question as a
"block-head."
CANTO XX
SIX-AND-THIRTY KINGS. At once an allusion to Shakespeare's "A kingdom
for a horse!" ("Richard III") and a side-stroke glancing at the various
kings and princes of Germany--some thirty-six in Heine's time.
CANTO XXI
HELLISH HERBS. The foul and mouldy herbs and medicines in Uraka's hut
represent a collection of remedies for the cure and preservation of
decaying feudalism and Christian mediævalism, which, however, no remedy
can restore to health. The smell in Uraka's hut is the smell of the
"rotting past," that, in spite of all nostrums and artificial revivals,
goes on decomposing. The stuffed birds which glare so fixedly and
forlorn, and have long bills like human noses, are members of Heine's
own race. These stuffed birds are the symbols of Judaism which according
to our Hellenistic poet, possesses, as religion, as little life as the
Christianity that is based upon it.
CANTO XXII
A SWABIAN BARD. The Swabian school of poetry, of which Uhland was the
leader, was the chief representative of German Chauvinism in Heine's
day. W. Menzel, the critic who denounced "Young Germany" to the
Government, belonged to this school. Börne answered him in his "Menzel
der Franzosenfresser" ("The Gallophobe"), and Heine mocked at him in his
paper "The Denunciator." Gustav Pfizer (who had provoked Heine) and Karl
Meyer were members of the Swabian school, and prided themselves
particularly upon their morality and religiosity, for which reason they
set themselves in antagonism to the "heathen" Goethe. Goethe, on his
part, estimated this school as little as did Heine. In a letter to
Zelter dated October 5, 1831, Goethe writes thus of Pfizer: "...I read a
poem lately by Gustav Pfizer ... the poet appears to have real talent
and is evidently a very good man. But as I read I was oppressed by a
certain poverty of spirit in the piece and put the little book away at
once, for with the advance of the cholera it is well to shield oneself
against all debilitating influences. The work is dedicated to Uhland,
and one might well doubt if anything exciting, thorough, or humanly
compelling could be produced from those regions in which he is master. I
will therefore not rail at the work, but simply leave it alone. _It is
really marvellous how these little men are able to throw their
goody-religious-poetic beggar's cloak so cleverly about their shoulders
that, whenever an elbow happens to stick out, one is tempted to consider
this as a deliberate poetic intention_."
METZEL-SOUP. A Swabian soup of the country districts, glorified in the
poetry of Uhland. It is usually prepared from the "insides" of pigs.
CHRISTOPHER FRIEDRICH K. VON KÖLLE (1781-1848). A Privy Councillor of
the Legation of Würtemberg--composer of many poems and political
pamphlets.
JUSTINUS KERNER (1786-1862) was also a poet of the Swabian school. He
believed in spirits, and made many observations and experiments in his
house at Weinsburg in order to obtain some knowledge of the
supernatural world. Thousands of those who believed, or wished to
believe, came to his "séances." He worked in conjunction with a
celebrated medium of his time, and later published a very successful
book about this lady. Heine, no doubt, had this medium in mind when he
mentioned Kerner.
CANTO XXIII
BALDOMERO ESPARTERO (1792-1879). A celebrated Spanish general who fought
against Don Carlos on the side of Maria Christina. He was later given
the title of Duke of Vittoria.
EMILIA GALOTTI. This refers to the heroine of Lessing's drama of the
same name, in which old Odoardo Galotti slays his daughter in order to
protect her from dishonour. The theme is derived from the story of
Virginia and Tarquin.
"NO ROSE WOULD HE PLUCK, ETC." Lessing's drama closes thus: "_Odoardo_:
'God! what have I done!' _Emilia_: 'Thou hast merely plucked a rose ere
the storm reft it of its petals.'"
CANTO XXIV
GANELON OF MAINZ was the stepfather of Roland, against whom he bore a
grudge. He contrived to bring about his destruction by betraying him to
the Saracens, who over-powered and killed him in the Valley of
Roncesvalles, as related in the well-known "Chanson de Roland."
VALHALLA'S HALL. King Ludwig I of Bavaria ordered a Greek temple to be
built on the banks of the Danube near Regensburg, to which he gave the
name of Valhalla. In this the busts of all great Germans are placed--as,
for instance, with great ceremony, that of Bismarck some years ago, and
recently that of Wagner. Atta Troll's epitaph is a satirical imitation
of the poetic effusions of Ludwig I, who considered himself a poet but
was nothing more than an affected versifier. His mania for compression
and for participial forms (not to be tolerated in German) more than once
drew the arrows of Heine's wit. The last line: "Talent none, but
character," has become a familiar phrase in Germany.
CANTO XXV
PYRENEEAN LAFAYETTE. Lafayette fought for the Revolution in France as
well as in America.
"THAT WHICH SONG WOULD MAKE ETERNAL," &c. A quotation in a semi-satiric
vein from Schiller's "The Gods of Greece."
CANTO XXVI
DROVE THE SNAKES AND LIONS FAR. A burlesque quotation from
Freiligrath's poem "Der Löwenritt," from which also the reference later
on to the crocodile is taken.
CANTO XXVII
VARNHAGEN VON ENSE (1785-1858). After abandoning his career as a
diplomat, von Ense married the celebrated Rahel. He lived in Berlin,
where the salon of his wife became the meeting-ground for artists and
writers. In his youth he associated closely with the romantics--de la
Motte Fouqué, Chamisso, and Clemens Brentano, the brother of Bettina von
Arnim. Though imitating the heavy and cautious style of the later Goethe
he was a good writer, and his biographies of celebrated men belong to
the best in German literature. He endeavoured, but without success, to
win over the all-powerful Austrian Minister Metternich to the cause of
"Young Germany."
OTHER TIMES AND OTHER BIRDS! These words refer to the new generation of
poets--Georg Herwegh, Friedrich Freiligrath, Dingelstedt, Hoffmann von
Fallersleben, and Anastasius Grün--who came upon the scene about 1840,
cherished mechanic-democratic ideals and brought about the Revolution of
1848. Heine, by nature an aristocratic poet, who instinctively dreaded
the competition of "noble bears," saw all his loftiest principles
trodden into the mire by these Utopian hot-heads and the crew of
politicians that came storming after them. This doctrinaire and
numerical interpretation of the rights of man--for which rights in their
proper application the poet himself had fought so valiantly--caused him
great unhappiness. He now saw his fairest concepts (as is made clear in
his own introduction) distorted as in some crooked mirror, and so,
filled with anger, grief and disgust, he conceived and wrote his
lyrico-satiric masterpiece, "Atta Troll." The poem has been
misunderstood to this very day, for the mechanics and theorists have
practically won. _The day it is understood, their reign will be over_.
PRINTED AT THE BALLANTYNE PRESS LONDON
NOTES OF THE TRANSCRIBER
Three instances of "Willy Pogàny" were corrected to "Willy Pogány."
"ond entreaties" was changed to "fond entreaties."