This volume contains the greater portion of the poems which constitute
the Gaudeamus--'Let us be jolly'--of Joseph Victor Scheffel, who is at
present the most popular poet in Germany. Without being presented as
such, these ballads, though complete in themselves, form in their
connection a droll history of the world and of humanity--advancing from
the early outburst of Granite and Basalt, through the boulder of Gneiss
to the Ichthyosaurus and Megatherium. Man then appears as a dweller in
the pre-historic Swiss-Lacustrine-dwelling on poles, where he bitterly
bewails the misfortune of being a pioneer of civilization, and as one
born before the invention of modern comforts.
'In stocks I would gladly grow wealthy,
But exchange is not yet understood:
A good glass of beer would be healthy,
But never a drop has been brewed.'
The Early Ph[oe]nician is set forth in a droll song (originally
published under the title of Jonah) which describes the disasters that
befell a guest who could not pay his bill,--presented in arrow-head or
cuneiform characters on six tiles. The old Etruscan era and that of the
ancient German are also painted in a style which, could the truth be
known, would probably be found as genially true to life as it is to the
world-old, infinite spirit of Humour, which moved man in the same
measure in ancient Egypt as in modern England. In these, as in his
serious poems of a more ambitious nature, Joseph Victor Scheffel
manifests a remarkable insight into the inner real life of the past.
Like a geologist, or poet, he infers from trivial relics the probable
feelings and habits of obscure beings or races, or at least imagines
them, and assimilates them to modern usages with rare tact. These
ballads have been printed, sung, and imitated in Germany of late years
to a great extent. Scheffel has in fact founded a school of humorous
poetry--that of the burlesque-scientific and historical--which, though
by no means pretentious, has at least made the world laugh heartily. I
sincerely trust that the following translations will induce the reader
to become familiar with the original.
I have omitted a few poems from the Gaudeamus, as deficient in the
peculiar spirit of _fun_ which characterises all that are here given;
but should the public manifest its approbation of this work, they may
be found in another edition. In their place I have given translations
of a number of eccentric German-student songs of the new school, nearly
all of which have found their way into the popular German song-books of
late years.