Reicher Mann und Bettelkind,
Myrtenkränze, Leichenzüge,
Tausendfältig Leben rinnt---
Flußüberwärts singt eine Nachtigall. 15
Langsam graut der Abend nieder,
Milde wird die harte Welt,
Und das Herz macht seinen Frieden,
Und zum Kinde wird der Held---
Flußüberwärts singt eine Nachtigall. 20
A WORD TO THE READER
Verse must be read aloud. Rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, vowel
coloring, the effect of enjambement, to name only the more obvious
phenomena, appeal solely to the ear. Looking at a page of verse is like
looking at a page of music. Unless the symbols are translated into sound
values, the effect is blank. A skilled musician is able to translate the
printed notes to the inner sense, but even he will prefer to hear the
music and will always consider this the final test. Thus it is also with
verse: it must be read aloud. Lyric verse is best read in privacy or in a
small congenial group. When the humdrum noise and the humdrum cares of
the world have vanished, then the moment has come when one may steep
one's soul in lyric beauty. One never tires of a really great lyric: like
a true friend, a longer acquaintance adds only new delight.
And why read lyric poetry at all? Some people ask that question, and for
them the case may be hopeless. If the lyric sense is utterly lacking,
then it is their sad lot to live in the desert of the practical world.
Art is not for them: neither music nor poetry nor painting nor sculpture
nor architecture; for something of the lyric impulse lives in all of
these. But many ask that question who some day will see, and for them I
must attempt a brief answer. All literature is an interpretation of life,
and the better one understands life the better one understands
literature, and vice versa. Lyric poetry is the most direct
interpretation of life, because here the poet reveals his innermost self
directly. We strive to enrich our intellectual power by reliving the
thought of Plato and of Kant. Why not enrich our emotional life and our
whole being by reliving the world of Goethe or Shelley? The poets have
lived for us, and the pure essence of their life we can make our own in
their lyric verse.
* * * * *
ELEMENTS OF VERSIFICATION
RHYTHM.-- While in Greek and Latin it depends on quantity, i.e., length
of the syllables, in German as in English it depends on stress, that is,
accent. The smallest rhythmical unit is called a foot and corresponds to
a measure in music with the exception that the accent need not be on the
first syllable. A verse consists of two or more feet (verses with only a
single foot are rare) and may end either with an accented syllable
(masculine ending) or with an unaccented (feminine ending). Especially
within longer verses there often occurs a slight rest or break, called
caesura. Designating the accented syllable by -- and the unaccented by X,
the more common feet with their Graeco-Roman names may be represented
thus:
Iambic, X --
Trochee, -- X
Dactyl, -- XX
Anapaest, XX --.
This terminology is, however, of little avail in the German _Volkslied_,
that is the simple folksong, and in that large body of German verse which
is patterned after it. Here the basic principle is the number of accented
syllables. The number of unaccented syllables varies. A measure (i.e., a
foot) may have either one or two unaccented syllables, in the real
Volkslied often three. (A measure without an unaccented syllable, so
common in older verse, is but rarely met with to-day; see 84, 7.)
Goethe's more popular ballads as _Erlkönig_ or _der König in Thule_ offer
good examples of this freer technique. Above all, however, Heine made use
of this principle, while Platen, whom later German verse tends to follow
in this respect (e.g., Meyer and Liliencron), espoused the strict classic
ideal.[1]
[1] Exceptions are only apparent, as in 68, 7. Platen followed the
rules of Graeco-Roman prosody, where a long syllable could be
substituted for two short syllables.
RHYME.--When two or more words correspond from their accented vowel on,
they are said to rhyme: _Pferde--Erde_. The rhyming syllable must carry
at least a secondary accent: _Héiligkèit--Zéit_. Rhymes of one syllable
are called masculine, of two syllables feminine. According to their
degree of perfection rhymes are classified as pure and impure. Thus
_geboren--geschworen_, _bestellt--Welt_ are pure, _gesehn--schön_,
_gerissen--Füßen_, _Lied--Gemüt_, _sprach--Gemach_, _Wiesen--fließen_ are
impure. Impure rhymes are not of necessity poor, but may be used to
enhance the musical effects of a poem. Heine was a master in this
respect. The modern school, however, tends to avoid impure rhymes.
Rhymes within a verse are called internal rhymes.
ALLITERATION--two or more accented syllables beginning with the same
consonant or with a vowel: _Von weißen Wolken umwogt_, 59, 2--is used to
enhance the rhythmic-melodic character of a poem, as is also
assonance--the agreement of vowels in two or more accented syllables, 36.
Often assonance is practically a form of impure rhyme,
_Grunde--verschwunden_, 41, _Himmel--Schimmer_, 44.
STANZA--a union of two or more verses. In a stanza itself the individual
verses may either stand apart or two or more verses may form larger
units. Thus the structure of the various stanzas may be made to
differentiate and the rhythmic-melodic character of the poem be thereby
modified (44 and 56 and notes). Similarly, stanzas may form larger units
(2). If the end of a verse breaks into a syntactic unit, we have what is
called an enjambement. This tends to put a special stress on the last
word. Notice for example the onomatopoetic effect in 13, 7 and 8:
Aus dem bewegten Wasser rauscht
Ein feuchtes Weib hervor.
REFRAIN.--This is a repetition of one or more verses, either exactly
repeated or slightly modified, at the end of a stanza or less frequently
at another fixed place (4, 10, 34). Aside from its rhythmic-melodic
effect the refrain helps to center the attention on a certain idea or
motif.
STANZA AND VERSE FORMS.--Only a few need any special discussion.
1. _Blank Verse_. This is the verse of Shakspere and was introduced into
Germany from England. It is an unrhymed iambic verse of five feet (19).
2. _Freie Rhythmen_. An unrhymed verse that does not follow any fixed
form; the rhythm may vary even within the verse. The number of accented
syllables usually does not exceed four (15, 16 and 59).
3. _The Rhymed Couplet_ (_vierhebige Reimpaare_) was introduced from the
_Volkslied_. The verse ending is always masculine. Best adapted to a
rapidly progressing action, every stanza marks a forward step, portrays a
new scene (28, 29, 74).
4. _The Sonnet_, an Italian verse form, is composed of fourteen iambic
lines of five feet each. The rhyme for the first eight lines, called the
octave, is always _abbaabba_; for the last six, called the sestette, the
rhyme may be _cdcdcd_, _ccdccd_, or _cdecde_ (69 and 77).
5. _The Siziliane_, likewise Italian, consists of eight iambic lines of
five feet each, the rhyme being _abababab_ (135 and 136).
6. _The Modified Nibelungen Stanza_, an adaptation of the stanza of the
Nibelungenlied introduced by Uhland, is a stanza of four verses rhyming
in couplets; each verse has six accented syllables with a fixed pause as
indicated below in the scansion of the first two lines of 32:
X -- X -- X -- X || X -- X -- X--
X -- X -- XX -- X || X -- X -- X --
Each line is in reality composed of two verses and thus we have here the
form so commonly used by Heine (48, 49, 50, 51, 52 and others). Each
verse has in reality four measures, the last measure being taken up by a
pause:
Es stand in al ten Zei ten | | ein Schloss so hoch und hehr.
X -- X -- X -- X * X -- X -- X -- **
In music these pauses may be taken up in whole or in part by lengthening
the preceding notes (to some extent this holds true in reading, adding to
the effect of the enjambement). _Die Lorelei_ offers a good example:
[Musical notation in original for following lyric. Transcriber.]
Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten, daß
ich so traurig bin; ein Märchen aus alten
Zeiten, das kommt mir nicht aus bem Sinn. Die
Luft ist kühl und es dunkelt, und ruhig fließt der Rhein; der
Gipfel des Berges funkelt im Abendsonnenschein.
* * * * *
NOTES
GOETHE
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the world's greatest lyric genius, was born
August 28, 1749, in Frankfurt am Main. In his being there were happily
blended his mother's joyous fancy and the sterner traits of his father.
Thus a rich imagination, a wealth of feeling, and the power of poetic
expression went hand in hand with an indomitable will. In the spring of
1770 the young poet went to Strassburg to complete his law course. There
Herder happened to be, even then a famed critic and scholar, and he
aroused in Goethe a love and understanding of what was really great and
genuine in literature: especially Homer, the Bible, Shakspere, and the
_Volkslied_ i.e., the simple folksong. In the fall of the year Goethe met
Friederike Brion in the parsonage at Sesenheim, a village near
Strassburg. Now Herder's teaching bore fruit in an outburst of real song
(1, 2 and 4). The influence of the _Volkslied_ is clearly discernible in
the unaffected naturalness, spontaneity, and simplicity of these lyrics.
Thus _das Heidenröslein_, which symbolizes the tragic close of the sweet
idyll of Sesenheim, is to all intents and purposes a _Volkslied_.
The following years, spent for the most part in Frankfurt, were the
period of _Sturm und Drang_ (Storm and Stress) in the poet's life and
work. His love for Lili Schönemann, a rich banker's daughter and society
belle of Frankfurt, only heightened this unrest (3). In the fall of 1775
the young duke Karl August called Goethe to Weimar. Under the influence
of Frau von Stein, a woman of rare culture, Goethe developed to calm
maturity. Compare the first _Wanderers Nachtlied_ (written February
1776), a passionate prayer for peace, and the; second (written September
1780), the embodiment of that peace attained. Even more important in this
development is the fact that Goethe, in assuming his many official
positions in the little dukedom, entered voluntarily a circle of everyday
duties (7 and 8). Thus the heaven-storming Titan, as Goethe reveals
himself in his _Prometheus_, learns to respect and revere the natural
limitations of mortality (15 and especially 16).
As Goethe matured, his affinity for classic antiquity became more marked,
and a consuming desire impelled him to spend two years in Italy
(1786-1788). The rest of his years Goethe spent in Weimar, his life
enriched above all else by his friendship with Schiller. In this second
Weimar period Goethe reached the acme of his powers. Even his declining
years, although marked by loneliness and bringing him a full measure of
grief (his wife, Christiane Vulpius, whom he had met shortly after his
return from Italy, died in 1816, followed in 1830 by his only son),
exemplified that earnest striving so characteristic of Goethe. A serene
optimism, a deep love of life, was his to the very last. To this _das
Lied des Türmers_, written May 1831, bears eloquent witness. A ripe
mellowness seems to blend here with the joyous spirit of youth. Goethe
died March 22, 1832.
1. A visit to Sesenheim is the experience that called forth this poem.
(Compare Goethe's first letter to Friederike, October 15, 1770) Notice
how all nature is personified and assumes human attributes. In the
opening stanzas impetuous haste is stirring, the first two lines have a
marked rising rhythm. Notice the quieting effect of the metrical
inversion at the beginning of 17, 18, and 19 and of the break in 25 after
ach and how the whole poem ends with a note of deep joy.
15, 16. WELCHES, WELCHE = _what_.
21. ROSENFARBNES FRÜHLINGSWETTER, _the roseate hues of spring-time._
29. ERDEN, old dative singular.
2. Notice that the second and third stanzas are joined as also the last
three. The exuberant fullness of joy creates its own form and overleaps
the confines of a single stanza.
3. Written June 1775 in Switzerland on Lake Zürich. Goethe had gone there
to escape the unrest into which his love for Lili Schönemann had thrown
him. The poem opens with a shout of exultation, 1 and 2; note the
inversion -- XX -- X -- _Saug' ich aus freier Welt_. The rising rhythm of
the following lines clearly depicts the movement of rapid rowing. Stanza
2 changes to a falling rhythm; as pictures of the past rise up, the
rowing ceases. Stanza 3 depicts a more quiet forward movement; notice the
effect of the dactyls in the even lines.
15. TRINKEN, metaphorically for _envelop, cause to disappear._
4. The refrain, so common in the _Volkslied_ does not only enhance the
melody of the poem, but centers the entire attention on das Röslein and
retards the quick dramatic movement of the narrative, which latter is
heightened by the omission of the article and the frequent inversion of
the verb.
2. HEIDEN, old dative.
3. MORGENSCHÖN, the rose has all the fresh pure beauty of the early
morning.
18. WEH UND ACH, _cry of pain, piteous outcry._
5. For this and the following poem compare Longfellow's translation.
6. EIN GLEICHES, i.e., another _Wanderers Nachtlied_. This poem has been
justly called _die Krone aller Lyrik_, _the acme of all lyric poetry_,
because of its simple, perfect beauty.
8. ERINNERUNG, _reminder_.
9. Written in 1813 in memory of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the day
when the poet had first met Christiane Vulpius. Its never failing charm
lies in its utter simplicity, its _Selbstverständigkeit_, and in this one
respect it may well be compared to Wordsworth's Lucy ("She dwelt among
the untrodden ways").
1 and 2. FÜR SICH (i.e., _vor sich_) HINGEHEN, _to saunter along, to
walk along without any special purpose._
10. Mignon, a fascinating character in Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meister, a
strange premature child, expresses in this song her longing for her
Italian land. In succinct pictures there arise before us her native land,
her ancestral home and the way thither. The very soul of this poem is
longing, culminating with ever increasing intensity in the refrain. Note
the vivid concreteness of the verbs and the noble simplicity of the
adjectives; the vowels, especially in 2.
13. WOLKENSTEG, _bridge that hangs on clouds_ (Carlyle).
16. STÜRZT, _plunges down_, i.e., descends precipitously.
11. The _Harfenspieler_ has, without knowing it, married his own sister.
Mignon is the child of this union. In this song he pours forth his
despair and the torments of his conscience.
12. Thule is a mythical land of the far North.
3. STERBEND modifies _Buhle_.
7. _his eyes overflowed with tears._
8. SO OFT, _as often as._
12. ZUGLEICH, i.e., with his other possessions.
15. AUF, translate _in_. Why _auf_?
21, 22. Note the descriptive effect of the enjambement together with
the internal rhyme.
23. _His eyes closed_ (in death), TÄTEN SINKEN = _sanken_. _Täten_ is
an older preterite indicative.
13. The poem embodies the lure of the water. This motif is clearly
expressed in 1 and is repeated in 25. In 9, 13, 29 and 31 metrically the
same motif recurs. Compare 9 and 29: the speech becomes song and the lure
of the nymph's song draws the fisherman down.
4. _cool to his very heart_.
6. _The flood swells up and divides_ (as the body emerges from it).
Note effect of the inversion -- XX -- X --.
13. FISCHLEIN, dative. MIR IST = _I feel_.
16. ERST, _now for the first time_.
19. WELLENATMEND. The word pictures graphically the rise and fall of
the sun's image in the waves.
20. DOPPELT SCHÖNER = _doppelt schön_.
22. DAS FEUCHTVERKLÄRTE BLAU, _The azure of the sky transfigured in
the water_.
30. _Then he was doomed_. Compare the expression: "he is done for."
14. ERLKÖNIG is a corruption of _Elbkönig_, i.e., the king of the elves.
Notice the difference in the speeches of the three characters: the calm
assuaging tone of the father, whose senses seem dead to the supernatural;
the luring song of the Erlkönig, that changes abruptly to an impetuous
demand; the ever increasing terror of the child till its fear is imparted
to the father. The child's speech is driven relentlessly forward by
terror; notice the effect of the inversion in 22 and 28: -- XX --, etc.
19. FÜHREN DEN NÄCHTLICHEN REIHN, _dance the nightly round_.
20. _and rock thee and dance thee and sing thee to sleep_.
28. _Erlking has done me grievous woe_.
15. Suggested by the Staubbach, a cascade near Lauterbrunnen in
Switzerland (October 1779). The poem compares human life in its various
aspects to a stream. Notice in this connection how the rhythm varies from
stanza to stanza.
12. WOLKENWELLEN, _cloudlike waves_.
24. HIN, _along_.
26. WEIDEN, _let graze or feast_, i.e., mirror.
30. MISCHT VOM GRUND AUS, _stirs from the very bottom._
16. Willing surrender, contented submission to the will of the Highest is
the keynote of this poem.
9. _childlike thrills of awe._
40, 41. IHRES DASEINS. _Ihres_ refers to _Geschlechter_. To make it
refer to _Götter_ (and adopting the variant reading _sie_ [i.e.,
_Götter_] instead of _sich_) makes an impossible metaphor, since the
picture of a chain with its links cannot describe the eternal and
changeless life of the gods, but only human life, generation
following generation as link on link in a chain. Compare 31, where
Goethe has used _Wellen_ with the same purport.
17. Although a part of _Faust_, this poem is none the less a confession
of Goethe himself. Over eighty years old, the poet surveys life as a
watchman from his high tower, lets his gaze once more wander over the
world, when evening comes, and lo, all is good.
11, 12. _And as all things have pleased me, I am pleased with
myself_, i.e., the sum total of my life is good.
SCHILLER
Friedrich Schiller was born in Marbach, Württemberg, November 10, 1759.
His short life was one great heroic struggle. His first inclination was
to study for the ministry, but the rigorous and arbitrary discipline of
the Duke Karl Eugen, whose school the boy as the son of an officer had to
enter, considered neither aptitude nor desire, and thus Schiller had to
study medicine and become an army surgeon. That he might shape his own
destiny he fled from Württemberg in 1782. The following years, in which
Schiller gradually gained the recognition he deserved, were a bitter
battle against poverty; and when in 1789 he had been made professor of
history in Jena, only two years passed before illness forced him to
resign. At that moment generous friends came to his aid, and from now on
Schiller could live for his ideals.
As he had mastered the field of history, he now for years put his entire
energy into the study of philosophy to round out his _Weltanschauung_
(his view of life) and his personality. Even as he worked, he knew that
his years were numbered, but his indomitable will forced the weak body to
do its bidding, and the best of Schiller's dramas, the greatest of his
philosophical poems, were written in these years of illness. Thus
Schiller proved himself the master of his fate, the captain of his soul.
Only a few weeks before his death he wrote to Wilhelm von Humboldt, _"Am
Ende sind wir doch beide Idealisten, und würden uns schämen, uns
nachsagen zu lassen, daß die Dinge uns formten und wir nicht die Dinge."_
("After all both of us are idealists and would be ashamed to have it
reported of us that the things fashioned us and not we the things.")
There was in Schiller, as Goethe said, _ein Zug nach dem Höheren_, a
trend toward higher things. Schiller died in Weimar, May 9, 1805.
As a poet Schiller is in many respects the exact counterpart of Goethe.
The latter's lyric verse is the direct result of his everyday experience;
his real domain is the simple lyric, _das Lied_. Schiller, however,
confessed that lyric poetry in the narrower sense was not his province,
but his exile. Hardly ever did an everyday experience move him to song,
and he is at his best in the realm of philosophic poetry, where he has no
equal. This philosophic tendency predominates even in his ballads, which
are often the embodiment of a philosophical or ethical idea. While they
lack the subtle lyrical atmosphere of Goethe's, they are distinguished by
rhetorical vigor and dramatic life. Their very structure is dramatic, as
an analysis of 18 and 19 will show.
18. Ibykus, a Greek lyric poet of the sixth century B.C., bom in Rhegium,
a city in Southern Italy.
1. The Isthmian Games were celebrated every two years on the Isthmus
of Corinth in honor of Poseidon (Neptune), god of the sea.
6. Apollo, the god of song, archery and the sun (hence also called
Helios, 71).
10. _AKRORINTH_, the citadel of Corinth, situated on a mountain above
the city.
11. The pine was sacred to Poseidon. A wreath of pine was the award
of victory in the games (54).
23. _DER GASTLICHE._ Zeus, to whom hospitality was sacred.
61. _PRYTANE_, _m._--_en_, prytanis, the chief magistrate.
82. _BÜHNE_, here used for the tiers of seats for the spectators.
Compare _Schaugerüste_, 95.
91. _KEKROPS' STADT_==Athens. Kekrops, the legendary founder of the
state of Athens. _AULIS_, a harbor in Boeotia.
92. _PHOKIS_, territory in Greece to the west of Boeotia.
103. _RIESENMAß_. Since the Greek actors wore buskins and a long
mask, the gigantic stature of the chorus is in itself no indubitable
proof of the supernatural origin of this chorus. Thus the spectators
are unable to decide, whether they actually see the Eumenides or only
a chorus impersonating them. This is the meaning of 145 and 146. This
doubt yields to certainty as the action progresses (170 ff.).
117. _sense beguiling_, _heart deluding_.
118. _ERINNYEN_ or _Eumeniden_. _Eumenides_, are the avenging
goddesses of Greek mythology, the Furies.
150. _weaves the dark entangled net of fate_.
173. _GEROCHEN_, common form is _gerächt_.
182. _DIE SZENE_==Greek _skaene_ [Greek: skaenae], _the stage_.
19. The problem of the limitation of human knowledge and of the human
mind, already touched upon in Genesis 2, 17, had been brought into
prominence in Schiller's time by the philosopher Kant. He had defined the
limitations of the human mind: we can have no real knowledge of things
themselves, but can know only the impressions that things make on our
senses; furthermore our knowledge is limited to the finite, we have no
knowledge of the Infinite, the Absolute. Schiller, not satisfied with the
mere fact, in this poem expresses the conviction that there must be an
ethical reason for this necessity, a reason that is beyond our ken.
Compare also the beautiful words of Lessing: _"Nicht die Wahrheit, in
deren Besitz irgend ein Mensch ist, oder zu sein vermeinet, sondern die
aufrichtige Mühe, die er angewandt hat, hinter die Wahrheit zu kommen,
macht den Wert des Menschen. Denn nicht durch den Besitz, sondern durch
die Nachforschung der Wahrheit erweitern sich seine Kräfte, worin allein
seine immer wachsende Vollkommenheit bestehet. Der Besitz macht ruhig,
träge, stolz._
"_Wenn Gott in seiner Rechten alle Wahrheit, und in seiner Linken den
einzigen immer regen Trieb nach Wahrheit, obschon mit dem Zusatze, mich
immer und ewig zu irren, verschlossen hielte, und spräche zu mir: wähle!
Ich fiele ihm mit Demut in seine Linke, und sagte: Vater, gib! die reine
Wahrheit ist ja doch nur für dich allein!"_
SAIS, city in ancient Egypt, seat of a famous shrine to Isis.
ÄGYPTENLAND, _Ägypten_==Egypt.
6. HIEROPHANT, [Greek: hierophantaes] (_literally_, the interpreter
of the holy), _hierophant_, a priest, the teacher of religious
mysteries.
61. _a thrill of heat and cold surges through his frame._
64. IN SEINEM INNERN, _in his heart_ or _within him_.
65. DEN ALLHEILIGEN, _the most holy (God)_. _All_ here has an
intensifying meaning.
81. WAR DAHIN, _was gone_.
UHLAND