A Book Of German Lyrics
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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 Maerchen aus alten
Zeiten, das kommt mir nicht aus bem Sinn. Die
Luft ist kuehl 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 Heidenroeslein_, 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 Schoenemann, 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 Tuermers_, 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 FRUEHLINGSWETTER, _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 Zuerich. Goethe had gone there
to escape the unrest into which his love for Lili Schoenemann 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 Roeslein 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. MORGENSCHOEN, 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 _Selbstverstaendigkeit_, and in this one
respect it may well be compared to Wordsworth's Lucy ("She dwelt among
the untrodden ways").
1 and 2. FUER 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. STUERZT, _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), TAETEN SINKEN = _sanken_. _Taeten_ 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 SCHOENER = _doppelt schoen_.
22. DAS FEUCHTVERKLAERTE BLAU, _The azure of the sky transfigured in
the water_.
30. _Then he was doomed_. Compare the expression: "he is done for."
14. ERLKOENIG is a corruption of _Elbkoenig_, 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 Erlkoenig, 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. FUEHREN DEN NAECHTLICHEN 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 _Goetter_ (and adopting the variant reading _sie_ [i.e.,
_Goetter_] 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, Wuerttemberg, 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 Wuerttemberg 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 wuerden uns schaemen, 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 Hoeheren_, 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. _BUEHNE_, here used for the tiers of seats for the spectators.
Compare _Schaugerueste_, 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 _geraecht_.
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 Muehe, 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 Kraefte, worin allein
seine immer wachsende Vollkommenheit bestehet. Der Besitz macht ruhig,
traege, 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 spraeche zu mir: waehle!
Ich fiele ihm mit Demut in seine Linke, und sagte: Vater, gib! die reine
Wahrheit ist ja doch nur fuer dich allein!"_
SAIS, city in ancient Egypt, seat of a famous shrine to Isis.
AEGYPTENLAND, _Aegypten_==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
Ludwig Uhland was born April 26, 1787, in Tuebingen, where his father and
both his grandfathers had been connected with the University. Uhland took
up the profession of law, but his heart's desire led him to the study of
the older German poetry and folklore, and from 1830 to 1832 he occupied
the chair of German Literature in Tuebingen. He also took an active part
in the political life of his time in the interest of liberal tendencies
and a united Germany. He died in Tubingen, November 13, 1862. His poetry
is for the most part a product of his earlier years. Reserved and
retiring to a fault, Uhland in his lyrics but rarely gives us directly
his own emotional life, preferring to let the shepherd, the soldier, the
mountain lad speak. The type of the simple folksong predominates, and
from the _VOLKSLIED_ Uhland introduced into modern verse the modified
Nibelungen stanza and the rhymed couplet. In his ballads Uhland prefers
older historical subjects, as in _Taillefer_, that rarest jewel among his
ballads; or at least uses an historic setting, as in the more popular
_Des Saengers Fluch_.
21.--6. _Mutterhaus_, i.e., source.
18. RUFE ZU, _call to them_.
22. Notice how the first line, giving the situation, is repeated at
the close of the poem and thus frames the picture.
6. _Sweet thrills of awe, mysterious stirring_.
23.--12. EINMAL, _sometime_.
24.--7. SICH INS FELD MACHEN, to start out into the field. Compare _sich
auf den Weg machen_, _to start out_.
25.--67. MIT JEDEM TAG, compare English, _with every passing day_.
27.--3. IN FREIER HAND, _with free_, i.e., _unsupported, hand_.
4. ERFAND = _fand_.
8. SOLL GEHOLFEN SEIN, _it shall be remedied_.
29.--1. ZOGEN ... WOHL, render _did journey_.
2. BEI, _at the house of_; _bei einer Frau Wirtin_, _at the inn of
mine hostess_.
3. HAT SIE, third person singular as formal direct address
(obsolete).
13. DECKTE DEN SCHLEIER ZU, _covered her face with the veil_.
14. DAZU, _while doing this_.
17. HUB, archaic for _hob_.
18. AN, archaic for _auf_.
30.--2. NIT, dialectal for _nicht_.
5. IN GLEICHEM SCHRITT UND TRITT, _keeping step_.
6. KAM GEFLOGEN, _came flying_; _kommen_ is construed with the past
participle.
8. Impersonal construction best rendered by the passive.
31. TAILLEFER, i.e., iron cutter. Duke William of Normandy defeated the
English under Harold at Hastings in 1066.
6. SCHWINGT = _turns_. The water was pulled up by a windlass.
14. DABEI, _while doing it_.
16. KLINGEN MIT SCHILD UND SCHWERT, _make shield and sword resound_.
25. FUHR WOHL, _did journey_.
27. Told by the chronicles. To stumble was an ill omen.
29. ZUM STURME SCHRITT, _went to attack_.
35. SO LASST MICH DAS ENTGELTEN, etc., _let me receive my dues for
that_, etc.
40. ROLAND, one of the famous paladins of Charlemagne; his deeds were
much celebrated in song. HELD, usually weak.
43. VON, render _with_.
45. SPRENGT' ER HINEIN, i.e., _in den Feind_. STOSS, _thrust_ (of the
spear).
47. SCHLAG, blow (of the sword).
58. IN LIEB UND IN LEID, _in joy and in sorrow_.
32.--5. REICH AN, _rich in_.
7. BLICKEN used transitively.
10. GRAU VON HAAR. Compare _blue of eyes and fair of hair_.
35. BLITZEND, _like a flash of lightning_.
42. ALLER HARFEN PREIS, _the best of all harps_.
63. HELDENBUCH, a book telling of heroes and their deeds.
EICHENDORFF
Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, the scion of an old aristocratic family,
was born in his ancestral castle in Silesia, March 10, 1788, and died
November 26, 1856. Three things especially have left an impression on his
poetry: his deeply loved Silesian home with its castle-crowned wooded
hills and its beautiful valleys and streams; a simple childlike piety;
and an early acquaintance with the _Volksbuecher_ and the _Volkslied_. The
only things in Eichendorff's life that have a romantic glamor are his
happy, carefree student days and his participation in the Wars of
Liberation (1813-1815). When peace was declared, the poet entered the
service of the Prussian state and proved himself a careful and trusted
official. Thus, living a busy life, he could write that classic of
romantic idleness: _Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts_, _The Autobiography
of a Good-for-Nothing_.
Eichendorff's lyric verse can be described best by Nietzsche's definition
of a _Lied_: "_Takt als Anfang, Reim als Ende, und als Seele stets
Musik_." Music is the very soul of his lyrics to an unusual degree. A
melody of haunting sweetness dwells in his simple lines. It is as if the
music of Robert Schumann had sought to clothe itself in words. Coupled
with this, we meet a most delicate perception of nature and a remarkable
ability to portray her various aspects and her ever varying moods.
Romantic _Sehnsucht_ (yearning), romantic _Wanderlust_ and the romantic
love of nature have found in Eichendorff their finest expression.
33.--10. VOR, _on account of, because of._
11. WAS, _why._
12. _with free throat and joyous breast._
16. AUFS BEST', _in the best way._
34.--3. WOHL. _indeed._
13. BANNER, usually neuter.
16. The forest is the scene of many of the old legends.
21. _Always remain steadfast and true._ Compare: _Wir bleiben die
Alten_, i.e., our feeling toward each other will not change, we shall
remain true friends.
35. Besides its love of nature and its religious note, both apparent in
the previous poems, notice especially the touch of symbolism; the poet
stands in _Waldesschatten wie an des Lebens Rand_.
5, 6. SCHLAGEN HEREIN, _the tones of the bells come pealing into the
shadow of the forest._
10. VON. _down from, on._
36. This poem describes, as the title indicates, the dawn of spring: how
spring in a moonlight night imparts a mysterious stirring of new life to
all nature. With its variously interwoven rhymes, both end and internal,
its use of assonance and alliteration, to mention only the more obvious
effects, the poem is a musical symphony.
8. WOLKENFRAU'N, clouds personified.
11. FRUEHLINGSGESELLEN, i.e. _Waldquellen_ as helpers of spring.
37. Might well be compared to the elfin dances of Moritz von Schwind, the
romantic painter.
38.--2. EIN SCHUSS FAELLT, _a shot (of a gun) is heard_.
40.--5. ENTBRENNTE for _entbrannte_.
42. Compare with 38, as to the use of the human element.
1. DER NEBEL FAELLT, i.e., sinks away.
2. WIE BALD SICH'S RUEHRET, _how soon life will stir_.
43.--4. Note the onomatopoetic effect of the rhythm.
44. This poem is the quintessence of Eichendorff's lyric verse. Note the
construction of the stanzas. The first stanza is composed of two
syntactic units: 1 and 2, 3 and 4; the second of four units; notice the
effect of the two heavy syllables _sternklar_; the third stanza reverts
in structure to the first. Notice the effect of the inversion in 10:
_Weit ihre Fluegel aus_, -- XX -- X --.
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