Ludwig Uhland was born April 26, 1787, in Tübingen, 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 Tübingen. 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 theVOLKSLIEDUhland introduced into modern verse the modified Nibelungen stanza and the rhymed couplet. In his ballads Uhland prefers older historical subjects, as inTaillefer, that rarest jewel among his ballads; or at least uses an historic setting, as in the more popularDes Sängers 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. Comparesich 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, renderdid 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 forhob.
18. AN, archaic forauf.
30.—2. NIT, dialectal fornicht.
5. IN GLEICHEM SCHRITT UND TRITT,keeping step.
6. KAM GEFLOGEN,came flying;kommenis 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, renderwith.
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. Compareblue 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.
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 theVolksbücherand theVolkslied. 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 aLied: "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. RomanticSehnsucht(yearning), romanticWanderlustand 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 inWaldesschatten 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. FRÜHLINGSGESELLEN, i.e.Waldquellenas helpers of spring.
37. Might well be compared to the elfin dances of Moritz von Schwind, the romantic painter.
38.—2. EIN SCHUß FÄLLT,a shot (of a gun) is heard.
40.—5. ENTBRENNTE forentbrannte.
42. Compare with 38, as to the use of the human element.
1. DER NEBEL FÄLLT, i.e., sinks away.
2. WIE BALD SICH'S RÜHRET,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 syllablessternklar; the third stanza reverts in structure to the first. Notice the effect of the inversion in 10:Weit ihre Flügel aus, — XX — X —.
Friedrich Rückert, born May 16, 1788, died January 31, 1866, represents the combination of poet and scholar in a more striking degree than even Uhland, but he lacks the latter's rare critical ability regarding his own verse. Oriental languages were his special field, and a most astounding technical skill enabled him to reproduce in German the complex Oriental verse forms with their intricate rhyme schemes. Something of this technical skill is apparent in 45, the one well-nigh perfect poem of Rückert. The third stanza is an adaptation from a children's rhyme. This the poet uses as the main motif at regular intervals, slightly varying it in the sixth to express his own feelings directly, and closing the poem with it in the ninth. A similar parallelism is apparent in the odd lines of each stanza. The last line of each stanza must be read with three accents:Was mein einst war, X — — —.
45.—7. OB, Iwonder whether.
14. UNBEWUßTER WEISHEIT FROH,joyous in unconscious wisdom, i.e., full of wisdom and not aware of it.
16. SALOMO,Solomon, the wise king of the Hebrews. Oriental legends attributed to him magic and supernatural knowledge.
25. WOHL, concessive,it is true.
Heinrich Heine was born in Düsseldorf, December 13, 1797, of Jewish parents. The Napoleonic Wars were among the chief impressions of his childhood. He saw Napoleon ride through Düsseldorf; he saw the tattered remains of the Grande Armée return from the disastrous Russian campaign; and although not without the patriotic fervor of the German youth, he could not but admire the genius of the great Corsican (46). At Hamburg the young Heine was to enter upon a commercial career under the guidance of his rich uncle, but failed. An unrequited love for his cousin Amalie Heine became for a number of years the subject of his song. His favorite, almost exclusive vehicle; of expression is the simple stanza of theVolkslied, which he uses with consummate skill for new effects. Heine's attempts in law proved as futile as those in business; although he did pass his examination for the degree ofDoctor juris, the study of poetry had been his chief endeavor in his university career. Finally he decided to make literature his profession. Disgruntled with things in general and more especially with Germany—he had been crossed in his love for Amalie's younger sister Therese, the rich uncle not wanting a penniless poet for a son-in-law—Heine went to Paris in 1831, where he lived till his death (February 17, 1856), often reviling but always cherishing and loving Germany, the country of sweet romantic song. Compare his poemIn der Fremde(64).
46. The theme of the poem is the loyalty of the humble soldier to his chosen hero. Its tone is utterly realistic, its language and metaphors those of everyday prose. Notice the effects Heine achieves by varying the number of unaccented syllables, e.g., 13 and 33, X — X — X — X — and X — XX — XX — XX —.
2. WAREN GEFANGEN,had been captives.
6. VERLOREN GEHEN,to be lost.
10. WOHL,indeed; OB,because of.
11. MIR IST WEH,I am sore at heart;mir wird weh?
13. DAS LIED IST AUS,the jig is up, all is over.
18. ICH TRAGE,I bear, I cherish.
47—58. A rearrangement from two cycles,Lyrisches IntermezzoandHeimkehr. The main theme is the poet's unrequited love for his cousin Amalie Heine (49, Therese).
48. The Lorelei is the name of a high cliff overlooking the Rhine. Clemens Brentano invented the myth, and the theme became popular in the early decades of the nineteenth century. Heine gave it its final form, in which it has practically become a folksong. The first four lines give us the mood of the poet, the second four give the setting of the action. 9-22 describe the action. Notice the utter simplicity of 21 and 22, which characterizes also the short epilogue, 23 and 24. This simple way of ending a poem Heine has in common with the folksong.
4.That does not leave my thought.
18. Impersonal, best rendered by the passive.
50. Notice that this poem has the same tripartite structure as the preceding. (Heine's decided preference for this structure is evinced by the great number of poems of three stanzas.)
3. GANGES, river in India.
9. This bit of nature description, although unconventional, does not lack truth. Goethe offers a similar example, when he speaks ofschalkhafte(roguish, waggish)Veilchen.
51. One of the finest of Heine's nature poems.
52.—6. MORGENLAND, see Vocabulary.
53.—8. NEBELTANZ,the dance of the mists.
54. Notice the realism of tone, not a word that rises above the plane of everyday prose. A whole tragedy compressed into three stanzas.
6, 7.The first man that happened to come her way.
8. IST ÜBEL DRAN,is in a sad fix.
55. Compare 42, where theStimmung, the mood, of a bit of nature is expressed without any reference to any human element. In this poem of Heine the charm of the evening is embodied in the fair nymph. Compare 37. The same tendency is apparent in many of the paintings of Schwind and Böcklin.
56. Stanzas 1-3 are each divided into two equal parts. In the third stanza, however, the line of division is less marked; notice also the effect of the inversion in 12:Taucht er ins Flutengrab, — XX — X —. In the fourth stanza each line stands by itself.
57. Notice the effect of the rhyme combining the first and fourth lines of each stanza. The first two lines of each stanza have four accents, the last two, three. Notice how the metrical structure of the line is made subservient to the mood expressed; this is especially true of 3:Es dunkelt schon, mich schläfert, X — X — || X — X.
59. An apotheosis of Christ, who is represented as the spirit of universal love permeating all things.
17. SONNENHERZ,sun heart, since the sun is his heart.
22 ff. These lines imitate clearly the pealing of church bells.
36. SCHAUERND IN,thrilled with.
60. Notice the dainty effect of the tone coloring, heightened by the skilful use of impure rhymes.
61. The charm of this poem, as of many of Heine's, lies in its suggestive power. The course of events is only dimly sketched, the tragic end hardly more than alluded to. While the first two stanzas are composed of two equal parts each, the last is composed of four.
62.—2, 4. WOHL, translate:They do, etc.
63. Of Heine's poems this was the favorite of Lenau. Absolute unity of form and content: ceaseless change in ceaseless monotony.
7. WO SIND SIE HIN?Whither are they gone?
64.—5. DAS, without any definite antecedent.
65. The inscription on Heine's grave in Paris. Compare with it Robert Louis Stevenson's Requiem.
5. WO =irgendwo,somewhere.
11. TOTENLAMPEN, lamps burned in the vaults in honor of the dead.
August Graf von Platen-Hallermünde was born in Ansbach, Bavaria, October 24, 1796, and died near Syracuse, Sicily, December 5, 1835. The son of a noble family, Platen is, barring hisWeltschmerz(world weariness, compare Lenau) and the fact that he spent a good part of his life in foreign lands, the exact opposite of Heine. While Heine affects a certain carelessness of rhyme and rhythm and diction, Platen observes a studied elegance. His verse form is faultless as if chiselled in marble, his rhymes the most careful and pure. His ballads have a stately majesty of rhythm that reflects the inherent nobility of the poet. On the whole, his stanzas are characterized by a full and sonorous ring, although effects of delicate grace are not wanting (67). Platen is one of the greatest masters of form in German literature and is unrivalled as a master of the sonnet.
66. ALARICH (Alaric), the great leader of the Goths, having conquered Rome, succumbed to a fever when 34 years old (410 A.D.), and was buried by his troops near Cosenza (Cosentia) in the river Busento. Notice the stately dignity of the long trochaic line without any marked caesural pause. Any attempt to introduce the latter spoils the majestic ring of the verse.
1. LISPELN, best rendered,are lisped, orresound faintly.
7.vied with each other for places in the rows along the stream.
67. The lily swaying to and fro in the water is perfectly pictured by the rhythm, especially by the recurring five-syllable rhymes.
68. The peculiar effect is largely due to the preponderance of rhymes onaorowhich have proved an insurmountable obstacle for every translator. Even Longfellow failed. His rhymes of light, night, change the whole effect.
9. IN ACHT NEHMEN.to watch, in poetry is often construed with the genitive.
14. Refers to the harmony of the spheres.
18.Deceptively remote distance.
20. AUFS NEUE,anew.
69. PINDAR, the greatest of the Greek lyric poets, died according to legend as here described. He is justly famous for his majestic odes, and Platen revered him as his master.
9. SCHAUSPIEL, heretheater.
11. It was customary in Greece for an older man to cultivate the friendship of a youth, e.g., Socrates and Alcibiades.
12. In the Greek drama the action was interspersed with choral odes, which were sung to the accompaniment of flutes.
Nikolaus Niembsch von Strehlenau, known as Nikolaus Lenau, the third in the group of the poets ofWeltschmerz(Lord Byron is the best example in England), was born in Southern Hungary August 13, 1802. The father, a gambler and libertine, died before the boy was five years old; the mother, a high strung, passionate woman, battled with poverty for the sake of her children, of whom Nikolaus was her idol. His first impression of nature was the silent solitude and vastness of the Hungarian plains, which probably helped to accentuate an inherent strain of melancholy. Led astray by a youthful errant passion, he is haunted by a feeling of guilt, of lost innocence, and Dame Melancholy becomes his faithful life companion. When later happiness in the guise of human love crosses his pathway, he does not dare stretch out his hand. Shuddering, he feels there is something "too fatally abnormal about him that he should affix that heavenly rose to his dark gloomy heart." Living only for his art and ever eager to enrich it with new impressions, he goes to America. There Nature was virgin still, untouched by the hands of man. What a lure! Incidentally he hopes to be cured of his melancholy and to gain an easy competence by investing in government land. After a winter spent on the American frontier (1832-1833) he returns to Germany a sadder, if not a wiser man, and becomes a restless wanderer until in 1844 the fate that he always dreaded overtakes him: his spirit is enshrouded in insanity. Six years later, August 22, 1850, he dies in an asylum near Vienna.
Lenau's poetry is for the most part an expression of intense melancholy, full of "sadness at the doubtful doom of humankind." It abounds in subtle nature descriptions, often quite impressionistic in their effect (76 and especially 77). Sometimes the poet employs a homely realism (75). Lenau was a master of the violin, and his verse is full of striking rhythmical effects; on the whole he prefers the slower cadences so well suited to his nature.
70. An apostrophe to the night, which is addressed asdu dunkles Auge.
5, 6. VON HINNEN NEHMEN,to take away.
8. FÜR UND FÜR,forever and ever.
71.—3. Describes vividly the effect of the pale moonlight on the green sedge.
72.—7. WAS foretwas.
10. WILL,wills.
73.—1 ff. In German, May is the incarnation of all spring-time beauty and bliss. Compare 2 and 110 and the wordMaienglückin 29.
3. OB =über.
8. STRAßEN, old weak dative.
12. FRÜHLINGSKINDER, i.e., birds.
29 f. MITTEN IN … INNEN,in the midst of.
42. MAG,may.
44. ERDEN, see note on 8.
46. 'S IST EWIG SCHADE,it is too bad,it is a pity.
56. DRÄNGE, subjunctive of purpose.
59. OB, instead ofals ob. Common with Lenau.
60. STIMMEN, instead ofeinstimmen;in ein Lied einstimmen=to join in a song.
63. LAG,lingered.
74. The heavy, slow moving rhythm is in apt harmony with the scene portrayed.
12. 'EINER UM DEN ANDEREN',one after another,in turn.
75.—13. 'DAS AUFGESCHLAGNE GEBET',the prayer to which the book was opened.
76. This may be the direct description either of a Dutch landscape or of a painting. Holland, like most of the North Sea Plain, is one vast level expanse of country, through which the rivers and brooks move but sluggishly. Here and there a Dutch windmill looms up; like all other objects it seems to peer forth from a haze because of the moisture-laden atmosphere. Nowhere else does nature assume such a bewitchingly drowsy aspect in autumn as here.
10. OB, compare note to 73, 59. TRUTZE = trotze.
11. STROHKAPUZE, refers to the straw thatched roof.
77.—6. IN EINS FALLEN,to coalesce.
8.And in sadness become oblivious of each other.
9. HIN UND WIEDER,back and forth.
78. The last of Lenau'sWaldlieder. The morbid melancholy of the poet has softened, and death is to himheimlich still vergnügtes Tauschen,silent sweet passing from one state to another.
5. VON HINNEN,away.
Eduard Mörike was born in Ludwigsburg, September 8, 1804. Circumstances forced him into the study of theology, and so he passed through the schools preparatory to the famous Tübingen School of Divinity, where he completed his studies. He proved but an indifferent student (his thorough knowledge of Greek and Latin was in good part the result of later studies), he preferred to live in a fairy world of his own creation. Nature, music, and poetry were his delight, and of all the poets Goethe was always his favorite. For eight years Mörike was vicar in various villages of Württemberg, more than once tempted to give up the ministry, but finally realizing that there was no better place to live his poet dreams than the attic room of a Suabian parsonage.
In 1834 he became pastor in Cleversulzbach, a secluded little village, nestling among the Suabian hills. Here the poet, with his mother and sister, lived an idyllic existence, his most frequent visitor the Muse. Ill health forced him to resign in 1843, and Mörike once more became a wanderer. During these years love again crossed his path, and to be able to marry—his pension was too meager—he accepted (1851) a position at a girls' seminary in Stuttgart, where he taught German Literature for one or two hours a week, a none too heavy and an altogether congenial task. Mörike died June 4, 1875.
Mörike's poetry gives abundant proof of a rich creative imagination. Even his everyday speech was of an astounding concreteness, and thus the various aspects of Nature assume bodily shape. Spring becomes a youth, the symphony of spring the soft tone of a harp (81); the night—a fairy woman—leans against the rocky cliff listening to the azure of the sky (79). Although the idyllic predominates, deeper tragic notes are not wanting (84, 85) nor is the full note of exuberant joy (86). But early in life Mörike realized that any overflowing measure of joy or grief would prove destructive to his oversensitive nature, and the golden mean became inevitably his ideal (88). Never has he expressed that sweet serenity of soul, which he gained not without a bitter struggle, more beautifully than in the melodious lines: "Auf eine Lampe" (87).
79. In its allegorical personification the poem might be compared to a painting of Böcklin. Like Venus of yore, the night rises from the sea and at midnight sees the golden balance of time (the heavenly bodies) rest in equilibrium. The springs try to lull the night, their mother, to sleep with a song of the beauty of the day. She prefers the azure melody of the midnight sky, but the waters continue to sing, even in their sleep, of the day that has just passed. This contest the poet has also portrayed rhythmically: compare the measured trochaic movement of the first half of each stanza with the lighter and more rapid dactylic movement of the second half.
5. KECKER, since the noises of the day no longer interfere with their song.
12. In apposition withdes Himmels Bläue. The firmament is the yoke along which the fleeting hours glide; GLEICHGESCHWUNGEN,equally arched, i.e., perfectly circular.
80.—3. SCHLEIER, of mist.
5. HERBSTKRÄFTIG, full of autumnal vigor; GEDÄMPFT, because the mists and the haze have softened all sharpness of outline and color.
81.—1. BLAUES BAND, metaphorical for blue sky.
7. HARFENTON, the symphony of spring, the heard and unheard stirring of new life.
82. The stanza form is an adaptation of a famous Lutheran hymn:Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern.
83. Of the character of theFeuerreiter, a creation of Mörike, only this much is clear: he fights fire and has often used sinfully (freventlich) holy means (des heil'gen Kreuzes Span) to charm fire. Finally, however, he becomes a victim of the infernal powers.
21. DER ROTE HAHN, the symbol of fire.
26. FEIND, Satan.
40. As the refrain in the preceding stanzas has depicted the tolling of the bell, so the sudden break here depicts the ceasing.
42. MÜßEN, old weak dative.
84. In its beautiful simplicity this song has become a folksong, Since it presents many metrical irregularities, the following scansion may be found useful. A dot is used to indicate pitch accent.[*]
[* Transcriber's note: Here represented by 'Y'.]
86. Mörike found the nameRohtrautby chance in an old German lexicon. The full vowel coloring appealed to him and called forth this ballad.
5. TUT etc., dialectic periphrastic conjugation =fischt und jagt.
19. WUNNIGLICH (wonniglich). 22. VERGUNNT (vergönnt)—these archaic forms are in keeping with the tone of the ballad and the patriarchal life at King Ringang's court.
87. Appropriately written in the stately Greek trimeter (iambic verse of six feet). Compare with this poem the closing lines of Keats'Ode to a Grecian Urn:
Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is allYe know on earth and all ye need to know.
Was aber schön ist, selig scheint es in ihm selbst.But beauty seems a thing all blessed within itself.
6. SCHLINGT DEN RINGELREIHN, circle about in a round dance.
10. IHM, old reflexive instead ofsich.
88. The confession of Mörike's ideal.
1. WILLT =willst.
2.A thing of joy or a thing of sorrow.
5-7. WOLLEST NICHT ÜBERSCHÜTTEN,pray do not overwhelm with a flood of.
89. Lines of three and of two accents alternate, so that the poem is really written in blank verse; its character is, however, entirely changed, since the last word of each line stands out because of the necessary rhythmical pause. Notice the change in the last two lines.
Friedrich Hebbel, Germany's greatest master of tragedy since the days of Schiller, was born March 18, 1813, in the little village of Wesselburen in Holstein. Thus his first impression of nature was the infinite expanse of the North Sea Plain. Bitterest poverty was his lot from childhood; poverty and loneliness put their harsh imprint on his youth and early manhood. Haunted by hunger, he battled for years to gain a mere living, often on the brink of despair. His only help was a small stipend from the king of Denmark, which enabled him to spend two years in Paris and Rome, and the meager pennies that his devoted friend Elise Lensing, a poor seamstress in Hamburg, sent him. His short stories, his dramas, although they brought him fame, were of little avail in this struggle that seemed all too hopeless. Then a sudden change for the better came. Stopping at Vienna on his return from Rome, he found himself in a small circle of ardent admirers. He met Christine Enghaus, at that time Germany's greatest tragic actress, who became the most congenial interpreter of Hebbel's heroines. The attraction was mutual and on May 26, 1846, Friedrich Hebbel and Christine Enghaus were married. Now followed years of calm maturity, the greatest period of Hebbel's dramatic production. Hebbel died in Vienna December 13, 1863. His lyric poetry, for the most part the product of his earlier years, is marked above all by a tendency towards symbolism, these symbols usually of a rich sensuous beauty and often of a rare delicacy. A homely realism is, however, by no means lacking. The musical quality of his verse attracted the genius of Robert Schumann, who set theNachtliedto music.
90. In the spring of 1836 Hebbel went to Heidelberg. A child of the North Sea Plain, he came in contact here with a richer, softer beauty of a more Southern landscape, a beauty which seemed to set free his latent powers. A night in the month of May on the wooded summits near Heidelberg called forth this song. The giant magnitude of the starry heavens awakened in the poet to an overpowering degree the feeling of the greatness of cosmic life; he feels the insignificance of his own individual existence, he feels as if it were in danger of being extinguished by the vastness of the great All; but then sleep comes as a kindly nurse and draws her protecting circle about the meager flame of individual existence. Notice the internal rhymes in the first and second stanzas that picture cosmic life and its reflection in the individual, and the utterly different effect of the third stanza, that returns to the narrower sphere of individual life.
91.—3. SPIELT HEREIN,comes playing into the room.
6. GEFÄLLT IHM GAR ZU SEHR,it likes all too well.
92.—10. It was customary for the neighbors to perform the last kindly offices for the dead.
16. WAS,which.
93.—1. DIE DU,thou who.
95.—6 ff. WIR STERBEN: because in this union, when even the last barrier separating the "I" from the "Thou" has fallen, the aim of life has been reached in utter harmony which overcomes the limitations of individual existence. Thus these two souls may return into the All, as expressed in the beautiful symbol of the last stanza.
11. ZERFLIEßEN IN EINS,coalesce.
97. Compare Keats'Ode to Autumn.
98. Addressed to Christine Hebbel, the poet's wife.
3, 4. IN FLAMMEN STEHEN,to be aflame. This passage could be rendered,that stands as if aflame with morning light at the farthermost horizon.
10. LÄßT =verläßt.
Gottfried Keller, best known as the master of theNovelle, was born in Zürich, July 19, 1819, as the son of a master turner. A love for the concrete world of reality induced him to take up painting. Keller was not without talent in this line, but achieving no signal success, he gave up painting for letters. To secure for himself a stable footing in the civic world, Keller, after a number of years spent in Germany, in 1861 assumed the office of a municipal secretary of his native city, where he died July 15, 1890. Early in life, Keller threw aside all conventional beliefs, and his religion henceforth was a deep love of and a joyous faith in all life. Although Keller was in many respects decidedly matter-of-fact, a calm objective observer with a strong leaning toward utilitarian ideals—he had all the homely virtues of his ancestry—he nevertheless delighted in a myth-creating fancy. Thus Keller is very much akin to his countryman Arnold Böcklin, whom the German world honors as its greatest modern painter.
99. One of the finest expressions extant of love for one's native land. The various national anthems pale before its beauty.
3. OB =obgleich.
9. HELVETIA,Switzerland.
13. GUT UND HAB (usuallyHab und Gut),possessions; render,all that I have.
15. OB, compare 3.
100. The grief and woe of Nature held by the fetters of winter personified by this nymph climbing the "Seebaum," whose branches are held by the ice. A mythical creation such as Böcklin delighted in.
12. GLIED UM GLIED,limb upon limb, i.e.,each separate limb.
14. HER UND HIN,forth and back.
16. The very sound of this line is a cry of pity.
101. Written 1879. Theodor Storm called it the best lyric poem since Goethe. Compare C. F. Meyer's letter to Keller congratulating him on his seventieth birthday. Meyer praises Keller's poetry because of its "innere Heiterkeit," and continues: "Auch meine ich, daß Ihr fester Glaube an die Güte des Daseins die höchste Bedeutung Ihrer Schriften ist. Ihnen ist wahrhaftig nichts zu wünschen als die Beharrung in Ihrem Wesen. Weil Sie die Erde lieben, wird die Erde Sie auch so lange als möglich festhalten."
Theodor Storm, like Friedrich Hebbel, is a child of the North Sea Plain; but while in Hebbel's verse there is hardly any direct reference to his native landscape, Storm again and again sings its chaste beauty; and while Hebbel could find a home away from his native heath, Storm clung to it with a jealous love. He was born in Husum (die graue Stadt am grauen Meer) on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein, September 14, 1817, of well-to-do parents. While still a student of law, he published a first volume of verse together with Tycho and Theodor Mommsen. His favorite poets were Eichendorff and Mörike, and the influence of the former is plainly discernible even in Storm's later verse. Storm left his home in 1851 and did not return until 1864, after Schleswig-Holstein had become German. He died July 4, 1888.
Storm is the poet of the North Sea Plain: he discovered its peculiar beauty. While the tragic note predominates, joy and humor nevertheless abound, and at the beginning of his poems Storm himself significantly placed hisOktoberlied, written in the political gloom and uncertainty of the fall of 1848. While realizing fully its inherent tragic elements, Storm loved and glorified life and thirstily drank in its beauty to the very last. This is the keynote of Storm's lyrics.
102.—21. DIE BLAUEN TAGE,azure days, i.e.,days blue as the heavens in June.
103.—6.my heart is filled with joyous fright.
104.—2. STEIN, i.e.,millstone.
8. PUK,Puck, an elfin spirit of mischief. Compare Shakspere,Midsummer Night's Dream.
105. The poet's tribute to his home city Husum, "die graue Stadt am grauen Meer."
13. FÜR UND FÜR,forever and ever.
107. In memory of the poet's sister.
8. RECHT GESCHWISTER,true brother and sister.
11 f. NOCH WEHT EIN KINDERFRIEDEN MICH AN,still a breath of childhood peace comes to me.
108.—18. PFINGSTGLOCKEN;Pfingsten,Pentecost, is celebrated as a summer festival. In Northern Germany house doors are wreathed with birch twigs, while young birch trees are placed upright on the wings of the numerous windmills.
109.—6. MIR IST, etc.,I feel (full of life) like, etc.
110.—1. VIVAT, Latin,long may he live, renderhurrah!
111.—8.what otherwise would be honorable.
112. Storm has used the same motif inImmensee.
113.—7. SCHLAG, i.e.,pulsation (beat) of pain.
Conrad Ferdinand Meyer was born October 12, 1825, in Zürich, and is thus a fellow-townsman of Keller. Like Keller Meyer is a master of theNovelle, but in all other respects there is a most striking difference. Keller was a sturdy commoner and always retained a certain affinity with the soil; there is a wholesome vigor about him. Meyer is of patrician descent; His father, who died early, was a statesman and historian; his mother a highly gifted woman of fine culture. Thus the boy grew up in an atmosphere of refinement. Having finished the Gymnasium, he took up the study of law, but history and the humanities were of greater interest to him. Even in the child two traits were observed that later characterized the man and the poet: he had a most scrupulous regard for neatness and cleanliness, and he lived and experienced more deeply in memory than in the immediate present. Meyer found himself only late in life; for many years also, being practically bilingual, he wavered between French and German. The Franco-German War brought the final decision, and from now on his works appeared in rapid succession. He died in his home in Kilchberg above Zürich, November 28, 1898.
Meyer's lyric verse is almost entirely the product of his later years. It has none of the youthful exuberance of Goethe's earlier lyrics; a note of quiet calm, a mellow maturity pervades all; both joy and sorrow live only in the memory. And still Meyer loved life's exuberant fullness, and a more finely attuned ear hears through this calm the beat of a heart that felt joy and sorrow deeply. Everywhere there is apparent a love of nature interpreted with all the modern subtlety of feeling. Meyer was a Swiss and his landscape, is that of Switzerland, one might even say that of Zürich. Nature hardly ever speaks in herself, but only in her human relationship; not the field alone, but the field and the sower (121), the field and the reaper (118); not the lake alone, but the lake and the solitary oarsman (124). The poet loves the work of human hands and especially its highest form, that of art. Thus a Roman fountain (119), a picture, a statue become the subject of his verse. Of all the arts he loved sculpture most, and in its chaste self-restraint his poetry is like marble. Give marble a voice and you have a poem of Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. His poetry is also akin to marble in its perfection of form that is faultless, because it is the living rhythmic embodiment of an idea, of an experience. Witness but the melody and the rhythm ofder römische Brunnenor of theSäerspruch. In English letters Walter Savage Landor is a kindred spirit and hisFinis, except for a note of haughty pride, might well be the epitaph of the Swiss poet:
I strove with none, for none was worth my strife.Nature I loved and, next to Nature, Art:I warmed both hands before the fire of life;It sinks, and I am ready to depart.
114.—9-14. A series of "Liederseelen." Every one of these lines contains the idea of one of Meyer's poems; compare 116.
11. GEN … EMPOR,up towards.
115.—10. DUMPFEN RUDERS, a case of transferred epithet. The sound goes, of course, withSchlagen.
116.—8. FRÄGT, usuallyfragt.
11. DU TUST DIR'S SELBST ZU LEID,You do it(i.e.,stay away)to your own grief.
12. WAS FÜR EIN,what kind of a.
119. The theme of Meyer's lyrics often is a painting, a piece of sculpture, etc. Here a typical Roman fountain has found lasting embodiment.
2. DER MARMORSCHALE RUND,the round hollow of the marble basin.
120.—3. ZUM ERSTEN,at first.
121. The poem in its rhythm embodies the rhythm of the sower. Compare Millet's paintingThe Sower.
122.—4. NICHT EINER, DER DARBE,not one that may suffer want.
123. The Dutch school of painting is famous for its realism and its truth to life. The effect of this poem is due in no small mean to contrast: "das kleine zarte Bild" of the first two lines described, 12 ff., and the "Junker mit der Dirn, der vor Gesundheit fast die Wange birst"; the quiet of death, the quiet grief of the master, and the boisterous fullness of life.
NACH,according to, from.
3. ES POCHT,Somebody knocks. HEREIN,come in.
5. VOR,because of.
6. VON,with.
10. ZUR STUNDE,at once.
16. NACH DER NATUR,from life.
126. It is necessary to bear in mind that in Switzerland dusk first settles in the valleys and then gradually creeps up to the villages situated on a higher level.
8. KILCHBERG, the poet's home near Zürich.
128.—3. GEMAHL,n.in poetry instead ofGemahlin.
4. MORGENSCHAUER,the cool morning breezes, the chill that falls just before sunrise.
12. SOMMERHÖHN, the higher meadows where the cattle can graze only in the summer months.
Detlev von Liliencron, a countryman of Hebbel and Storm, was born in Kiel, June 3, 1844. He loved a soldier's life and served his country in two wars, 1866 and 1870-71, and thus saw life in its grim reality. Because of wounds and debts, he tells us, he left the army. An inborn love of adventure and action made him try his fortune in America, where his mother's father had served under Washington. His aim was to enter the military service of one of the Central or South American states. Disappointed in his hopes, he returned to Germany and for a number of years was a government official. This task, however, proved too irksome for his restless spirit, and in spite of his continual financial embarrassments, he resigned to live as he pleased. He died in Hamburg, July 22, 1909.
In his younger days, Liliencron felt the throb and stir of life far too keenly to find leisure for literature. Not till 1884 did his first volume of verse appear, recollections of his soldier days. The volume contains graphic descriptions of the most concise brevity, single words taking the place of whole sentences (132).
He delineates war with all its horror, not however without a sad pathos (133). He is also a master at depicting the more joyous side of a soldier's life, the carefree maneuvres of a regiment with its colors and music passing through a village (130). In his love of nature Liliencron is akin to Storm, and even surpasses the older poet in the impressionistic vividness of his descriptions.
130. The poem pictures a German village scene: soldiers with their music approach from the distance, march through and disappear.
3. BRICHT'S,breaks forthorbursts forth.
6 ff. The attention is first focused on the deeper notes. A gradual rise in pitch is noticeable in the lines from instrument to instrument named.
24. LATERNENGLAS, of the street lanterns.
131.—9. SIRRT, an onomatopoetic word coined by the poet to imitate the sound of the scythe cutting through the grain.
10. ARBEITSFRIEDEN,the quiet peace of daily labor.
11. HEIMATWELT,home world. CompareAlltagswelt,work-a-day world.
132.—4.march and flood of victory.
11 f. DURCH DIE LÜFTE BRAUST, etc.,with horrible whir of wings a flight of vultures passes through the air.
133. Famous battle in the Seven Years War, in which Frederick the Great was defeated with enormous losses by the Austrians.
2. SOMMERHALM, lit. summerstalk, i.e.,growing grain.
4. IST AUS,is over.
9.he had to go.
16. BEVERN, a small town in Brunswick.
22. HINEIN, into the book.
134.—4. WINZERVOLK, collective sing. Best rendered as plural ofWinzer.
136. A lullaby for the poet's sonWulff(Wolf).
3. MONDESKAHN, i.e., crescent moon-shaped like a boat. Render the line,slowly the crescent moon floats like a boat.
137.—5.The content of life not stirred by a breeze.
138.—6 ff. SONNENGRÜN … WEISS … STILL. The peculiar effect of sunlight on colors and on quiet is depicted by these compounds.
14. -FÄLTIG,-fold.
16.slowly the dusk of evening lowers.
As this book presupposes a knowledge of elementary grammar, pronouns, numerals, the common prepositions, and modal and auxiliary verbs are not given. Of strong verbs only the vowel change, including the quantity when different from the infinitive, is indicated, unless the verb shows further irregularities. Intransitive verbs that takeseincontrary to rule are marked with 's'. The prefix of separable verbs is followed by -. Of nouns only the plural is given, unless they belong to the so-called mixed declension. Compound words whose meaning is readily discernible from the component parts, are not included.
[Transcriber's note: In the original, there are no commas between the German word (printed in bold type) and its English translation in simple definitions. Bold type is usually rendered as ALL CAPS in PG e-texts, but since the meaning of German words can depend on their capitalization (e.g. 'arm' and 'Arm' mean different things) I have added commas instead to make the vocabulary more easily understandable. Short vowels are marked with [s], long vowels with [l]. '-"' is my rendering for a change of a vowel to an umlaut in plural form.]
Abend,m.-e evening
Abendrot,n.evening glow
abends,adv.in the evening
Abendschein,m.evening lightorglow
ab-fallen, ie, a; ä,intr.fall off
Abgrund,m.-"e abyss
ab-kehren,refl.turn away
ab-leiten,tr.lead aside
ab-messen, a[l], e; i,tr.measure off
ab-nehmen, a, omm; imm,tr.take off
ab-reisen,intr.leave on a journey
Abschied,m.departure, farewell
ab-schmeicheln,tr.obtain by flattery
ab-streifen,tr.slip off
ab-zählen,tr.count off
ach, alas, ah
achten,tr.heed, care for (poet. with gen.)
acht-geben, a, e; i,intr.give heed
ächzen,intr.groan
Ade,n.farewell
Ader,f.-n vein, blood vessel
ahnen,tr. and intr.divine, have a foreboding of
ahnungsvoll, full of sweet foreboding; ominous
Ähre,f.-n ear of grain
Ährenfeld,n.-er field of ripening grain
All,n.the universe; entirety, unison
allda, there
allzu,adv.(in compounds) much too, all too
Alpe,f.-n the Alps
alt, old
Alter,n.— age
Altersschwäche,f.senility, weakness of old age
Amme,f.-n nurse
Amselschlag,m.song of the Amsel (kind of blackbird)
an-beten,tr.worship
an-blicken,tr.look at
an-brechen, a[l], o; i,intr.dawn, break
andächtig, devout
an-fangen, i, a; ä,tr.begin
an-fassen,tr.catch hold of, seize
an-gehen, ging, gegangenintr.be possible
Angel,m., f. -s, -n fishhook
Angesicht,n.-er face, countenance
Angst,f.-"e fear, anguish
ängsten, ängstigen,tr.cause fear, frighten;refl. be afraid
an-halten, ie, a; ä,tr.stop;intr.last
an-klagen,tr.accuse
an-klingen, a, u,intr.begin sounding
an-legen,tr.put on, don
an-rufen, ie, u,tr.implore, call upon
an-schauen,tr.look at, gaze at
an-sehen, a, e; ie,tr.look at
an-stimmen,tr.strike uporstart (a song)
an-stoßen, ie, o; ö,tr.strike, knock against; clink glasses
Antlitz,n.-e face, countenance
Antwort,f.-en answer
an-vertrauen,tr.intrust
an-wehen,tr.bloworbreathe upon
an-wenden,reg.orwandte, gewandt,tr.use, employ
Apfel,m.-" apple
Arbeit,f.-en work, labor
Ärger,m.vexation, anger
arm, poor
Arm,m.-e arm
Art,f.-en kind, type
Arzt,m.-"e physician
Asche,f.-n ashes
Asien, Asia
Ast,m.-"e branch
Atem,m.respiration, breath
atemlos, breathless
Atemzug,m.-"e breath, respiration
Äther,m.ether (i.e., the blue heavens)
atmen,intr. and tr.breathe
aufbauen,tr.build up, erect
aufdecken,tr.uncover, lay bare; raise, lift
aufdonnern,tr.dress ostentatiously
Aufenthalt,m.-e abode
auferziehen, erzog, erzogen,tr.bring up, rear
auffangen, i, a; ä,tr.catch, capture, receive
auffinden, a, u,tr.find, discover
aufhangen, i, a,tr.suspend, hang up
aufheben, o, o,tr.pick up, raise
auffassen,tr.snatch up;refl.rise quickly
aufrecht, upright, erect
aufreichen,intr.reach upward
aufrichtig, honest
aufschlagen, u, a; ä,tr.open (a book)
aufschweben,intr.soar up
aufspringen, a, u,intr.spring up, jump up
aufstehen, stand, gestanden,intr.arise, get up
aufsteigen, ie, ie,intr.rise upward, ascend
auftauchen,intr.rise up. emerge from (the water)
auftürmen,tr.pile up; aufgetürmt towering
aufwärts, upward
Auge,n.-s, -n eye
aus-blicken,intr.look out
aus-brennen, brannte, gebrannt,intr.cease burningorglowing, burn out
aus-graben, u, a; ä,tr.dig out
aus-klingen, a, u,intr.cease sounding
aus-löschen, o, o; i,intr.be extinguished, go out
aus-machen,tr.settle
aus-rufen, ie, u,tr.call out, cry out
aus-ruhen,intr.rest;ausgeruht habenbe rested
aus-schauen,intr.look out
aus-singen, a, u,intr.ceaseorfinish singing
aus-spannen,tr.stretch out, spread
aus-steigen, ie, ie,intr.get out, disembark
aus-strecken,tr.stretch out, prostrate
aus-ziehen, zog, gezogen,tr.undress; take off, pull off
Bach,m.-"e brook
baden,tr. and intr. (refl.)bathe
Bahn,f.-en path, track
bald, soon; — … — now … now
Band,m.-"e volume
Band,n.-"er ribbon
Band,n.-e bond, fetter
bang, fearful, afraid
bangen,intr.yearn
Bank,f.-"e bench
bannen,tr.charm, drive away
Banner,n.— banner
Barke,f.-n barque
Bart,m.-"e beard
Bau,m.-s, -ten structure, building
Bauch,m.-"e belly, paunch
Bauer,m.-sand-n, -n farmer
Baum,m.-"e tree
bäumen,refl.rear, prance
beben,intr.tremble, shake
Becher,m.— cup, goblet
Beckenschlag,m.-"e clang of cymbals
bedecken,tr.cover
bedeuten,tr.mean, portend
Bedeutung,f.-en meaning
bedrohen,tr.threaten, menace
bedrücken,tr.oppress
beengen,tr.narrow in, oppress
beerdigen,tr.bury
Beet,n.-e bed (in a garden)
befragen,tr.question
befreien,tr.free, liberate
befreundet, friendly
begegnen,intr.meet, pass
Begier,f.desire
beginnen, a, o,tr.begin
beglänzen,tr.illumine, cover with radiance
begleiten,tr.accompany
Begleiter,m.— one who accompanies a person, companion
beglücken,tr.make happy, bless with happiness
begraben, u, a; a[s],tr.bury
begrenzen,tr.confine, limit
Behagen,n.content, delight
behalten, ie, a; a[s],tr.retain, keep; das Wort — keep on speaking
Beharrung,f.perseverance, continuance
behend(e), nimble, agile
beherzt, courageous, daring
Bein,n.-e leg
beinern, bony, skeleton
beisammen, together
bekämpfen,tr.combat, resist
bekennen, bekannte, bekannt,tr.confess
beklommen, oppressed