diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:50:59 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:50:59 -0700 |
| commit | 163a7d2ecee7876034c1f9cebad549ca038f2cfc (patch) | |
| tree | 114ddbf86fef5a11a06b880aea0a6093f3210390 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17364-8.txt | 4335 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17364-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 87653 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17364-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 104317 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17364-h/17364-h.htm | 5081 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17364.txt | 4335 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 17364.zip | bin | 0 -> 87543 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
9 files changed, 13767 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17364-8.txt b/17364-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f068b88 --- /dev/null +++ b/17364-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4335 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry, by +Wilhelm Alfred Braun + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry + +Author: Wilhelm Alfred Braun + +Release Date: December 21, 2005 [EBook #17364] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WELTSCHMERZ *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Ralph Janke and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +TYPES OF WELTSCHMERZ IN GERMAN POETRY + +BY + +WILHELM ALFRED BRAUN, Ph.D. + +SOMETIME FELLOW IN GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES, COLUMBIA +UNIVERSITY + +AMS PRESS, INC. NEW YORK 1966 + + + + +Copyright 1905, Columbia University Press, New York + +Reprinted with the permission of the Original Publisher, 1966 + +AMS PRESS, INC. New York, N.Y. 10003 1966 + +Manufactured in the United States of America + + + + +NOTE + + +The author of this essay has attempted to make, as he himself phrases +it, "a modest contribution to the natural history of Weltschmerz." What +goes by that name is no doubt somewhat elusive; one can not easily +delimit and characterize it with scientific accuracy. Nevertheless the +word corresponds to a fairly definite range of psychical reactions which +are of great interest in modern poetry, especially German poetry. The +phenomenon is worth studying in detail. In undertaking a study of it Mr. +Braun thought, and I readily concurred in the opinion, that he would do +best not to essay an exhaustive history, but to select certain +conspicuously interesting types and proceed by the method of close +analysis, characterization and comparison. I consider his work a +valuable contribution to literary scholarship. + +CALVIN THOMAS. + +COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, June, 1905 + + + + +PREFACE + + +The work which is presented in the following pages is intended to be a +modest contribution to the natural history of Weltschmerz. + +The writer has endeavored first of all to define carefully the +distinction between pessimism and Weltschmerz; then to classify the +latter, both as to its origin and its forms of expression, and to +indicate briefly its relation to mental pathology and to contemporary +social and political conditions. The three poets selected for +discussion, were chosen because they represent distinct types, under +which probably all other poets of Weltschmerz may be classified, or to +which they will at least be found analogous; and to the extent to which +such is the case, the treatise may be regarded as exhaustive. In the +case of each author treated, the development of the peculiar phase of +Weltschmerz characteristic of him has been traced, and analyzed with +reference to its various modes of expression. Hölderlin is the idealist, +Lenau exhibits the profoundly pathetic side of Weltschmerz, while Heine +is its satirist. They have been considered in this order, because they +represent three progressive stages of Weltschmerz viewed as a +psychological process: Hölderlin naïve, Lenau self-conscious, Heine +endeavoring to conceal his melancholy beneath the disguise of +self-irony. + +It is a pleasure to tender my grateful acknowledgments to my former +Professors, Calvin Thomas and William H. Carpenter of Columbia +University, and Camillo von Klenze and Starr Willard Cutting of the +University of Chicago, under whose stimulating direction and +never-failing assistance my graduate studies were carried on. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Chapter I--Introduction 1 + +Chapter II--Hölderlin 9 + +Chapter III--Lenau 35 + +Chapter IV--Heine 59 + +Chapter V--Bibliography 85 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +=Introduction= + + +The purpose of the following study is to examine closely certain German +authors of modern times, whose lives and writings exemplify in an +unusually striking degree that peculiar phase of lyric feeling which has +characterized German literature, often in a more or less epidemic form, +since the days of "Werther," and to which, at an early period in the +nineteenth century, was assigned the significant name "Weltschmerz." + +With this side of the poet under investigation, there must of necessity +be an enquiry, not only into his writings, his expressed feelings, but +also his physical and mental constitution on the one hand, and into his +theory of existence in general on the other. Psychology and philosophy +then are the two adjacent fields into which it may become necessary to +pursue the subject in hand, and for this reason it is only fair to call +attention to the difficulties which surround the student of literature +in discussing philosophical ideas or psychological phenomena. Intrepid +indeed would it be for him to attempt a final judgment in these bearings +of his subject, where wise men have differed and doctors have disagreed. + +Although sometimes loosely used as synonyms, it is necessary to note +that there is a well-defined distinction between Weltschmerz and +pessimism. Weltschmerz may be defined as the poetic expression of an +abnormal sensitiveness of the feelings to the moral and physical evils +and misery of existence--a condition which may or may not be based upon +a reasoned conviction that the sum of human misery is greater than the +sum of human happiness. It is usually characterized also by a certain +lack of will-energy, a sort of sentimental yielding to these painful +emotions. It is therefore entirely a matter of "Gemüt." Pessimism, on +the other hand, purports to be a theory of existence, the result of +deliberate philosophic argument and investigation, by which its votaries +have reached the dispassionate conclusion that there is no real good or +pleasure in the world that is not clearly outweighed by evil or pain, +and that therefore self-destruction, or at least final annihilation is +the consummation devoutly to be wished. + +James Sully, in his elaborate treatise on Pessimism,[1] divides it, +however, into reasoned and unreasoned Pessimism, including Weltschmerz +under the latter head. This is entirely compatible with the definition +of Weltschmerz which has been attempted above. But it is interesting to +note the attitude of the pessimistic school of philosophy toward this +unreasoned pessimism. It emphatically disclaims any interest in or +connection with it, and describes all those who are afflicted with the +malady as execrable fellows--to quote Hartmann--: "Klageweiber +männlichen und weiblichen Geschlechts, welche am meisten zur +Discreditierung des Pessimismus beigetragen haben, die sich in ewigem +Lamento ergehen, und entweder unaufhörlich in Thränen schwimmen, oder +bitter wie Wermut und Essig, sich selbst und andern das Dasein noch mehr +vergällen; eine jämmerliche Situation des Stimmungspessimismus, der sie +nicht leben und nicht sterben lässt."[2] And yet Hartmann himself does +not hesitate to admit that this very condition of individual +Weltschmerz, or "Zerrissenheit," is a necessary and inevitable stage in +the progress of the mind toward that clarified universal Weltschmerz +which is based upon theoretical insight, namely pessimism in its most +logical sense. This being granted, we shall not be far astray in +assuming that it is also the stage to which the philosophic pessimist +will sometimes revert, when a strong sense of his own individuality +asserts itself. + +If we attempt a classification of Weltschmerz with regard to its +essence, or, better perhaps, with regard to its origin, we shall find +that the various types may be classed under one of two heads: either as +cosmic or as egoistic. The representatives of cosmic Weltschmerz are +those poets whose first concern is not their personal fate, their own +unhappiness, it may be, but who see first and foremost the sad fate of +humanity and regard their own misfortunes merely as a part of the common +destiny. The representatives of the second type are those introspective +natures who are first and chiefly aware of their own misery and finally +come to regard it as representative of universal evil. The former +proceed from the general to the particular, the latter from the +particular to the general. But that these types must necessarily be +entirely distinct in all cases, as Marchand[3] asserts, seems open to +serious doubt. It is inconceivable that a poet into whose personal +experience no shadows have fallen should take the woes of humanity very +deeply to heart; nor again could we imagine that one who has brooded +over the unhappy condition of mankind in general should never give +expression to a note of personal sorrow. It is in the complexity of +motives in one and the same subject that the difficulty lies in making +rigid and sharp distinctions. In some cases Weltschmerz may arise from +honest conviction or genuine despair, in others it may be something +entirely artificial, merely a cloak to cover personal defects. Sometimes +it may even be due to a desire to pose as a martyr, and sometimes +nothing more than an attempt to ape the prevailing fashion. To these +types Wilhelm Scherer adds "Müssiggänger, welche sich die Zeit mit übler +Laune vertreiben, missvergnügte Lyriker, deren Gedichte nicht mehr +gelesen werden, und Spatzenköpfe, welche den Pessimismus für besonderen +Tiefsinn halten und um jeden Preis tiefsinnig erscheinen wollen."[4] + +But it is with Weltschmerz in its outward manifestations as it finds +expression in the poet's writings, that we shall be chiefly concerned in +the following pages. And here the subdivisions, if we attempt to +classify, must be almost as numerous as the representatives themselves. +In Hölderlin we have the ardent Hellenic idealist; Lenau gives +expression to all the pathos of Weltschmerz, Heine is its satirist, the +misanthrope, while in Raabe we even have a pessimistic humorist. + +This brief list needs scarcely be supplemented by other names of poets +of melancholy, such as Reinhold Lenz, Heinrich von Kleist, Robert +Southey, Byron, Leopardi, in order to command our attention by reason of +the tragic fate which ended the lives of nearly all of these men, the +most frequent and the most terrible being that of insanity. It is of +course a matter of common knowledge that chronic melancholy or the +persistent brooding over personal misfortune is an almost inevitable +preliminary to mental derangement. And when this melancholy takes root +in the finely organized mind of genius, it is only to be expected that +the result will be even more disastrous than in the case of the ordinary +mind. Lombroso holds the opinion that if men of genius are not all more +or less insane, that is, if the "spheres of influence" of genius and +insanity do not actually overlap, they are at least contiguous at many +points, so that the transition from the former to the latter is +extremely easy and even natural. But genius in itself is not an abnormal +mental condition. It does not even consist of an extraordinary memory, +vivid imagination, quickness of judgment, or of a combination of all of +these. Kant defines genius as the talent of invention. Originality and +productiveness are the fundamental elements of genius. And it is an +almost instinctive force which urges the author on in his creative work. +In the main his activity is due less to free will than to this inner +compulsion. + + "Ich halte diesen Drang vergebens auf, + Der Tag und Nacht in meinem Busen wechselt. + Wenn ich nicht sinnen oder dichten soll, + So ist das Leben mir kein Leben mehr," + +says Goethe's Tasso.[5] If this impulse of genius is embodied in a +strong physical organism, as for example in the case of Shakespeare and +Goethe, there need be no detriment to physical health; otherwise, and +especially if there is an inherited tendency to disease, there is almost +sure to be a physical collapse. Specialists in the subject have pointed +out that violent passions are even more potent in producing mental +disease than mere intellectual over-exertion. And these are certainly +characteristic in a very high degree of the mind of genius. It has often +been remarked that it is the _corona spinosa_ of genius to feel all pain +more intensely than do other men. Schopenhauer says "der, in welchem der +Genius lebt, leidet am meisten." It is only going a step further then, +when Hamerling writes to his friend Möser: "Schliesslich ist es doch nur +der Kranke, der sich das Leid der ganzen Welt zu Herzen nimmt." + +Radestock, in his study "Genie und Wahnsinn," mentions and elaborates +among others the following points of resemblance between the mind of +genius and the insane mind: an abnormal activity of the imagination, +very rapid succession of ideas, extreme concentration of thought upon a +single subject or idea, and lastly, what would seem the cardinal point, +a weakness of will-energy, the lack of that force which alone can serve +to bring under control all these other unruly elements and give balance +to what must otherwise be an extremely one-sided mechanism. Here again +the exception may be taken to prove the rule. It is not too much, I +think, to assert that Goethe could never have become so uniquely great, +not even through the splendid versatility of his genius, but for that +incomparable self-control, which he made the watchword of his life. And +in the case of the poet of Weltschmerz the presence or absence of this +quality may even decide whether he shall rise superior to his beclouded +condition or perish in the gloom. The conclusion at which Radestock +arrives is that genius, as the expression of the most intense mental +activity, occupies the middle ground, as it were, between the normal +healthy state on the one hand, and the abnormal, pathological state on +the other, and has without doubt many points of contact with mental +disease; and that although the elements which genius has in common with +insanity may not be strong enough in themselves to induce the transition +from the former to the latter state, yet when other aggravating causes +are added, such as physical disease, violent emotions or passions, +overwork, the pressure or distress of outward circumstances, the highly +gifted individual is much more liable to cross the line of demarkation +between the two mental states than is the average mind, which is more +remote from that line. If this can be asserted of genius in general, it +must be even more particularly and widely applicable in reference to a +combination of genius and Weltschmerz. We shall find pathetic examples +in the first two types selected for examination. + +Having thus introduced the subject in its most general bearings and +aspects, it remains for us to review briefly its historical background. + +Weltschmerz is essentially a symptom of a period of conflict, of +transition. The powerful reaction which marks the eighteenth century--a +reaction against all traditional intellectual authority, and a struggle +for the emancipation of the individual, of research, of inspiration and +of genius--reached its high-water mark in Germany in the seventies. But +with the unrestrained outbursts of the champions of Storm and Stress the +problem was by no means solved; there remained the basic conflict +between the idea of personal liberty and the strait-jacket of +Frederician absolutism, the conflict between the dynastic and the +national idea of the state. Should the individual yield a blind, +unreasoned submission to the state as to a divinely instituted arbitrary +authority, good or bad, or was the state to be regarded as the conscious +and voluntary coöperation of its subjects for the general good? It was, +moreover, a time not only of open and active revolt, as represented by +the spirit of Klinger, but also of great emotional stirrings, and +sentimental yearnings of such passive natures as Hölty. Rousseau's plea +for a simplified and more natural life had exerted a mighty influence. +And what has a most important bearing upon the relation between these +intellectual currents and Weltschmerz--these minds were lacking in the +discipline implied in our modern scientific training. Scientific +exactness of thinking had not become an integral part of education. +Hence the difference between the pessimism of Ibsen and the romantic +Weltschmerz of these uncritical minds. + +In accounting for the tremendous effect produced by his "Werther," +Goethe compares his work to the bit of fuse which explodes the mine, and +says that the shock of the explosion was so great because the young +generation of the day had already undermined itself, and its members +now burst forth individually with their exaggerated demands, unsatisfied +passions and imaginary sufferings.[6] And in estimating the influences +which had prepared the way for this mental disposition, Goethe +emphasizes the influence of English literature. Young's "Night +Thoughts," Gray's "Elegy," Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," even "Hamlet" +and his monologues haunted all minds. "Everyone knew the principal +passages by heart, and everyone believed he had a right to be just as +melancholy as the Prince of Denmark, even though he had seen no ghost +and had no royal father to avenge." Finally Ossian had provided an +eminently suitable setting,--under the darkly lowering sky the endless +gray heath, peopled with the shadowy forms of departed heroes and +withered maidens. To quote the substance of Goethe's criticism:[7] Amid +such influences and surroundings, occupied with fads and studies of this +sort, lacking all incentive from without to any important activity and +confronted by the sole prospect of having to drag out a humdrum +existence, men began to reflect with a sort of sullen exultation upon +the possibility of departing this life at will, and to find in this +thought a scant amelioration of the ills and tedium of the times. This +disposition was so general that "Werther" itself exerted a powerful +influence, because it everywhere struck a responsive chord and publicly +and tangibly exhibited the true inwardness of a morbid youthful +illusion.[8] + +Nor did the dawning nineteenth century bring relief. No other period of +Prussian history, says Heinrich von Treitschke,[9] is wrapped in so deep +a gloom as the first decade of the reign of Frederick William III. It +was a time rich in hidden intellectual forces, and yet it bore the stamp +of that uninspired Philistinism which is so abundantly evidenced by the +barren commonplace character of its architecture and art. Genius there +was, indeed, but never were its opportunities for public usefulness more +limited. It was as though the greatness of the days of the second +Frederick lay like a paralyzing weight upon this generation. And this +oppressing sense of impotence was followed, after the Napoleonic Wars, +by the bitterness of disappointment, all the more keenly felt by reason +of this first reawakening of the national consciousness. Great had been +the expectations, enormous the sacrifice; exceedingly small was the gain +to the individual.[10] And the resultant dissonance was the same as that +to which Alfred de Musset gave expression in the words: "The malady of +the present century is due to two causes; the people who have passed +through 1793 and 1814 bear in their hearts two wounds. All that was is +no more; all that will be is not yet. Do not hope to find elsewhere the +secret of our ills."[11] + +This then in briefest outline is the transition from the century of +individualism and autocracy to the nineteenth century of democracy. +Small wonder that the struggle claimed its victims in those individuals +who, unable to find a firm basis of conviction and principle, vacillated +constantly between instinctive adherence to old traditions, and +unreasoned inclination to the new order of things. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: "Pessimism, a History and a Criticism," London, 1877.] + +[Footnote 2: Ed. von Hartmann: "Zur Geschichte und Begründung des +Pessimismus," Leipzig, Hermann Haacke, p. 187.] + +[Footnote 3: "Les Poètes Lyriques de l'Autriche," Paris, 1886, p. 293.] + +[Footnote 4: "Vorträge und Aufsätze zur Geschichte des geistigen Lebens +in Deutschland und Oesterreich," Berlin, 1874, p. 413.] + +[Footnote 5: Act 5, Sc. 2.] + +[Footnote 6: "Goethes Werke," Weimar ed. Vol. 28, p. 227 f.] + +[Footnote 7: _Ibid._, p. 216 f.] + +[Footnote 8: In view of Goethe's own words, then, the caution of a +recent critic (Felix Melchior in _Litt. Forsch._ XXVII Heft, Berlin, +1903) against applying the term Weltschmerz to "Werther," would seem to +miss the mark entirely. Werther is a type, just as truly as is Faust, +though in a smaller way, and the malady which he typifies has its +ultimate origin in the development of public life,--the very condition +which this critic insists upon as a mark of Weltschmerz in the proper +application of the term.] + +[Footnote 9: "Historische und politische Aufsätze," Leipzig, 1897. Vol. +4.] + +[Footnote 10: As early as 1797 Hölderlin's Hyperion laments: "Mein +Geschäft auf Erden ist aus. Ich bin voll Willens an die Arbeit gegangen, +habe geblutet darüber, und die Welt um keinen Pfennig reicher gemacht." +("Hölderlin's gesammelte Dichtungen, herausgegeben von B. Litzmann," +Stuttgart, Cotta, undated. Vol. II, p. 68.) Several decades later Heine +writes: "Ich kann mich über die Siege meiner liebsten Ueberzeugungen +nicht recht freuen, da sie mir gar zu viel gekostet haben. Dasselbe mag +bei manchem ehrlichen Manne der Fall sein, und es trägt viel bei zu der +grossen düsteren Verstimmung der Gegenwart." (Brief vom 21 April, 1851, +an Gustav Kolb; Werke, Karpeles ed. Vol. IX, p. 378.)] + +[Footnote 11: "Confession d'un enfant du siècle." Oeuvres compl. Paris, +1888 (Charpentier). Vol. VIII, p. 24.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +=Hölderlin= + + +A case such as that of Hölderlin, subject as he was from the time of his +boyhood to melancholy, and ending in hopeless insanity, at once suggests +the question of heredity. Little or nothing is known concerning his +remote ancestors. His great-grandfather had been administrator of a +convent at Grossbottwar, and died of dropsy of the chest at the age of +forty-seven. His grandfather had held a similar position as +"Klosterhofmeister und geistlicher Verwalter" at Lauffen, to which his +son, the poet's father, succeeded. An apoplectic stroke ended his life +at the early age of thirty-six. In regard to Hölderlin's maternal +ancestors, our information is even more scant, though we know that both +his grandmother and his mother lived to a ripe old age. From the poet's +references to them we judge them to have been entirely normal types of +intelligent, lovable women, gifted with a great deal of good practical +sense. The only striking thing is the premature death of Hölderlin's +great-grandfather and father. But in view of the nature of their +stations in life, in which they may fairly be supposed to have led more +than ordinarily sober and well-ordered lives, there seems to be no +ground whatever for assuming that Hölderlin's Weltschmerz owed its +inception in any degree to hereditary tendencies, notwithstanding +Hermann Fischer's opinion to the contrary.[12] There is no sufficient +reason to assume "erbliche Belastung," and there are other sufficient +causes without merely guessing at such a possibility. + +But while there are no sufficient historical grounds for the supposition +that he brought the germ of his subsequent mental disease with him in +his birth, we cannot fail to observe, even in the child, certain +natural traits, which, being allowed to develop unchecked, must of +necessity hasten and intensify the gloom which hung over his life. To +his deep thoughtfulness was added an abnormal sensitiveness to all +external influences. Like the delicate anemone, he recoiled and withdrew +within himself when touched by the rougher material things of life.[13] +He himself poetically describes his absentmindedness when a boy, and +calls himself "ein Träumer"; and a dreamer he remained all his life. It +seems to have been this which first brought him into discord with the +world: + + Oft sollt' ich stracks in meine Schule wandern, + Doch ehe sich der Träumer es versah, + So hatt' er in den Garten sich verirrt, + Und sass behaglich unter den Oliven, + Und baute Flotten, schifft' ins hohe Meer. + + * * * * * + + Dies kostete mich tausend kleine Leiden, + Verzeihlich war es immer, wenn mich oft + Die Klügeren, mit herzlichem Gelächter + Aus meiner seligen Ekstase schreckten, + Doch unaussprechlich wehe that es mir.[14] + +If ever a boy needed a strong fatherly hand to guide him, to teach him +self-reliance and practical sense, it was this dreamy, tender-spirited +child.[15] The love and sympathy which his mother bestowed upon him was +not calculated to fit him for the rugged experiences of life, and while +probably natural and pardonable, it was nevertheless extremely +unfortunate that the boy was unconsciously encouraged to be and to +remain a "Muttersöhnchen." But even with his peculiar trend of +disposition, the result might not have been an unhappy one, had the +course of his life not brought him more than an ordinary share of +misfortune. This overtook him early in life, for when but two years of +age his father died. His widowed mother now lived for a few years in +complete retirement with her two children--the poet's sister Henrietta +having been born just a few weeks after his father's demise. But it was +not long before death again entered the household and robbed it of +Hölderlin's aunt, his deceased father's sister, who was herself a widow +and the faithful companion of the poet's mother. When the latter found +herself again alone with her two little ones, whose care was weighing +heavily upon her, she consented to become the wife of her late husband's +friend, Kammerrat Gock, and accompanied him to his home in the little +town of Nürtingen on the Neckar. But this re-established marital +happiness was to be of brief duration, for in 1779 her second husband +died, and the mother was now left with four little children to care and +provide for. + +The frequency with which death visited the family during his childhood +and youth, familiarized him at an early age with scenes of sorrow and +grief. No doubt he was too young when his father died to comprehend the +calamity that had come upon the household, but it was not many months +before he knew the meaning of his mother's tears, not only for his +father, but also for his sister, who died in her infancy. Referring to +his father's death, he writes in one of his early poems, "Einst und +Jetzt":[16] + + Einst schlugst du mir so ruhig, empörtes Herz! + + * * * * * + + Einst in des Vaters Schoosse, des liebenden + Geliebten Vaters,--aber der Würger kam, + Wir weinten, flehten, doch der Würger + Schnellte den Pfeil, und es sank die Stütze. + +At his tenderest and most impressionable age, the boy was thus made +sadly aware of the fleetingness of human life and the pains of +bereavement. We cannot wonder then at finding these impressions +reflected in his most juvenile poetic attempts. His poem "Das +menschliche Leben," written at the age of fifteen, begins: + + Menschen, Menschen! was ist euer Leben, + Eure Welt, die thränenvolle Welt! + Dieser Schauplatz, kann er Freude geben + Wo sich Trauern nicht dazu gesellt?[17] + +But a time of still greater unhappiness was in store for him when he +left his home at the age of fourteen to enter the convent school at +Denkendorf, where he began his preparation for a theological course. A +more direct antithesis to all that his body and soul yearned for and +needed for their proper development could scarcely have been devised +than that which existed in the chilling atmosphere and rigorous +discipline of the monastery. He had not even an incentive to endure +hardships for the sake of what lay beyond, for it was merely in passive +submission to his mother's wish that he had decided to enter holy +orders. And now, clad in a sombre monkish gown, deprived of all freedom +of thought or movement and forced into companionship with twenty-five or +thirty fellows of his own age, who nearly all misunderstood him, +Hölderlin felt himself wretched indeed. "Wär' ich doch ewig ferne von +diesen Mauern des Elends!" he writes in a poem at Maulbronn in 1787.[18] +There was for him but one way of escape. It was to isolate himself as +much as possible from the world of harsh reality about him, to be alone, +and there in his solitude to construct for himself an ideal world of +fancy, a poetic dreamland. This mental habit not only remained with him +as he grew into manhood, it may be said to have been through life one of +his most distinguishing characteristics. It would be impossible to make +room here for all the passages in his poems and letters of this period, +which reflect his love of solitude and his habit of retreating into a +world of his own imagining. His letters to his friend Nast almost +invariably contain some expression of his heart-ache. "Bilfinger ist +wohl mein Freund, aber es geht ihm zu glücklich, als dass er sich nach +mir umsehen möchte. Du wirst mich schon verstehen--er ist immer lustig, +ich hänge immer den Kopf."[19] Another letter begins: "Wieder eine +Stunde wegphantasiert!--dass es doch so schlechte Menschen giebt, unter +meinen Cameraden so elende Kerls--wann mich die Freundschaft nicht +zuweilen wieder gut machte, so hätt' ich mich manchmal schon lieber an +jeden andern Ort gewünscht, als unter Menschengesellschaft.--Wann ich +nur auch einmal etwas recht Lustiges schreiben könnte! Nur Gedult! 's +wird kommen--hoff' ich, oder--oder hab' ich dann nicht genug getragen? +Erfuhr ich nicht schon als Bube, was den Mann seufzen machen würde? und +als Jüngling, geht's da besser?--Du lieber Gott! bin ich's denn allein? +jeder andre glücklicher als ich? Und was hab' ich dann gethan?"[20] +There is a world of pathos in this helpless cry of pain, with its +suggestion of retributive fate. A poem of 1788, "Die Stille," written at +Maulbronn, epitomizes almost everything that we have thus far noted as +to Hölderlin's nature. He goes back in fancy to the days of his +childhood, describing his lonely rambles, from which he would return in +the moonlight, unmindful of his lateness for the evening meal, at which +he would hastily eat of that which the others had left: + + Schlich mich, wenn ich satt gegessen, + Weg von meinem lustigen Geschwisterpaar. + + O! in meines kleinen Stübchens Stille + War mir dann so über alles wohl, + Wie im Tempel war mir's in der Nächte Hülle, + Wann so einsam von dem Turm die Glocke scholl. + + Als ich weggerissen von den Meinen + Aus dem lieben elterlichen Haus + Unter Fremden irrte, we ich nimmer weinen + Durfte, in das bunte Weltgewirr hinaus, + + O wie pflegtest du den armen Jungen, + Teure, so mit Mutterzärtlichkeit, + Wann er sich im Weltgewirre müd gerungen, + In der lieben, wehmutsvollen Einsamkeit.[21] + +This love of solitude is carried to the extreme in his contemplation of +a hermit's life. In a letter to Nast he says: "Heute ging ich so vor +mich hin, da fiel mir ein, ich wolle nach vollendeten Universitäts +Jahren Einsiedler werden--und der Gedanke gefiel mir so wohl, eine +ganze Stunde, glaub' ich, war ich in meiner Fantasie Einsiedler."[22] +And although he never became a hermit, this is the final disposition +which he makes of himself in his "Hyperion." + +These habits of thought and feeling, formed in boyhood, could lead to +only one result. He became less and less qualified to comprehend and to +grapple with the practical problems and difficulties of life, and +entered young manhood and the struggle for existence at a tremendous +disadvantage. + +Another trait of his character which served to intensify his subsequent +disappointments, was the strong ambition which early filled his soul. He +aspired to high achievements in his chosen field of art. In a letter to +Louise Nast, written probably about the beginning of 1790, he makes the +confession: "Der unüberwindliche Trübsinn in mir ist wohl nicht ganz, +doch meist--unbefriedigter Ehrgeiz."[23] The mere lad of seventeen had +scarcely learned to admire Klopstock, when he speaks of his own +"kämpfendes Streben nach Klopstocksgrösse," and exclaims: "Hinan den +herrlichen Ehrenpfad! Hinan! im glühenden kühnen Traum, sie zu +erreichen!"[24] It is remarkable to note how this fancy of a dream-life +becomes fixed in Hölderlin's mind and reappears in almost every poem. +Closely allied to this idea is that of a "glückliche Trunkenheit," and +expressions like "wie ein Göttertraum das Alter schwand," +"liebetrunken," "Wie ein Traum entfliehen Ewigkeiten," "siegestrunken," +"süsse, kühne Trunkenheit," "trunken dämmert die Seele mir," can be +found on almost every page of his shorter poems. Hyperion expresses +himself on one occasion in the words: "O ein Gott ist der Mensch, wenn +er träumt, ein Bettler, wenn er nachdenkt, und wenn die Begeisterung hin +ist, steht er da, wie ein missrathener Sohn, den der Vater aus dem Hause +stiess, und betrachtet die ärmlichen Pfennige, die ihm das Mitleid auf +den Weg gab,"[25] which further illustrates the extravagant idealism by +which he allowed himself to be carried away, and the etherial and +thoroughly unpractical trend of his mind. The flights of fancy of which +Hölderlin is capable are well illustrated by another passage in +"Hyperion." Referring to Hyperion's conversation with Alabanda, he says: +"Ich war hingerissen von unendlichen Hoffnungen, Götterkräfte trugen wie +ein Wölkchen mich fort."[26] These facts have a direct bearing upon +Hölderlin's Weltschmerz, inasmuch as it was just this unequal and +unsuccessful struggle of the idealist with the stern realities of life +that brought about the catastrophe which wrought his ruin. + +And just as his ideals are vague and abstract, so too are the +expressions of his Weltschmerz. It needs no concrete idea to arouse his +enthusiasm to its highest pitch. Thus Hyperion exclaims: "Der Gott in +uns, dem die Unendlichkeit zur Bahn sich öffnet, soll stehen und harren, +bis der Wurm ihm aus dem Wege geht? Nein! nein! man frägt nicht, ob ihr +wollt! ihr wollt ja nie--ihr Knechte und Barbaren! Euch will man auch +nicht bessern, denn es ist umsonst! Man will nur dafür sorgen, dass ihr +dem Siegeslauf der Menschheit aus dem Wege geht!"[27] It is in the form +of lofty generalities such as these, and seldom with reference to +practical details, that Hölderlin's longings find expression. + +Entirely consistent with this idealism is the nature of his love, +ardent, but etherial, "übersinnlich." This is reflected also in his +lyrics, which are statuesque and beautiful, but lacking in passion and +sensuous charm. Hölderlin's earliest love-affair, that with Louise Nast, +is important for his Weltschmerz only in its bearing upon the +development of his general character. This influence was a twofold one: +in the first place his sweetheart was herself inclined to a sort of +visionary mysticism, and therefore had an unwholesome influence upon the +youth, who had already been carried too far in that direction. She too +was a lover of solitude and wrote her letters to him in the stillness of +the night, when all others were asleep. There can be no doubt that she +had at least some share in determining his mental activity, especially +his reading. In one of his earliest letters to her he writes: "Weil Du +den Don Carlos liest, will ich ihn auch lesen."[28] It was during this +time too that that he became so ardent an admirer of Schubart and +Ossian. "Da leg' ich meinen Ossian weg und komme zu Dir," he writes in +1788 to his friend Nast. "Ich habe meine Seele geweidet an den Helden +des Barden, habe mit ihm getrauert, wann er trauert über sterbende +Mädchen."[29] There is not a sensuous note in all Hölderlin's poems or +letters to Louise. Typical are the lines which he addresses to her on +his departure from Maulbronn: + + Lass sie drohen, die Stürme, die Leiden, + Lass trennen--der Trennung Jahre + Sie trennen uns nicht! + Sie trennen uns nicht! + Denn mein bist du! Und über das Grab hinaus + Soll sie dauren, die unzertrennbare Liebe. + + O! wenn's einst da ist + Das grosse selige Jenseits, + Wo die Krone dem leidenden Pilger, + Die Palme dem Sieger blinkt, + Dann Freundin--lohnet auch Freundschaft-- + Auch Freundschaft der Ewige.[30] + +The second bearing which his relations to Louise have upon his +Weltschmerz lies in the fact that his love ended in disappointment. This +is true not only of this particular episode, not only of all his +love-affairs, but it may even be said that disappointment was the fate +to which he found himself doomed in all his aspirations. And in the +persistency with which this evil angel pursued his footsteps through +life may be found one of the chief causes of the early collapse of his +faculties. What David Müller[31] and Hermann Fischer[32] have said in +their essays in regard to this point--that Hölderlin did not become +insane because his life was a succession of unsatisfactory situations +and painful disappointments, but because he had not the strength to work +himself out of these situations into more favorable ones--states only +half the case. True, a stronger mental organization might have overcome +these or even greater difficulties; Schiller, Herder, Fichte are +examples; but not all of Hölderlin's failures and disappointments were +the result of his weakness, and so while it is right to state that a +stronger and more robust nature would have conquered in the fight, it is +also fair to say that Hölderlin would have had a good chance of winning, +had fortune been more kind. For this reason these external influences +must be reckoned with as an important cause of his Weltschmerz and +subsequently of his insanity. + +This suggests an interesting point of comparison--if I may be permitted +to anticipate somewhat--with Lenau, the second type selected. Hölderlin +earnestly pursued happiness and contentment, but it eluded him at every +step. Lenau on the contrary reached a point in his Weltschmerz where he +refused to see anything in life but pain, wilfully thrusting from him +even such happiness as came within his reach. + +We may postpone any detailed reference to Hölderlin's relations with +Susette Gontard, which were vastly more important in their influence +upon the poet's character and Weltschmerz, until we come to the +discussion of his "Hyperion," of which Susette, under the pseudonym of +Diotima, forms one of the central figures. + +To speak of all the disappointments which fell to Hölderlin's lot would +practically require the writing of his biography from the time of his +graduation from Tübingen to his return from Bordeaux, almost the entire +period of his sane manhood. Unsuccessful in his first position as a +tutor, and unable, after having abandoned this, to provide even a meagre +living for himself with his pen, his migration to Frankfort to the house +of the merchant Gontard at last gave him a hope of better things, but a +hope which soon proved vain. Following close upon these disappointments +was his failure to carry out a project which he had long cherished, of +establishing a literary journal; then came his dismissal from a +situation which he had just entered upon in Switzerland. On his return +he wrote to Schiller for help and advice, and his failure to receive a +reply grieved him deeply. We can only surmise that it was a cruel +disappointment, finally, which caused his sudden departure from +Bordeaux, and brought him back a mental wreck to his mother's home. Even +as early as 1788 Hölderlin complains bitterly in the poem "Der Lorbeer," +in which he eulogizes the poets Klopstock and Young and expresses his +own ambition to aspire to their greatness: + + Schon so manche Früchte schöner Keime + Logen grausam mir ins Angesicht.[33] + +As the years passed, this feeling of disappointment and disillusion +became more and more intense and bitter. A stanza from one of his more +mature poems (1795) "An die Natur," will serve to illustrate the +sentiment which pervades almost all his writings: + + Tot ist nun, die mich erzog und stillte, + Tot ist nun die jugendliche Welt, + Diese Brust, die einst ein Himmel füllte, + Tot und dürftig wie ein Stoppelfeld; + Ach es singt der Frühling meinen Sorgen + Noch, wie einst, ein freundlich tröstend Lied, + Aber hin ist meines Lebens Morgen, + Meines Herzens Frühling ist verblüht.[34] + +In close causal connection with Hölderlin's Weltschmerz is his belief +that his life is ruled by an inexorable fate whose plaything he is. +"Wenn hinfort mich das Schicksal ergreift, und von einem Abgrund in den +andern mich wirft, und alle Kräfte in mir ertränkt und alle Gedanken," +Hyperion exclaims.[35] He goes even further, and conceives the idea of a +sacrifice to Fate. Thus he makes Alabanda say near the close of +"Hyperion:" "Ach! weil kein Glück ist ohne Opfer, nimm als Opfer mich, o +Schicksal an, und lass die Liebenden in ihrer Freude."[36] Wilhelm +Scherer calls attention to Gervinus' remark that new intellectual +tendencies which call for unaccustomed and unusual mental effort often +prove disastrous to single individuals, and says: "Hölderlin war also +ein Opfer der Erneuerung des deutschen Lebens--seltsam, wie der Gedanke +des Opfers als ein hoher und herrlicher ihn in allen seinen Gedichten +viel beschäftigt hat."[37] But the poet does not apply this fatalism +only to himself, to the individual; he widens its influence to humanity +in general. "Wir sprechen von unserm Herzen, unsern Planen, als wären +sie unser," says Hyperion, "und es ist doch eine fremde Gewalt, die uns +herumwirft und ins Grab legt, wie es ihr gefällt, und von der wir nicht +wissen, von wannen sie kommt, noch wohin sie geht:"[38] Perhaps nowhere +better than in Hyperion's "Schicksalslied" does he give poetic +expression to this thought. Omitting the first stanza it reads thus: + + Schicksallos wie der schlafende + Säugling atmen die Himmlischen; + Keusch bewahrt + In bescheidener Knospe, + Blühet ewig + Ihnen der Geist, + Und die seligen Augen + Blicken in stiller + Ewiger Klarheit. + + Doch uns ist gegeben, + Auf keiner Stätte zu ruhn, + Es schwinden, es fallen + Die leidenden Menschen + Blindlings von einer + Stunde zur andern, + Wie Wasser von Klippe + Zu Klippe geworfen, + Jahrlang ins Ungewisse hinab.[39] + +The fundamental difference between Hölderlin's "Anschauung" and Goethe's +is at once apparent when we recall the "Lied der Parzen" from +"Iphigenie." Hölderlin does not bring the blessed Genii into any +relation with mortals, but merely contrasts their free and blissful +existence, emphasizing their immunity from Fate, to which suffering +humanity is subject. But this humanity is represented by Hölderlin +characteristically as helpless, passive--"schwinden," "fallen," +"blindlings von einer Stunde zur andern." Whereas the opening lines of +Goethe's "Parzen" strike the keynote of _conflict_ between the gods and +men: + + Es fürchte die Götter + Das Menschengeschlecht! + Sie halten die Herrschaft + In ewigen Händen + Und können sie brauchen + Wie's ihnen gefällt. + Der fürchte sie doppelt, + Den je sie erheben! + +And those who come to grief at the hands of the gods, are not weak +passive creatures, but heaven-scaling Titans. This points to the +antipodal difference between the characters of these two poets, and +explains in part why Goethe did not succumb to the sickly sentimentalism +of which he rid himself in "Werther." The difference between yielding +and striving resulted in the difference between an acute case of +Weltschmerz in the one and a healthy physical and intellectual manhood +in the other. + +Thus far it has been almost entirely the personal aspect of Hölderlin's +Weltschmerz and its causes that has come under our notice. And since he +was a lyric poet, it is perhaps natural that the sorrows which concerned +him personally should find most frequent expression in his verse. But +notwithstanding the fact that this personal element is very prominent in +Hölderlin's writings, Scherer's judgment is correct when he states: "Die +Grundstimmung war eine tiefe Verbitterung gegen die Versunkenheit des +Vaterlands."[40] The reason is not far to seek, especially when we +consider the impossible demands of the poet's extravagant idealism. The +conditions in Germany which had called forth the terrible arraignment of +petty despotism, crushing militarism, and political rottenness +generally, in the works of Lenz, Klinger and Schubart, had not abated. +Schubart was one of Hölderlin's earliest favorites, so that the latter +was doubtless in this way imbued with sentiments which could only grow +stronger under the influence of his more mature observations and +experiences. Even in his eighteenth year, in a poem "An die Demut,"[41] +he gives expression in strong terms to his patriotic feelings, in which +his disgust with his faint-hearted, servile compatriots and his defiance +of "Fürstenlaune" and "Despotenblut" are plainly evident. So too in +"Männerjubel," 1788: + + Es glimmt in uns ein Funke der Göttlichen! + Und diesen Funken soll aus der Männerbrust + Der Hölle Macht uns nicht entreissen! + Hört es, Despotengerichte, hört es![42] + +Perhaps nowhere outside of his own Württemberg could he have been more +unfavorably situated in this respect. Under Karl Eugen (1744-1793) the +country sank into a deplorable condition. Regardless of the rights of +individuals and communities alike, he sought in the early part of his +reign to replenish his depleted purse by the most shameless measures, in +order that he might surround himself with luxury and indulge his +autocratic proclivities. Among his most reprehensible violations of +constitutional rights, were his bartering of privileges and offices and +the selling of troops. These things Hölderlin attacks in one of his +youthful poems "Die Ehrsucht" (1788): + + Um wie Könige zu prahlen, schänden + Kleine Wütriche ihr armes Land; + Und um feile Ordensbänder wenden + Räte sich das Ruder aus der Hand.[43] + +Another act of gross injustice which this petty tyrant perpetrated, and +which Hölderlin must have felt very painfully, was the incarceration of +the poet's countryman Schubart from 1777 to 1787 in the Hohenasperg. But +not only from within came tyrannous oppression. Following upon the +coalition against France after the Revolution, Württemberg became the +scene of bloody conflicts and the ravages of war. Under the regime of +Friedrich Eugen (1795-97) the French gained such a foothold in +Württemberg that the country had to pay a contribution of four million +gulden to get rid of them. These were the conditions under which +Hölderlin grew up into young manhood. But deeper than in the mere +existence of these conditions themselves lay the cause of the poet's +most abject humiliation and grief. It was the stoic indifference, the +servile submission with which he charged his compatriots, that called +forth his bitterest invectives upon their insensible heads. His own +words will serve best to show the intensity of his feelings. In 1788 he +writes, in the poem "Am Tage der Freundschaftsfeier:" + + Da sah er (der Schwärmer) all die Schande + Der weichlichen Teutonssöhne, + Und fluchte dem verderblichen Ausland + Und fluchte den verdorbenen Affen des Auslands, + Und weinte blutige Thränen, + Dass er vielleicht noch lange + Verweilen müsse unter diesem Geschlecht.[44] + +Ten years later he treats the Germans to the following ignominious +comparison: + + Spottet ja nicht des Kinds, wenn es mit Peitsch' und Sporn + Auf dem Rosse von Holz, mutig und gross sich dünkt. + Denn, ihr Deutschen, auch ihr seid + Thatenarm und gedankenvoll.[45] + +With his friend Sinclair, who was sent as a delegate, he attended the +congress at Rastatt in November, 1798, and here he made observations +which no doubt resulted in the bitter characterization of his nation in +the closing letters of Hyperion. This convention, whose chief object was +the compensation of those German princes who had been dispossessed by +the cessions to France on the left bank of the Rhine, afforded a +spectacle so humiliating that it would have bowed down in shame a spirit +even less proud and sensitive than Hölderlin's. The French emissaries +conducted themselves like lords of Germany, while the German princes +vied with each other in acts of servility and submission to the arrogant +Frenchmen. And it was the apathy of the average German, as Hölderlin +conceived it, toward these and other national indignities, that caused +him to put such bitter words of contumely into the mouth of Hyperion: +"Barbaren von Alters her, durch Fleiss und Wissenschaft und selbst durch +Religion barbarischer geworden, tief unfähig jedes göttlichen +Gefühls--beleidigend für jede gut geartete Seele, dumpf und harmonielos, +wie die Scherben eines weggeworfenen Gefässes--das, mein Bellarmin! +waren meine Tröster."[46] In another letter Hyperion explains their +incapacity for finer feeling and appreciation when he writes: "Neide die +Leidensfreien nicht, die Götzen von Holz, denen nichts mangelt, weil +ihre Seele so arm ist, die nichts fragen nach Regen und Sonnenschein, +weil sie nichts haben, was der Pflege bedürfte. Ja, ja, es ist recht +sehr leicht, glücklich, ruhig zu sein mit seichtem Herzen und +eingeschränktem Geiste."[47] Their work he characterizes as +"Stümperarbeit," and their virtues as brilliant evils and nothing more. +There is nothing sacred, he claims, that has not been desecrated by this +nation. But it is chiefly his own experience which he recites, when, in +speaking of the sad plight of German poets, of those who still love the +beautiful, he says: "Es ist auch herzzerreissend, wenn man eure Dichter, +eure Künstler sieht--die Guten, sie leben in der Welt, wie Fremdlinge im +eigenen Hause."[48] Still more extravagantly does the poet caricature +his own people when he writes: "Wenn doch einmal diesen Gottverlassnen +einer sagte, dass bei ihnen nur so unvollkommen alles ist, weil sie +nichts Reines unverdorben, nichts Heiliges unbetastet lassen mit den +plumpen Händen--dass bei ihnen eigentlich das Leben schaal und +sorgenschwer ist, weil sie den Genius verschmähen--und darum fürchten +sie auch den Tod so sehr, und leiden um des Austernlebens willen alle +Schmach, weil Höhres sie nicht kennen, als ihr Machwerk, das sie sich +gestoppelt."[49] + +But we should get an extremely unjust and one-sided idea of Hölderlin's +attitude toward his country from these quotations alone. The point which +they illustrate is his growing estrangement from his own people, which +in the very nature of the case must have had an important bearing upon +his Weltschmerz. But his feelings in regard to Germany and the Germans +were not all contempt. In many of his poems there is the true patriotic +ring. It is true, we can nowhere find any clear political program, +neither could we expect one from a poet who was so absorbed in his own +feelings, and whose ideals soared so high above the sphere of practical +politics. In this too Hölderlin was the product of previous influences. +With all their clamor for political upheavals, the "Stürmer und Dränger" +never arrived at any serious or practical plan of action. +Notwithstanding all this, the word Vaterland was always an inspiration +to Hölderlin, and it is especially gratifying to note that the calumny +which he heaps upon the devoted heads of the Germans is not his last +word on the subject. Nor did he ever lose sight of his lofty ideal of +liberty for his degraded fatherland or cease to hope for its +realization. In this strain he concludes the "Hymne an die Freiheit" +(1790) with a splendid outburst of patriotic enthusiasm: + + Dann am süssen, heisserrung'nen Ziele, + Wenn der Ernte grosser Tag beginnt, + Wenn verödet die Tyrannenstühle, + Die Tyrannenknechte Moder sind, + Wenn im Heldenbunde meiner Brüder + Deutsches Blut und deutsche Liebe glüht, + Dann, O Himmelstochter! sing ich wieder, + Singe sterbend dir das letzte Lied.[50] + +What a remarkable change is noticeable in the tone which the poet +assumes toward his country in the lines "Gesang des Deutschen," written +in 1799, probably after the completion of his "Hyperion": + + O heilig Herz der Völker, O Vaterland! + Allduldend gleich der schweigenden Muttererd' + Und allverkannt, wenn schon aus deiner + Tiefe die Fremden ihr Bestes haben. + + Du Land des hohen, ernsteren Genius! + Du Land der Liebe! bin ich der Deine schon, + Oft zürnt' ich weinend, dass du immer + Blöde die eigene Seele leugnest.[51] + +How much the reproach has been softened, and with what tender regard he +strives to mollify his former bitterness! To this change in his +feelings, his sojourn in strange places and the attendant +discouragements and disappointments seem to have contributed not a +little, for in the poem "Rückkehr in die Heimat," written in 1800, the +contempt of "Hyperion" has been replaced by compassion. He sees himself +and his country linked together in the sacred companionship of +suffering, consequently it can no longer be the object of his scorn. + + Wie lange ist's, O wie lange! des Kindes Ruh' + Ist hin, und hin ist Jugend, und Lieb' und Glück, + Doch du, mein Vaterland! du heilig + Duldendes! siehe, du bist geblieben.[52] + +But the fact remains, nevertheless, that Hölderlin from his early youth +felt himself a stranger in his own land and among his own people. Some +of the causes of this circumstance have already been discussed. The fact +itself is important because it establishes the connection between his +Weltschmerz and his most noteworthy characteristic as a poet, namely, +his Hellenism. No other German poet has allowed himself to be so +completely dominated by the Greek idea as did Hölderlin. And in his case +it may properly be called a symptom of his Weltschmerz, for it marks his +flight from the world of stern reality into an imaginary world of Greek +ideals. An imaginary Greek world, because in spite of his Hellenic +enthusiasm he entertained some of the most un-Hellenic ideas and +feelings. + +That the poet should take refuge in Greek antiquity is not surprising, +when we consider the conditions which prevailed at that time in the +field of learning. It was not many decades since the study of Latin and +Roman institutions had been forced to yield preëminence of position in +Germany to the study of Greek. Furthermore, his own Suabia had come to +be recognized as a leader in the study of Greek antiquity, and in his +contemporaries Schiller, Hegel, Schelling, who were all countrymen and +acquaintances of his, he found worthy competitors in this branch of +learning. His fondness for the language and literature of Greece goes +back to his early school days, especially at Denkendorf and Maulbronn. +On leaving the latter school, he had the reputation among his +fellow-students of being an excellent Hellenist, according to the report +of Schwab, his biographer. It was while there that Hölderlin as a boy +of seventeen first made use of the Alcaic measure in which he +subsequently wrote so many of his poems. + +A full discussion of the technic of Hölderlin's poems would have so +remote a connection with the main topic under consideration that its +introduction here would be entirely out of place. It will suffice, +therefore, merely to indicate along broad lines the extent to which the +Greek idea took and held possession of the poet. + +Out of his 168 shorter poems, 126, exactly three-fourths, are written in +the unrhymed Greek measures.[53] Those forms which are native are +confined almost entirely to his juvenile and youthful compositions, and +after 1797 he only once employs the rhymed stanza, namely, in the poem +"An Landauer."[54] As a boy of sixteen, he wrote verses in the Alcaic +and Asclepiadeian measures,[55] and soon acquired a considerable mastery +over them. At seventeen he composed in the latter form his poem "An +meine Freundinnen:" + + In der Stille der Nacht denket an euch mein Lied, + Wo mein ewiger Gram jeglichen Stundenschlag, + Welcher näher mich bringt dem + Trauten Grabe, mit Dank begrüsst.[56] + +While not exhibiting the finish of expression and musical qualities of +his more mature Alcaic lyrics, still it is not bad poetry for a boy of +seventeen, and the reader feels what the boy was not slow to learn, that +the stately movement of the Greek stanzas lends an added dignity to the +expression of sorrow, which was to constitute so large a part of his +poetic activity. As already stated, the Alcaic measure was of all the +Greek verse-forms Hölderlin's favorite, and the one most frequently and +successfully employed by him. He is very fond of introducing Germanic +alliteration into these unrhymed stanzas, as the following example will +illustrate: + + Und wo sind Dichter, denen der Gott es gab, + Wie unsern Alten, freundlich und fromm zu sein, + Wo Weise, wie die unsern sind, die + Kalten und Kühnen, die unbestechbarn?[57] + +The Asclepiadeian stanza he employs much less frequently, the Sapphic +only once, and that with indifferent success. It was the ode, dithyramb +and hymn, the serious lyric, which Hölderlin selected as the models for +his poetic fashion. In this purpose he was not alone, for his friend +Neuffer writes to him in 1793, with an enthusiasm which in the intensity +of expression common at the time, seems almost like an inspiration: "Die +höhere Ode und der Hymnus, zwei in unsern Tagen, und vielleicht in allen +Zeitaltern am meisten vernachlässigte Musen! in ihre Arme wollen wir uns +werfen, von ihren Küssen beseelt uns aufraffen. Welche Aussichten! Dein +Hymnus an die Kühnheit mag Dir zum Motto dienen! Mir gehe die Hoffnung +voran."[58] + +But it was in the form much more than in the contents of his poems, that +Hölderlin carried out the Greek idea. Most of his lyrics are occasional +poems, or have abstract subjects, as for example, "An die Stille," "An +die Ehre," "An den Genius der Kühnheit," and so on. Only here and there +does he take a classic subject or introduce classic references. The +truth of the matter is, that with all his fervid enthusiasm for Hellenic +ideals, and with all his Greek cult, Hölderlin was not the genuine +Hellenist he thought himself to be. This is due to the fact that his +turning to Greece was in its final analysis attributable rather to +selfish than to altruistic motives. He wanted to get away from the +deplorable realities about him, the things which hurt his tender soul, +and so he constructed for himself this idealized world of ancient and +modern Greece, and peopled it with his own creations. + +In Hölderlin's "Hyperion," we have the first poetic work in German which +takes modern Greece as its locality and a modern Hellene as its hero. +Hölderlin calls it "ein Roman," but it would be rather inaccurately +described by the usual translation of that term. It is not only the +poetic climax of his Hellenism, but also the most complete expression of +his Weltschmerz in its various phases. It must naturally be both, for +the poet and the hero are one. He speaks of it as "mein Werkchen, in dem +ich lebe und webe."[59] Its subject is the emancipation of Greece. What +little action is narrated may be very briefly indicated. Russia is at +war with Turkey and calls upon Hellas to liberate itself. The hero and +his friend Alabanda are at the head of a band of volunteers, fighting +the Turks. After several minor successes Hyperion lays siege to the +Spartan fortress of Misitra. But at its capitulation, he is undeceived +concerning the Hellenic patriots; they ravage and plunder so fiercely +that he turns from them with repugnance and both he and Alabanda abandon +the cause of liberty which they had championed. To his bride Hyperion +had promised a redeemed Greece--a lament is all that he can bring her. +She dies, Hyperion comes to Germany where his aesthetic Greek soul is +severely jarred by the sordidness, apathy and insensibility of these +"barbarians." Returning to the Isthmus, he becomes a hermit and writes +his letters to Bellarmin, no less "thatenarm und gedankenvoll" himself +than his unfortunate countrymen whom he so characterizes.[60] + +"Hyperion," though written in prose, is scarcely anything more than a +long drawn out lyric poem, so thoroughly is action subordinated to +reflection, and so beautiful and rhythmic is the dignified flow of its +periods. But having said that the locality is Greece and its hero is +supposed to be a modern Greek, that in its scenic descriptions Hölderlin +produces some wonderfully natural effects, and that the language shows +the imitation of Greek turns of expression--Homeric epithets and +similes--having said this, we have mentioned practically all the Greek +characteristics of the composition. And there is much in it that is +entirely un-Hellenic. To begin with, the form in which "Hyperion" is +cast, that of letters, written not even during the progress of the +events narrated, but after they are all a thing of the past, is not at +all a Greek idea. Moreover Weltschmerz, which constitutes the +"Grundstimmung" of all Hölderlin's writings, and which is most plainly +and persistently expressed in "Hyperion," is not Hellenic. Not that we +should have to look in vain for pessimistic utterances from the +classical poets of Greece--for does not Sophocles make the deliberate +statement: "Not to be born is the most reasonable, but having seen the +light, the next best thing is to go to the place whence we came as soon +as possible."[61] Nevertheless, this sort of sentiment cannot be +regarded as representing the spirit of the ancient Greeks, which was +distinctly optimistic. They were happy in their worship of beauty in art +and in nature, and above all, happy in their creativeness. The question +suggests itself here, whether a poet can ever be a genuine pessimist, +since he has within him the everlasting impulse to create. And to create +is to hope. Hyperion himself says: "Es lebte nichts, wenn es nicht +hoffte."[62] But we have already distinguished between pessimism as a +system of philosophy, and Weltschmerz as a poetic mood.[63] It is +certainly un-Hellenic that Hölderlin allows Hyperion with his alleged +Greek nature to sink into contemplative inactivity. In the poem "Der +Lorbeer," 1789, he exclaims: + + Soll ewiges Trauern mich umwittern, + Ewig mich töten die bange Sehnsucht?[64] + +which gives expression to the fact that in his Weltschmerz there was a +very large admixture of "Sehnsucht," an entirely un-Hellenic feeling. +Nor is there to be found in his entire make-up the slightest trace of +Greek irony, which would have enabled him to overcome much of the +bitterness of his life, and which might indeed have averted its final +catastrophe. + +Undeniably Grecian is Hölderlin's idea that the beautiful is also the +good. Long years he sought for this combined ideal. In Diotima, the muse +of his "Hyperion," whose prototype was Susette Gontard, he has found +it--and now he feels that he is in a new world. To his friend Neuffer, +from whom he has no secrets, he writes: "Ich konnte wohl sonst glauben, +ich wisse, was schön und gut sei, aber seit ich's sehe, möcht' ich +lachen über all mein Wissen. Lieblichkeit und Hoheit, und Ruh und +Leben, und Geist und Gemüt und Gestalt ist Ein seeliges Eins in diesem +Wesen."[65] And six or eight months later: "Mein Schönheitsinn ist nun +vor Störung sicher. Er orientiert sich ewig an diesem Madonnenkopfe.... +Sie ist schön wie Engel! Ein zartes, geistiges, himmlisch reizendes +Gesicht! Ach ich könnte ein Jahrtausend lang mich und alles vergessen +bei ihr--Majestät und Zärtlichkeit, und Fröhlichkeit und Ernst--und +Leben und Geist, alles ist in und an ihr zu einem göttlichen Ganzen +vereint."[66] It would be difficult to conceive of a more complete and +sublime eulogy of any object of affection than the words just quoted, +and yet they do not conceal their author's etherial quality of thought, +his "Uebersinnlichkeit." Even his boyish love-affairs seem to have been +largely of this character, and were in all likelihood due to the +necessity which he felt of bestowing his affection somewhere, rather +than to irresistible forces proceeding from the objects of his regard. + +Lack of self-restraint, so often characteristic of the poet of +Weltschmerz, was not Hölderlin's greatest fault. And yet if his intense +devotion to Susette remained undebased by sensual desires, as we know it +did, this was not solely due to the practice of heroic self-restraint, +but must be attributed in part to the fact that that side of his nature +was entirely subordinate to his higher ideals; and these were always a +stronger passion with Hölderlin than his love. So that Diotima's +judgment of Hyperion is correct when she says: "O es ist so ganz +natürlich, dass Du nimmer lieben willst, weil Deine grössern Wünsche +verschmachten."[67] This consideration at once compels a comparison with +Lenau, which must be deferred, however, until the succeeding chapter. +Undoubtedly this year and a half at Frankfurt was the happiest period of +his whole life. It brought him a serenity of mind which he had never +before known. Ardent was the response called forth by his devotion, but +its influence was wholesome--it was soothing to his sensitive nerves. +And because it was altogether more a sublime than an earthly passion, he +indulged himself in it with a conscience void of offence. Doubtless he +correctly describes the influence of his relations with Diotima upon his +life when he writes: "Ich sage Dir, lieber Neuffer! ich bin auf dem +Wege, ein recht guter Knabe zu werden.... mein Herz ist voll Lust, und +wenn das heilige Schicksal mir mein glücklich Leben erhält, so hoff' ich +künftig mehr zu thun als bisher."[68] But the happy life was not to +continue long. Rudely the cup was dashed from his lips, and the poet's +pain intensified by one more disappointment--the bitterest of all he had +experienced. It filled him with thoughts of revenge, which he was +powerless to execute. There can be no question that if his love for +Susette had been of a less etherial order, less a thing of the soul, he +would have felt much less bitterly her husband's violent interference. +But returning to the poem "Hyperion," for as such we may regard it, we +find in it the most complete expression of the attitude which the poet, +in his Weltschmerz, assumed toward nature. Nature is his constant +companion, mother, comforter in sorrow, in his brighter moments his +deity. This nature-worship, which speedily develops into a more or less +consistent pantheism, Hölderlin expresses in Hyperion's second letter, +in the following creed: "Eines zu sein mit allem, was lebt, in seliger +Selbstvergessenheit wiederzukehren ins All der Natur, das ist der Gipfel +der Gedanken und Freuden, das ist die heilige Bergeshöhe, der Ort der +ewigen Ruhe."[69] And so nature is to Hölderlin always intensely real +and personal. The sea is youthful, full of exuberant joy; the +mountain-tops are hopeful and serene; with shouts of joy the stream +hurls itself like a giant down into the forests. Here and there his +personification of nature becomes even more striking: "O das Morgenlicht +und ich, wir gingen uns entgegen, wie versöhnte Freunde."[70] Still more +intense is this feeling of personal intimacy, when he exclaims: "O +selige Natur! ich weiss nicht, wie mir geschiehet, wenn ich mein Auge +erhebe von deiner Schöne, aber alle Lust des Himmels ist in den Thränen, +die ich weine vor dir, der Geliebte vor der Geliebten."[71] It is +important for purposes of comparison, to note that notwithstanding his +intense Weltschmerz, in his treatment of nature Hölderlin does not +select only its gloomy or terrible aspects. Light and shade alternate in +his descriptions, and only here and there is the background entirely +unrelieved. The thunderstorm is to him a dispenser of divine energies +among forest and field, even the seasons of decline and decay are not +left without sunshine: "auf der stummen entblätterten Landschaft, wo der +Himmel schöner als je, mit Wolken und Sonnenschein um die herbstlich +schlafenden Bäume spielte."[72] One passage in "Hyperion" bears so +striking a resemblance, however, to Lenau's characteristic +nature-pictures, that it shall be given in full--although even here, +when the gloom of his sorrow and disappointment was steadily deepening, +he does not fail to derive comfort from the warm sunshine, a thought for +which we should probably look in vain, had Lenau painted the picture: +"Ich sass mit Alabanda auf einem Hügel der Gegend, in lieblich wärmender +Sonn', und um uns spielte der Wind mit abgefallenem Laube. Das Land war +stumm; nur hie und da ertönte im Wald ein stürzender Baum, vom Landmann +gefällt, und neben uns murmelte der vergängliche Regenbach hinab ins +ruhige Meer."[73] + +In spite of his deep and persistent Weltschmerz, Hölderlin rarely gives +expression to a longing for death. This forms so prominent a feature in +the thought of other types of Weltschmerz, for instance of Lenau and of +Leopardi, that its absence here cannot fail to be noticed. It is true +that in his dramatic poem "Der Tod des Empedokles," which symbolizes the +closing of his account with the world, Hölderlin causes his hero to +return voluntarily to nature by plunging into the fiery crater of Mount +Etna. But Empedokles does this to atone for past sin, not merely to rid +himself of the pain of living; and thus, even as a poetic idea, it +impresses us very differently from the continual yearning for death +which pervades the writings of the two poets just mentioned. Leopardi +declared that it were best never to see the light, but denounced suicide +as a cowardly act of selfishness; and yet at the approach of an +epidemic of cholera, he clung so tenaciously to life that he urged a +hurried departure from Naples, regardless of the hardships of such a +journey in his feeble condition, and took refuge in a little villa near +Vesuvius. Hölderlin's Weltschmerz was absolutely sincere. + +Numerous passages might be quoted to show that Hölderlin's mind was +intensely introspective. This is true also of Lenau, even to a greater +extent, and may be taken as generally characteristic of poets of this +type. The fact that this introspection is an inevitable symptom in many +mental derangements, hypochondria, melancholia and others, indicates a +not very remote relation of Weltschmerz to insanity. In Hölderlin's +poems there are not a few premonitions of the sad fate which awaited +him. One illustration from the poem "An die Hoffnung," 1801, may +suffice: + + Wo bist du? wenig lebt' ich, doch atmet kalt + Mein Abend schon. Und stille, den Schatten gleich, + Bin ich schon hier; und schon gesanglos + Schlummert das schau'rende Herz im Busen.[74] + +It is impossible to read these lines without feeling something of the +cold chill of the heart that Hölderlin felt was already upon him, and +which he expresses in a manner so intensely realistic and yet so +beautiful. + +Having thus attempted a review of the growth of Hölderlin's Weltschmerz +and of its chief characteristics, it merely remains to conclude the +chapter with a brief resume. We have then in Friedrich Hölderlin a youth +peculiarly predisposed to feel himself isolated from and repelled by the +world, growing up without a strong fatherly hand to guide, giving +himself over more and more to solitude and so becoming continually less +able to cope with untoward circumstances and conditions. Growing into +manhood, he was unfortunate in all his love-affairs and as though doomed +to unceasing disappointments. Early in life he devoted himself to the +study of antiquity, making Greece his hobby, and thus creating for +himself an ideal world which existed only in his imagination, and taking +refuge in it from the buffetings of the world about him. He was a man +of a deeply philosophical trend of mind, and while not often speaking of +it, felt very keenly the humiliating condition of Germany, although his +patriotic enthusiasm found its artistic expression not with reference to +Germany but to Greece. As a poet, finally, his intimacy with nature was +such that nature-worship and pantheism became his religion. + +In reviewing the whole range of Hölderlin's writings, we cannot avoid +the conclusion, that in him we have a type of Weltschmerz in the +broadest sense of the term; we might almost term it Byronism, with the +sensual element eliminated. He shows the hypersensitiveness of Werther, +fanatical enthusiasm for a vague ideal of liberty, vehement opposition +to existing social and political conditions; there is, in fact, a +breadth in his Weltschmerz, which makes the sorrows of Werther seem very +highly specialized in comparison. Bearing in mind the distinction made +between the two classes, we must designate Hölderlin's Weltschmerz as +cosmic rather than egoistic; the egoistic element is there, but it is +outweighed by the cosmic and finds its poetic expression not so +frequently nor so intensely with reference to the poet himself, as with +reference to mankind at large. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 12: _Anz. f. d. Alt._, vol. 22, p. 212-218.] + +[Footnote 13: In a letter to his mother he writes: "Freilich ist's mir +auch angeboren, dass ich alles schwerer zu Herzen nehme." ("Friedrich +Hölderlins Leben, in Briefen von und an Hölderlin, von Carl C.T. +Litzmann," Berlin, 1890, p. 27. Hereafter quoted as "Briefe.").] + +[Footnote 14: "Hölderlins gesammelte Dichtungen, herausgegeben von B. +Litzmann," Stuttgart, Cotta (hereafter quoted as "Werke"). Vol. II, p. +9.] + +[Footnote 15: It is a reminiscence of Hölderlin's boyhood which finds +expression in the words of Hyperion: "Ich war aufgewachsen, wie eine +Rebe ohne Stab, und die wilden Ranken breiteten richtungslos über dem +Boden sich aus." Werke, Vol. II, p. 72.] + +[Footnote 16: Werke, Vol. I, p. 86.] + +[Footnote 17: Werke, Vol. I, p. 36.] + +[Footnote 18: "Auf einer Heide geschrieben," Werke, Vol. I, p. 44.] + +[Footnote 19: Briefe, p. 27.] + +[Footnote 20: Briefe, p. 29.] + +[Footnote 21: Werke, Vol. I, p. 53 f.] + +[Footnote 22: Briefe, p. 36.] + +[Footnote 23: Briefe, p. 120.] + +[Footnote 24: "Mein Vorsatz," Werke, Vol. I, p. 44.] + +[Footnote 25: Werke, Vol. II, p. 69.] + +[Footnote 26: Werke, Vol. II, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 27: Werke, Vol. II, p. 86.] + +[Footnote 28: Briefe, p. 49.] + +[Footnote 29: Briefe, p. 50.] + +[Footnote 30: Werke, Vol. I, p. 74.] + +[Footnote 31: "Friedrich Hölderlin, Eine Studie," _Preuss. Jahrb._, +1866, p. 548-568.] + +[Footnote 32: _Anz. f. d. Altertum_, Vol. 22, p. 212-218.] + +[Footnote 33: Werke, Vol. I, p. 75.] + +[Footnote 34: Werke, Vol. I, p. 146.] + +[Footnote 35: Werke, Vol. II, p. 107.] + +[Footnote 36: Werke, Vol. II, p. 188.] + +[Footnote 37: "Vorträge und Aufsätze," 1874, Fried. Hölderlin, p. 354.] + +[Footnote 38: Werke, Vol. II, p. 96.] + +[Footnote 39: Werke, Vol. II, p. 189.] + +[Footnote 40: Cf. op. cit., p. 352.] + +[Footnote 41: Werke, Vol. I, p. 51.] + +[Footnote 42: Werke, Vol. I, p. 50.] + +[Footnote 43: Werke, Vol. I, p. 49.] + +[Footnote 44: Werke, Vol. I, p. 66.] + +[Footnote 45: Werke, Vol. I, p. 165.] + +[Footnote 46: Werke, Vol. II, p. 198.] + +[Footnote 47: Werke, Vol. II, p. 97.] + +[Footnote 48: Werke, Vol. II, p. 200.] + +[Footnote 49: Werke, Vol. II, p. 200 f.] + +[Footnote 50: Werke, Vol. I, p. 105.] + +[Footnote 51: Werke, Vol. I, p. 196.] + +[Footnote 52: Werke, Vol. I, p. 214.] + +[Footnote 53: Werke, Vol. I.] + +[Footnote 54: Werke, Vol. I, p. 234.] + +[Footnote 55: "An die Nachtigall," "An meinen Bilfinger," Werke, Vol. I, +p. 42f.] + +[Footnote 56: Werke, Vol. I, p. 43.] + +[Footnote 57: Werke, Vol. I, p. 197.] + +[Footnote 58: Briefe, p. 160.] + +[Footnote 59: Briefe, p. 162.] + +[Footnote 60: Cf. _supra_, p. 22.] + +[Footnote 61: "Oedipus Coloneus," 1225 seq.] + +[Footnote 62: Werke, Vol. II, p. 81.] + +[Footnote 63: Cf. Introduction, p. 1 f.] + +[Footnote 64: Werke, Vol. I, p. 89.] + +[Footnote 65: Briefe, p. 382 f.] + +[Footnote 66: Briefe, p. 403-405.] + +[Footnote 67: Werke, Vol. II, p. 175.] + +[Footnote 68: Briefe, p. 404.] + +[Footnote 69: Werke, Vol. II, p. 68.] + +[Footnote 70: Werke, Vol. II, p. 100.] + +[Footnote 71: Werke, Vol. II, p. 68.] + +[Footnote 72: Werke, Vol. II, p. 85.] + +[Footnote 73: Werke, Vol. II, p. 181.] + +[Footnote 74: Werke, Vol. I, p. 253.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +=Lenau= + + +If Hölderlin's Weltschmerz has been fittingly characterized as +idealistic, Lenau's on the other hand may appropriately be termed the +naturalistic type. He is par excellence the "Pathetiker" of Weltschmerz. + +Without presuming even to attempt a final solution of a problem of +pathology concerning which specialists have failed to agree, there seems +to be sufficient circumstantial as well as direct evidence to warrant +the assumption that Lenau's case presents an instance of hereditary +taint. Notwithstanding the fact that Dr. Karl Weiler[75] discredits the +idea of "erbliche Belastung" and calls heredity "den vielgerittenen +Verlegenheitsgaul," the conclusion forces itself upon us that if the +theory has any scientific value whatsoever, no more plausible instance +of it could be found than the one under consideration. The poet's +great-grandfather and grandfather had been officers in the Austrian +army, the latter with some considerable distinction. Of his five +children, only Franz, the poet's father, survived. The complete lack of +anything like a systematic education, and the nomadic life of the army +did not fail to produce the most disastrous results in the wild and +dissolute character of the young man. Even before the birth of the poet, +his father had broken his marriage vows and his wife's heart by his +abominable dissipations and drunkenness. Lenau was but five years old +when his father, not yet thirty-five, died of a disease which he is +believed to have contracted as a result of these sensual and senseless +excesses. To the poet he bequeathed something of his own pathological +sensuality, instability of thought and action, lack of will-energy, and +the tears of a heartbroken mother, a sufficient guarantee, surely, of a +poet of melancholy. Even though we cannot avoid the reflection that the +loss of such a father was a blessing in disguise, the fact remains that +Lenau during his childhood and youth needed paternal guidance and +training even more than did Hölderlin. He became the idol of his mother, +who in her blind devotion did not hesitate to show him the utmost +partiality in all things. This important fact alone must account to a +large extent for that presumptuous pride, which led him to expect +perhaps more than his just share from life and from the world. + +Lenau's aimlessness and instability were so extreme that they may +properly be counted a pathological trait. It is best illustrated by his +university career. In 1819 he went to Vienna to commence his studies. +Beginning with Philosophy, he soon transferred his interests to Law, +first Hungarian, then German; finding the study of Law entirely unsuited +to his tastes, he now declared his intention of pursuing once more a +philosophical course, with a view to an eventual professorship. But this +plan was frustrated by his grandmother, the upshot of it all being that +Lenau allowed himself to be persuaded to take up the study of +agriculture at Altenburg. But a few months sufficed to bring him back to +Vienna. Here his legal studies, which he had resumed and almost +completed, were interrupted by a severe affection of the throat which +developed into laryngitis and from which he never quite recovered. This +too, according to Dr. Sadger,[76] marks the neurasthenic, and often +constitutes a hereditary taint. Lenau thereupon shifted once more and +entered upon a medical course, this time not absolutely without +predilection. He did himself no small credit in his medical +examinations, but the death of his grandmother, just before his intended +graduation, provided a sufficient excuse for him to discontinue the +work, which was never again resumed or brought to a conclusion. But not +only in matters of such relative importance did Lenau exhibit this +vacillation. There was a spirit of restlessness in him which made it +impossible for him to remain long in the same place. Of this condition +no one was more fully aware than he himself. In one of his letters he +writes: "Gestern hat jemand berechnet, wieviel Poststunden ich in zwei +Monaten gefahren bin, und es ergab sich die kolossale Summe von 644, die +ich im Eilwagen unter beständiger Gemütsbewegung gefahren bin."[77] That +this habit of almost incessant travel tended to aggravate his nervous +condition is a fair supposition, notwithstanding the fact that Dr. Karl +Weiler[78] skeptically asks "what about commercial travellers?" Lenau +himself complains frequently of the distressing effect of such journeys: +"Ein heftiger Kopfschmerz und grosse Müdigkeit waren die Folgen der von +Linz an unausgesetzten Reise im Eilwagen bei schlechtem Wetter und +abmüdenden Gedanken an meine Zukunft."[79] Many similar Statements might +be quoted from his letters to show that it was not merely the ordinary +process of traveling, though that at best must have been trying enough, +but the breathless haste of his journeys, combined with mental anxiety, +which usually characterized them, that made them so detrimental to his +health. + +It is as interesting as it is significant to note in this connection the +fact that while on a journey to Munich, just a short time before the +light of his intellect failed, Lenau wrote the following lines, the last +but one of all his poems: + + 's ist eitel nichts, wohin mein Aug' ich hefte! + Das Leben ist ein vielbesagtes Wandern, + Ein wüstes Jagen ist's von dem zum andern, + Und unterwegs verlieren wir die Kräfte. + + Doch trägt uns eine Macht von Stund zu Stund, + Wie's Krüglein, das am Brunnenstein zersprang, + Und dessen Inhalt sickert auf den Grund, + So weit es ging, den ganzen Weg entlang,-- + Nun ist es leer. Wer mag daraus noch trinken? + Und zu den andern Scherben muss es sinken.[80] + +Hölderlin also uses the striking figure contained in the last line, not +however as here to picture the worthlessness of human life in general, +but to stigmatize the Germans, whom Hyperion describes as "dumpf und +harmonielos, wie die Scherben eines weggeworfenen Gefässes."[81] + +That Lenau was a neurasthenic seems to be the consensus of opinion, at +least of those medical authorities who have given their views of the +case to the public.[82] This fact also has an important bearing upon our +discussion, since it will help to show a materially different origin for +Lenau's Weltschmerz and Hölderlin's. + +Much more frequent than in the case of the latter are the ominous +forebodings of impending disaster which characterize Lenau's poems and +correspondence. In a letter to his friend Karl Mayer he writes: "Mich +regiert eine Art Gravitation nach dem Unglücke. Schwab hat einmal von +einem Wahnsinnigen sehr geistreich gesprochen.... Ein Analogon von +solchem Dämon (des Wahnsinns) glaub' ich auch in mir zu +beherbergen."[83] He is continually engaged in a gruesome +self-diagnosis: "Dann ist mir zuweilen, als hielte der Teufel seine Jagd +in dem Nervenwalde meines Unterleibes: ich höre ein deutliches +Hundegebell daselbst und ein dumpfes Halloh des Schwarzen. Ohne Scherz; +es ist oft zum Verzweifeln."[84] This process of self-diagnosis may be +due in part to his medical studies, but much more, we think, to his +morbid imagination, which led him, on more than one occasion, to play +the madman in so realistic a manner that strangers were frightened out +of their wits and even his friends became alarmed, lest it might be +earnest and not jest which they were witnessing. + +Lenau was not without a certain sense of humor, grim humor though it +was, and here and there in his letters there is an admixture of levity +with the all-pervading melancholy. An example may be quoted from a +letter to Kerner in Weinsberg, dated 1832: "Heute bin ich wieder bei +Reinbecks auf ein grosses Spargelessen. Spargel wie Kirchthürme werden +da gefressen. Ich allein verschlinge 50-60 solcher Kirchthürme und +komme mir dabei vor, wie eine Parodie unserer politisch-prosaischen, +durchaus unheiligen Zeit, die auch schon das Maul aufsperrt, um alles +Heilige, und namentlich die guten gläubigen Kirchthürme wie +Spargelstangen zu verschlingen." The letter concludes with the +signature: "Ich umarme Dich, bis Dir die Rippen krachen. Dein +Niembsch."[85] Not infrequently this humor was at his own expense, +especially when describing an unpleasant condition or situation, as for +example in a letter to Sophie Löwenthal in the year 1844: "Jetzt lebe +ich hier in Saus und Braus,--d. h. es saust und braust mir der Kopf von +einem leidigen Schnupfen."[86] Again, on finding himself on one occasion +very unwell and uncomfortable in Stuttgart, he writes as follows: +"Beständiges Unwohlsein, Kopfschmerz, Schlaflosigkeit, Mattigkeit, +schlechte Verdauung, Rhabarber, Druckfehler, und Aerger über den trägen +Fortschlich meiner Geschäfte, das waren die Freuden meiner letzten +Woche. Emilie will es nicht gelten lassen, dass die Stuttgarter Luft +nichts als die Ausdünstung des Teufels sei.--Ich schnappe nach Luft, wie +ein Spatz unter der Luftpumpe.--In vielen der hiesigen Strassen riecht +es am Ende auch lenzhaft, nämlich pestilenzhaft, und die guten +Stuttgarter merken das gar nicht; 'süss duftet die Heimat.'"[87] In his +fondness for bringing together the incongruous, for introducing the +element of surprise, and in the fact that his humor is almost always of +the impatient, disgruntled, cynical type, Lenau reminds us not a little +of Heine in his "Reisebilder" and some other prose works. Hölderlin, on +the other hand, may be said to have been utterly devoid of humor. + +Lack of self-control, perhaps the most characteristic trait among men of +genius, was even more pronounced in Lenau than in Hölderlin. This shows +itself in the extreme irregularity of his habits of life. For instance, +it was his custom to work long past the midnight hour, and then take his +rest until nearly noon. He could never get his coffee quite strong +enough to suit him, although it was prepared almost in the form of a +concentrated tincture and he drank large quantities of it. He smoked to +excess, and the strongest cigars at that; in short, he seems to have +been entirely without regard for his physical condition. Or was it +perverseness which prompted him to prefer close confinement in his room +to the long walks which he ought to have taken for his health? Even his +recreation, which consisted chiefly in playing the violin, brought him +no nervous relaxation, for it is said that he would often play himself +into a state of extreme nervous excitement. + +All these considerations corroborate the opinion of those who knew him +best, that his Weltschmerz, and eventually his insanity, had its origin +in a pathological condition. Indeed this was the poet's own view of the +case. In a letter to his brother-in-law, Anton Schurz, dated 1834, he +says: "Aber, lieber Bruder, die Hypochondrie schlägt bei mir immer +tiefere Wurzel. Es hilft alles nichts. Der gewisse innere Riss wird +immer tiefer und weiter. Es hilft alles nichts. Ich weiss, es liegt im +Körper; aber--aber--"[88] In its origin then, Lenau's Weltschmerz +differs altogether from that of Hölderlin, who exhibits no such symptoms +of neurasthenia. + +Lenau's nervous condition was seriously aggravated at an early date by +the outcome of his unfortunate relations with the object of his first +love, Bertha, who became his mistress when he was still a mere boy. His +grief on finding her faithless was doubtless as genuine as his conduct +with her had been reprehensible, for he cherished for many long years +the memory of his painful disappointment. The general statement, "Lenau +war stets verlobt, fand aber stets in sich selbst einen Widerstand und +unerklärliche Angst, wenn die Verbindung endgiltig gemacht werden +sollte,"[89] is inaccurate and misleading, inasmuch as it fails to take +into proper account the causes, mediate and immediate, of his hesitation +to marry. Lenau was only once "verlobt," and it was the stroke of facial +paralysis[90] which announced the beginning of the end, rather than any +"unerklärliche Angst," that convinced him of the inexpediency of that +important step. + +Beyond a doubt his long drawn out and abject devotion to the wife of his +friend Max Löwenthal proved the most important single factor in his +life. It was during the year 1834, after his return from America, that +Lenau made the acquaintance of the Löwenthal family in Vienna.[91] +Sophie, who was the sister of his old comrade Fritz Kleyle, so attracted +the poet that he remained in the city for a number of weeks instead of +going at once to Stuttgart, as he had planned and promised. What at +first seemed an ideal friendship, increased in intensity until it +became, at least on Lenau's part, the very glow of passion. We have +already alluded to the poet's premature erotic instinct, an impulse +which he doubtless inherited from his sensual parents. In his numerous +letters and notes to Sophie, he has left us a remarkable record of the +intensity of his passion. Not even excepting Goethe's letters to Frau +von Stein, there are no love-letters in the German language to equal +these in literary or artistic merit; and never has any other German poet +addressed himself with more ardent devotion to a woman. A characteristic +difference between Hölderlin and Lenau here becomes evident: the former, +even in his relations with Diotima, supersensual; the latter the very +incarnation of sensuality. Lenau was fully conscious of the tremendous +struggle with overpowering passion, and once confessed to his clerical +friend Martensen that only through the unassailable chastity of his +lady-love had his conscience remained void of offence. Almost any of his +innumerable protestations of love taken at random would seem like the +most extravagant attempt to give utterance to the inexpressible: "Gottes +starke Hand drückt mich so fest an Dich, dass ich seufzen muss und +ringen mit erdrückender Wonne, und meine Seele keinen Atem mehr hat, +wenn sie nicht Deine Liebe saugen kann. Ach Sophie! ach, liebe, liebe, +liebe Sophie!"[92] "Ich bete Dich an, Du bist mein Liebstes und +Höchstes."[93] "Am sechsten Juni reis' ich ab, nichts darf mich halten. +Mir brennt Leib und Seele nach Dir. Du! O Sophie! Hätt' ich Dich da! Das +Verlangen schmerzt, O Gott!"[94] Instead of experiencing the soothing +influences of a Diotima, Lenau's fate was to be engaged for ten long +years in a hot conflict between principle and passion, a conflict which +kept his naturally oversensitive nerves continually on the rack. He +himself expresses the detrimental effect of this situation: "So treibt +mich die Liebe von einer Raserei zur andern, von der zügellosesten +Freude zu verzweifeltem Unmut. Warum? Weil ich am Ziel der höchsten, so +heiss ersehnten Wonne immer wieder umkehren muss, weil die Sehnsucht nie +gestillt wird, wird sie irr und wild und verkehrt sich in +Verzweiflung,--das ist die Geschichte meines Herzens."[95] It would seem +from the tone of many of his letters that there was much deliberate and +successful effort on the part of Sophie to keep Lenau's feelings toward +her always in a state of the highest nervous tension. So cleverly did +she manage this that even her caprices put him only the more hopelessly +at her mercy. One day he writes: "Mit grosser Ungeduld erwartete ich +gestern die Post, und sie brachte mir auch einen Brief von Dir, aber +einen, der mich kränkt."[96] For a day or two he is rebellious and +writes: "Ich bin verstimmt, missmutig. Warum störst Du mein Herz in +seinen schönen Gedanken von innigem Zusammenleben auch in der +Ferne?"[97] But only a few days later he is again at her feet: "Ich habe +Dir heute wieder geschrieben, um Dich auch zum Schreiben zu treiben. Ich +sehne mich nach Deinen Briefen. Du bist nicht sehr eifrig, Du bist es +wohl nie gewesen. Und kommt endlich einmal ein Brief, so hat er meist +seinen Haken--O liebe Sophie! wie lieb' ich Dich!"[98] Her attitude on +several occasions leaves room for no other inference than that she was +extremely jealous of his affections. When in 1839 a mutual regard sprang +up between Lenau and the singer Karoline Unger, a regard which held out +to him the hope of a fuller and happier existence, we may surmise the +nature of Sophie's interference from the following reply to her: "Sie +haben mir mit Ihren paar Zeilen das Herz zerschmettert,--Karoline liebt +mich und will mein werden. Sie sieht's als ihre Sendung an, mein Leben +zu versöhnen und zu beglücken.--Es ist an Ihnen Menschlichkeit zu üben +an meinem zerrissenen Herzen.--Verstosse ich sie, so mache ich sie elend +und mich zugleich.--Entziehen Sie mir Ihr Herz, so geben Sie mir den +Tod; sind Sie unglücklich, so will ich sterben. Der Knoten ist +geschürzt. Ich wollte, ich wäre schon tot!"[99] Not only was this +proposed match broken off, but when some five years later Lenau made the +acquaintance of and became engaged to a charming young girl, Marie +Behrends, and all the poet's friends rejoiced with him at the prospect +of a happy marriage, a "Musterehe," as he fondly called it, Sophie wrote +him the cruel words: "Eines von uns muss wahnsinnig werden."[100] Only a +few months were needed to decide which of them it should be. + +The foregoing illustrations are ample to show what sort of influence +Sophie exerted over the poet's entire nature, and therefore upon his +Weltschmerz. Whereas in their hopeless loves, Hölderlin and to an even +greater extent Goethe, struggled through to the point of renunciation, +Lenau constantly retrogrades, and allows his baser sensual instincts +more and more to control him. He promises to subdue his wild outbursts a +little,[101] and when he fails he tries to explain,[102] to +apologize.[103] If with Hölderlin love was to a predominating degree a +thing of the soul, it was with Lenau in an equal measure a matter of +nerves, and as such, under these conditions, it could not but contribute +largely to his physical, mental and moral disruption. With Hölderlin it +was the rude interruption from without of his quiet and happy +intercourse with Susette, which embittered his soul. With Lenau it was +the feverish, tumultuous nature of the love itself, that deepened his +melancholy. + +The charge of affectation in their Weltschmerz would be an entirely +baseless one, both in the case of Hölderlin and Lenau. But this +difference is readily discovered in the impressions made upon us by +their writings, namely that Hölderlin's Weltschmerz is absolutely naïve +and unconscious, while that of Lenau is at all times self-conscious and +self-centered. Mention has already been made, in speaking of Lenau's +pathological traits,[104] of his confirmed habit of self-diagnosis. This +he applied not only to his physical condition but to his mental +experiences as well. No one knew so well as he how deeply the roots of +melancholy had penetrated his being. "Ich bin ein Melancholiker" he once +wrote to Sophie, "der Kompass meiner Seele zittert immer wieder zurück +nach dem Schmerze des Lebens."[105] Innumerable illustrations of this +fact might be found in his lyrics, all of which would repeat with +variations the theme of the stanza: + + Du geleitest mich durch's Leben + Sinnende Melancholie! + Mag mein Stern sich strebend heben, + Mag er sinken,--weichest nie![106] + +The definite purpose with which the poet seeks out and strives to keep +intact his painful impressions is frankly stated in one of his diary +memoranda, as follows: "So gibt es eine Höhe des Kummers, auf welcher +angelangt wir einer einzelnen Empfindung nicht nachspringen, sondern sie +laufen lassen, weil wir den Blick für das schmerzliche Ganze nicht +verlieren, sondern eine gewisse kummervolle Sammlung behalten wollen, +die bei aller scheinbaren Aussenheiterkeit recht gut fortbestehen +kann."[107] Hölderlin, as we have noted,[108] not infrequently pictures +himself as a sacrifice to the cause of liberty and fatherland, to the +new era that is to come: + + Umsonst zu sterben, lieb' ich nicht; doch + Lieb' ich zu fallen am Opferhügel + Für's Vaterland, zu bluten des Herzens Blut, + Für's Vaterland....[109] + +Lenau, on the other hand, is anxious to sacrifice himself to his muse. +"Künstlerische Ausbildung ist mein höchster Lebenszweck; alle Kräfte +meines Geistes, meines Gemütes betracht' ich als Mittel dazu. Erinnerst +Du Dich des Gedichtes von Chamisso,[110] wo der Maler einen Jüngling ans +Kreuz nagelt, um ein Bild vom Todesschmerze zu haben? Ich will mich +selber ans Kreuz schlagen, wenn's nur ein gutes Gedicht gibt."[111] And +again: "Vielleicht ist die Eigenschaft meiner Poesie, dass sie ein +Selbstopfer ist, das Beste daran."[112] The specific instances just +cited, together with the inevitable impressions gathered from the +reading of his lyrics, make it impossible to avoid the conclusion that +we are dealing here with a _virtuoso_ of Weltschmerz; that Lenau was not +only conscious at all times of the depth of his sorrow, but that he was +also fully aware of its picturesqueness and its poetic possibilities. It +is true that this self-consciousness brings him dangerously near the +bounds of insincerity, but it must also be granted that he never +oversteps those bounds. + +Regarded as a psychological process, Lenau's Weltschmerz therefore +stands midway between that of Hölderlin and Heine. It is more +self-centred than Hölderlin's and while the poet is able to diagnose the +disease which holds him firmly in its grasp, he lacks those means by +which he might free himself from it. Heine goes still further, for +having become conscious of his melancholy, he mercilessly applies the +lash of self-irony, and in it finds the antidote for his Weltschmerz. + +Fichte, says Erich Schmidt, calls egoism the spirit of the eighteenth +century, by which he means the revelling, the complete absorption, in +the personal. This will naturally find its favorite occupation in +sentimental self-contemplation, which becomes a sort of fashionable +epidemic. It is this fashion which Goethe wished to depict in "Werther," +and therefore Werther's hopeless love is not wholly responsible for his +suicide. "Werther untergräbt sein Dasein durch Selbstbetrachtung," is +Goethe's own explanation of the case.[113] And it is in this light only +that Werther's malady deserves in any comprehensive sense the term +Weltschmerz. Here, then, Lenau and Werther stand on common ground. Other +traits common to most poets of Weltschmerz might here be enumerated as +characteristic of both, such as extreme fickleness of purpose, +supersensitiveness, lack of definite vocation, and the like; all of +which goes to show that while for artistic purposes Goethe required a +dramatic cause, or rather occasion, for Werther's suicide, he +nevertheless fully understood all the symptoms of the prevailing disease +with which his sentimental hero was afflicted. + +While the personal elements in Lenau's Weltschmerz are much more intense +in their expression than with Hölderlin, its altruistic side is +proportionately weaker. So far as we may judge from his lyrics, very +little of Lenau's Weltschmerz was inspired by patriotic considerations. +There is opposition, it is true, to the existing order, but that +opposition is directed almost solely against that which annoyed and +inconvenienced him personally, for example, against the stupid as well +as rigorous Austrian censorship. Against this bugbear he never ceases to +storm in verse and letters, and to it must be attributed in a large +measure his literary alienation from the land of his adoption. That we +must look to his lyrics rather than to his longer epic writings, in +order to discover the poet's deepest interests, is nowhere more clearly +evidenced than in the following reference to his "Savonarola," in a +letter to Emilie Reinbeck during the progress of the work: "Savonarola +wirkte zumeist als Prediger, darum muss ich in meinem Gedicht ihn +vielfach predigen und dogmatisieren lassen, welches in vierfüssigen +doppeltgereimten Iamben sehr schwierig ist. Doch es freut mich, Dinge +poetisch durchzusetzen, an deren poetischer Darstellbarkeit wohl die +meisten Menschen verzweifeln. Auch gereicht es mir zu besonderem +Vergnügen, mit diesem Gedicht gegen den herrschenden Geschmack unseres +Tages in Opposition zu treten."[114] The inference lies very near at +hand that his opposition to the prevailing taste was after all a +secondary consideration, and that the poet's first concern was to win +glory by accomplishing something which others would abandon as an +impossibility. While recognizing the fact that Lenau's "Faust" and "Don +Juan" are largely autobiographical, it is, I think, obvious that an +entirely adequate impression of his Weltschmerz may be gained from his +letters and lyrics alone, in which the poet's sincerest feelings need +not be subordinated for a moment to artistic purposes or demands. And +nowhere, either in lyrics or letters, do we find such spontaneous +outbursts of patriotic sentiment as greet us in Hölderlin's poems: + + Glückselig Suevien, meine Mutter![115] + +This could not be otherwise; for was he (Lenau) not an Hungarian by +birth, an Austrian by adoption, and in his professional affiliations a +German? Had his interests not been divided between Vienna and Stuttgart, +and had he not been possessed with an apparently uncontrollable +restlessness which drove him from place to place, his patriotic +enthusiasm would naturally have turned to Austria, and the poetic +expression of his home sentiments would not have been confined, perhaps, +to the one occasion when he had put the broad Atlantic between himself +and his kin. That his brother-in-law Schurz should wish to represent him +as a dyed-in-the-wool Austrian is only natural.[116] However this may +be, the poet does not hesitate to state in a letter to Emilie Reinbeck: +"Ein Hund in Schwaben hat mehr Achtung für mich als ein Polizeipräsident +in Oesterreich."[117] And although he professes to have become hardened +to the pestering interference of the authorities, as a matter of fact it +was a constant source of unhappiness to him. "So aber war mein Leben +seit meinem letzten Briefe ein beständiger Aerger. Die verfluchten +Vexationen der hiesigen Censurbehörde haben selbst jetzt noch immer kein +Ende finden können."[118] Speaking of his hatred for the censorship law, +he says: "Und doch gebührt mein Hass noch immer viel weniger dem Gesetze +selbst, als denjenigen legalisierten Bestien, die das Gesetz auf eine so +niederträchtige Art handhaben;--und unsre Censoren stellen im Gegensatze +der pflanzen- und fleischfressenden Tiere die Klasse der +geistfressenden Tiere dar, eine abscheuliche, monströse Klasse!"[119] +Roustan expresses the opinion that with Lenau patriotism occupied a +secondary place.[120] He had too many "native lands" to become attached +to any one of them. + +There is something of a counterpart to Hölderlin's Hellenism and +championship of Greek liberty in Lenau's espousal of the Polish cause. +But here again the personal element is strongly in evidence. A chance +acquaintance, which afterward became an intimate friendship, with Polish +fugitives, seems to have been the immediate occasion of his Polenlieder, +so that his enthusiasm for Polish liberty must be regarded as incidental +rather than spontaneous. Needless to say that with a Greek cult such as +Hölderlin's Lenau had no patience whatever. "Dass die Poesie den +profanen Schmutz wieder abwaschen müsse, den ihr Goethe durch 50 Jahre +mit klassischer Hand gründlich einzureiben bemüht war; dass die +Freiheitsgedanken, wie sie jetzt gesungen werden, nichts seien als +konventioneller Trödel,--davon haben nur wenige eine Ahnung."[121] + +All these considerations tend to convince us that Lenau's Weltschmerz is +after all of a much narrower and more personal type than Hölderlin's. +Again and again he runs through the gamut of his own painful emotions +and experiences, diagnosing and dissecting each one, and always with the +same gloomy result. Consequently his Weltschmerz loses in breadth what +through the depth of the poet's introspection it gains in intensity. + +One of the most striking and, unless classed among his numerous other +pathological traits, one of the most puzzling of Lenau's characteristics +is the perverseness of his nature. His intimate friends were wont to +explain it, or rather to leave it unexplained by calling it his +"Husarenlaune" when the poet would give vent to an apparently unprovoked +and unreasonable burst of anger, and on seeing the consternation of +those present, would just as suddenly throw himself into a fit of +laughter quite as inexplicable as his rage. He takes delight in things +which in the ordinarily constructed mind would produce just the reverse +feeling. Speaking once of a particularly ill-favored person of his +acquaintance he says: "Eine so gewaltige Hässlichkeit bleibt ewig neu +und kann sich nie abnützen. Es ist was Frisches darin, ich sehe sie +gerne."[122] And in not a few of his poems we see a certain predilection +for the gruesome, the horrible. So in the remarkable figure employed in +"Faust:" + + Die Träume, ungelehr'ge Bestien, schleichen + Noch immer nach des Wahns verscharrten Leichen.[123] + +This perverseness of disposition is in a large measure accounted for by +the fact that Lenau was eternally at war with himself. Speaking in the +most general way, Hölderlin's Weltschmerz had its origin in his conflict +with the outer world, Lenau's on the other hand must be attributed +mainly to the unceasing conflict or "Zwiespalt" within his breast. In +his childhood a devout Roman Catholic, he shows in his "Faust" (1833-36) +a mind filled with scepticism and pantheistic ideas; "Savonarola" (1837) +marks his return to and glorification of the Christian faith; while in +the "Albigenser" (1838-42) the poet again champions complete +emancipation of thought and belief. Only a few months elapsed between +the writing of the two poems "Wanderung im Gebirge" (1830), in which the +most orthodox faith in a personal God is expressed, and "Die Zweifler" +(1831). The only consistent feature of his poems is their profound +melancholy. But Lenau's inner struggle of soul did not consist merely in +his vacillating between religious faith and doubt; it was the conflict +of instinct with reason. This is evident in his relations with Sophie +Löwenthal. He knows that their love is an unequal one[124] and chides +her for her coldness,[125] warning her not to humiliate him, not even in +jest;[126] he knows too that his alternating moods of exaltation and +dejection resulting from the intensity of his unsatisfied love are +destroying him.[127] "Oefter hat sich der Gedanke bei mir angemeldet: +Entschlage dich dieser Abhängigkeit und gestatte diesem Weibe keinen so +mächtigen Einfluss auf deine Stimmungen. Kein Mensch auf Erden soll dich +so beherrschen. Doch bald stiess ich diesen Gedanken wieder zurück als +einen Verräter an meiner Liebe, und ich bot mein reizbares Herz wieder +gerne dar Deinen zärtlichen Misshandlungen.--O geliebtes Herz! +missbrauche Deine Gewalt nicht! Ich bitte Dich, liebe Sophie!"[128] And +yet, in spite of it all, he is unable to free himself from the thrall of +passion: "Wie wird doch all mein Trotz und Stolz so gar zu nichte, wenn +die Furcht in mir erwacht, dass Du mich weniger liebest";[129] and all +this from the same pen that once wrote: "das Wort Gnade hat ein Schuft +erfunden."[130] + +But just as helpless as this defiant pride proved before his +all-consuming love for Sophie, so strongly did it assert itself in all +his other relations with men and things. A hasty word from one of his +best friends could so deeply offend his spirit that, according to his +own admission, all subsequent apologies were futile.[131] For Lenau, +then, such an attitude of hero worship as that assumed by Hölderlin +towards Schiller, would have been an utter impossibility. We have +already seen the extent to which he was over-awed (?) by Goethe's views +when they were at variance with their own.[132] On another occasion he +writes: "Was Goethe über Ruysdael faselt, kannte ich bereits."[133] +Toward his critics his bearing was that of haughty indifference: "Mag +auch das Talent dieser Menschen,[TN1] mich zu insultieren, gross sein, +mein Talent, sie zu verachten, ist auf alle Fälle grösser."[134] When +his Frühlingsalmanach of 1835 had been received with disfavor by the +critics, he professed to be concerned only for his publisher: "Ich +meinerseits habe auf Liebe und Dank nie gezählt bei meinen +Bestrebungen."[135] "Die (Recensenten) wissen den Teufel von +Poesie."[136] Whether this real or assumed nonchalance would have stood +the test of literary disappointments such as Hölderlin's, it is needless +to speculate. + +Hölderlin eagerly sought after happiness and contentment, but fortune +eluded him at every turn. Lenau on the contrary thrust it from him with +true ascetic spirit. + +The mere thought of submitting to the ordinary process of negotiations +and recommendations for a vacant professorship of Esthetics in Vienna is +so repulsive to his pride, that the whole matter is at once allowed to +drop, notwithstanding that he has been preparing for the place by +diligent philosophical studies.[137] The asceticism with which he +regarded life in general is expressed in a letter to Emilie Reinbeck, +1843, in which he says: "Wer die Welt gestalten helfen will, muss darauf +verzichten, sie zu geniessen."[138] But more often this resignation +becomes a defiant challenge: "Ich habe dem Leben gegenüber nun einmal +meine Stellung genommen, es soll mich nicht hinunterkriegen. Dass mein +Widerstand nicht der eines ruhigen Weisen ist, sondern viel Trotziges an +sich hat, das liegt in meinen Temperament."[139] + +Another characteristic difference between Lenau's Weltschmerz and +Hölderlin's lies in the fact that the writings of the latter do not +exhibit that absolute and abject despair which marks Lenau's lyrics. +Typical for both poets are the lines addressed by each to a rose: + + Ewig trägt im Mutterschosse, + Süsse Königin der Flur, + Dich und mich die stille, grosse, + Allbelebende Natur. + + Röschen unser Schmuck veraltet, + Sturm entblättert dich und mich, + Doch der ew'ge Keim entfaltet + Bald zu neuer Blüte sich![140] + +Unmistakable as is the melancholy strain of these verses, they are not +without a hopeful afterthought, in which the poet turns from +self-contemplation to a view of a larger destiny. Not so in Lenau's +poem, "Welke Rosen": + + In einem Buche blätternd, fand + Ich eine Rose welk, zerdrückt, + Und weiss auch nicht mehr, wessen Hand + Sie einst für mich gepflückt. + + Ach mehr und mehr im Abendhauch + Verweht Erinn'rung; bald zerstiebt + Mein Erdenlos; dann weiss ich auch + Nicht mehr, wer mich geliebt.[141] + +The intensely personal note of the last stanza is in marked contrast +with the corresponding stanza of Hölderlin's poem just quoted. Further +evidence that Lenau's Weltschmerz was constitutional, while Hölderlin's +was the result of experience, lies in this very fact, that nowhere do +the writings of the former exhibit that stage of buoyant expectation, +youthful enthusiasm, or hopeful striving, which we find in some of the +earlier poems of the latter. In Hölderlin's ode "An die Hoffnung," he +apostrophizes hope as "Holde! gütig Geschäftige!" + + Die du das Haus der Trauernden nicht verschmähst.[142] + +Lenau, in his poem of the same title, tells us he has done with hope: + + All dein Wort ist Windesfächeln; + Hoffnung! dann nur trau' ich dir, + Weisest du mit Trosteslächeln + Mir des Todes Nachtrevier.[143] + +Even his Faust gives himself over almost from the outset to abject +despair. + +Logically consequent upon this state of mind is the poet's oft-repeated +longing for death. The persistency of this thought may be best +illustrated by a few quotations from poems and letters, arranged +chronologically: + +1831. Mir wird oft so schwer, als ob ich einen Todten in mir +herumtrüge.[144] + +1833. Und mir verging die Jugend traurig, + Des Frühlings Wonne blieb versäumt, + Der Herbst durchweht mich trennungsschaurig, + Mein Herz dem Tod entgegenträumt.[145] + +1837. Heute dachte ich öfter an den Tod, nicht mit bitterem Trotz + und störrischem Verlangen, sondern mit freundlichem Appetit.[146] + +1837. Soll ich Dir alles sagen? Wisse, dass ich wirklich daran + dachte, mir den Tod zu geben.[147] + +1838. Der Gedanke des Todes wird mir immer freundlicher, und ich + verschwende mein Leben gerne.[148] + +1838. Durchs Fenster kommt ein dürres Blatt + Vom Wind hereingetrieben; + Dies leichte offne Brieflein hat + Der Tod an mich geschrieben.[149] + +1840. Oft will mich's gemahnen, als hätte ich auf Erden nichts + mehr zu thun, und ich wünschte dann, Gervinus möchte + recht haben, indem er, wie Georg mir erzählte, mir einen + baldigen Zusammenbruch und Tod prophezeite.[150] + +1842. Ich habe ein wollüstiges Heimweh, in Deinen Armen zu + sterben.[151] + +1843. Selig sind die Betäubten! noch seliger sind die Toten![152] + +1844. In dieses Waldes leisem Rauschen + Ist mir, als hör' ich Kunde wehen, + Dass alles Sterben und Vergehen + Nur heimlichstill vergnügtes Tauschen.[153] + +If we should seek for the Leit-motif of Lenau's Weltschmerz, we should +unquestionably have to designate it as the _transientness of life_. Thus +in the poem "Die Zweifler," he exclaims: + + Vergänglichkeit! wie rauschen deine Wellen + Durch's weite Labyrinth des Lebens fort![154] + +Ten per cent, of all Lenau's lyrics bear titles which directly express +or suggest this thought, as for example, "Vergangenheit," +"Vergänglichkeit," "Das tote Glück," "Einst und Jetzt," "Aus!," "Eitel +Nichts," "Verlorenes Glück," "Welke Rose," "Vanitas," "Scheiden," +"Scheideblick," and the like; while in not less than seventy-one per +cent of his lyrics there are allusions, more or less direct, to this +same idea, which shows beyond a doubt how large a component it must have +been of the poet's characteristic mood. + +If Hölderlin, the idealist, judges the things which are, according to +his standard of things as they _ought to be_, Lenau, on the other hand, +measures them by the things which _have been_. + + Friedhof der entschlafnen Tage, + Schweigende Vergangenheit! + Du begräbst des Herzens Klage, + Ach, und seine Seligkeit![155] + +Nowhere is this mental attitude of the poet toward life in all its forms +more clearly defined than in his views of nature. That this is an +entirely different one from Hölderlin's goes without saying. Lenau has +nothing of that naïve and unsophisticated childlike nature-sense which +Hölderlin possessed, and which enabled him to find comfort and +consolation in nature as in a mother's embrace. So that while for +Hölderlin intercourse with nature afforded the greatest relief from his +sorrows, Lenau's Weltschmerz was on the contrary intensified thereby. +For him the rose has no fragrance, the sunlight no warmth, springtime no +charms, in a word, nature has neither tone nor temper, until such has +been assigned to it by the poet himself. And as he is fully aware of the +artistic possibilities of the mantle of melancholy "um die wunde Brust +geschlungen,"[156] it follows consistently that he should select for +poetic treatment only those aspects of nature which might serve to +intensify the expression of his grief. + +Among the titles of Lenau's lyrics descriptive of nature are "Herbst," +"Herbstgefühl" (twice), "Herbstlied," "Ein Herbstabend," +"Herbstentschluss," "Herbstklage," and many others of a similar kind, +such as "Das dürre Blatt," "In der Wüste," "Frühlings Tod," etc. If we +disregard a few quite exceptional verses on spring, the statement will +hold that Lenau sees in nature only the seasons and phenomena of +dissolution and decay. So in "Herbstlied": + + Ja, ja, ihr lauten Raben, + Hoch in der kühlen Luft, + 's geht wieder ans Begraben, + Ihr flattert um die Gruft![157] + +"Je mehr man sich an die Natur anschliesst," the poet writes to Sophie +Schwab, "je mehr man sich in Betrachtungen ihrer Züge vertieft, desto +mehr wird man ergriffen von dem Geiste der Sehnsucht, des schwermütigen +Hinsterbens, der durch die Natur auf Erden weht."[158] Characteristic is +the setting which the poet gives to the "Waldkapelle": + + Der dunkle Wald umrauscht den Wiesengrund, + Gar düster liegt der graue Berg dahinter, + Das dürre Laub, der Windhauch gibt es kund, + Geschritten kommt allmählig schon der Winter. + + Die Sonne ging, umhüllt von Wolken dicht, + Unfreundlich, ohne Scheideblick von hinnen, + Und die Natur verstummt, im Dämmerlicht + Schwermütig ihrem Tode nachzusinnen.[159] + +The sunset is represented as a dying of the sun, the leaves fall sobbing +from the trees, the clouds are dissolved in tears, the wind is described +as a murderer. We see then that Lenau's treatment of nature is +essentially different from Hölderlin's. The latter explains man through +nature; Lenau explains nature through man. Hölderlin describes love as a +heavenly plant,[160] youth as the springtime of the heart,[161] tears as +the dew of love;[162] Lenau, on the other hand, characterizes rain as +the tears of heaven, for him the woods are glad,[163] the brooklet +weeps,[164] the air is idle, the buds and blossoms listen,[165] the +forest in its autumn foliage is "herbstlich gerötet, so wie ein +Kranker, der sich neigt zum Sterben, wenn flüchtig noch sich seine +Wangen färben."[166] A remarkable simile, and at the same time +characteristic for Lenau in its morbidness is the following: + + Wie auf dem Lager sich der Seelenkranke, + Wirft sich der Strauch im Winde hin und her.[167] + +Hölderlin speaks of a friend's bereavement as "ein schwarzer +Sturm";[168] when he had grieved Diotima he compares himself to the +cloud passing over the serene face of the moon;[169] gloomy thoughts he +designates by the common metaphor "der Schatten eines Wölkchens auf der +Stirne."[170] Lenau turns the comparison and says: + + Am Himmelsantlitz wandelt ein Gedanke, + Die düstre Wolke dort, so bang, so schwer.[171] + +Where Hölderlin finds delight in the incorporeal elements of nature, +such as light, ether, and ascribes personal qualities and functions to +them, Lenau on the contrary always chooses the tangible things and +invests them with such mental and moral attributes as are in harmony +with his gloomy state of mind. Consequently Lenau's Weltschmerz never +remains abstract; indeed, the almost endless variety of concrete +pictures in which he gives it expression is nothing short of remarkable, +not only in the sympathetic nature-setting which he gives to his +lamentations, but also in the striking metaphors which he employs. Of +the former, probably no better illustration could be found in all +Lenau's poems than his well-known "Schilflieder"[172] and his numerous +songs to Autumn. One or two examples of his incomparable use of +nature-metaphors in the expression of his Weltschmerz will suffice: + + Hab' ich gleich, als ich so sacht + Durch die Stoppeln hingeschritten, + Aller Sensen auch gedacht, + Die ins Leben mir geschnitten.[173] + + Auch mir ist Herbst, und leiser + Trag' ich den Berg hinab + Mein Bündel dürre Reiser + Die mir das Leben gab.[174] + + Der Mond zieht traurig durch die Sphären, + Denn all die Seinen ruhn im Grab; + Drum wischt er sich die hellen Zähren + Bei Nacht an unsern Blumen ab.[175] + +The forceful directness of Lenau's metaphors from nature is aptly shown +in the following comparison of two passages, one from Hölderlin's "An +die Natur," the other from Lenau's "Herbstklage," in which both poets +employ the same poetic fancy to express the same idea. + + Tot ist nun, die mich erzog und stillte, + Tot ist nun die jugendliche Welt, + Diese Brust, die einst ein Himmel füllte, + Tot und dürftig wie ein Stoppelfeld.[176] + +If we compare the simile in the last line with the corresponding +metaphor used by Lenau in the following stanza,-- + + Wie der Wind zu Herbsteszeit + Mordend hinsaust in den Wäldern, + Weht mir die Vergangenheit + Von des Glückes Stoppelfeldern,[177] + +the greater artistic effectiveness of the latter figure will be at once +apparent. + +The idea that nature is cruel, even murderous, as suggested in the +opening lines of the stanza just quoted, seems in the course of time to +have become firmly fixed in the poet's mind, for he not only uses it for +poetic purposes, but expresses his conviction of the fact on several +occasions in his conversations and letters. Tossing some dead leaves +with his stick while out walking, he is said to have exclaimed: "Da +seht, und dann heisst es, die Natur sei liebevoll und schonend! Nein, +sie ist grausam, sie hat kein Mitleid. Die Natur ist erbarmungslos!"[178] +It goes without saying that in such a conception of nature the poet +could find no amelioration of his Weltschmerz.[179] + +In summing up the results of our discussion of Lenau's Weltschmerz, it +would involve too much repetition to mention all the points in which it +stands, as we have seen, in striking contrast to that of Hölderlin. +Suffice it to recall only the most essential features of the comparison: +the predominance of hereditary and pathological traits as causative +influences in the case of Lenau; the fact that whereas Hölderlin's +quarrel was largely with the world, Lenau's was chiefly within himself; +the passive and ascetic nature of Lenau's attitude, as compared with the +often hopeful striving of Hölderlin; the patriotism of the latter, and +the relative indifference of the former; Lenau's strongly developed +erotic instinct, which gave to his relations with Sophie such a vastly +different influence upon his Weltschmerz from that exerted upon +Hölderlin by his relations with Diotima; and finally the marked +difference in the attitude of these two poets toward nature. + +A careful consideration of all the points involved will lead to no other +conclusion than that whereas in Hölderlin the cosmic element +predominates, Lenau stands as a type of egoistic Weltschmerz. To quote +from our classification attempted in the first chapter, he is one of +"those introspective natures who are first and chiefly aware of their +own misery, and finally come to regard it as representative of universal +evil." Nowhere is this more clearly stated than in the poet's own words: +"Es hat etwas Tröstliches für mich, wenn ich in meinem Privatunglück den +Familienzug lese, der durch alle Geschlechter der armen Menschen geht. +Mein Unglück ist mir mein Liebstes,--und ich betrachte es gerne im +verklärenden Lichte eines allgemeinen Verhängnisses."[180] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 75: _Euphorion_, 1899, p. 791.] + +[Footnote 76: "Nicolaus Lenau," _Neue Fr. Pr._, Nr. 11166-7] + +[Footnote 77: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 212.] + +[Footnote 78: Cf. _Euphorion_, 1899, p. 795.] + +[Footnote 79: Anton Schurz: "Lenau's Leben," Cotta, 1855 (hereafter +quoted as "Schurz"), Vol. II, p. 199.] + +[Footnote 80: "Lenaus Werke," ed Max Koch, in Kürschner's DNL. +(hereafter quoted as "Werke"), Vol. I, p. 525 f.] + +[Footnote 81: Cf. _supra_, p. 22.] + +[Footnote 82: Cf. among others Sadger, Weiler. _Infra_, p. 88.] + +[Footnote 83: "Nicolaus Lenau's Briefe an einen Freund," Stuttgart, +1853, p. 68 f.] + +[Footnote 84: "Nicolaus Lenau's sämmtliche Werke," herausgegeben von G. +Emil Barthel, Leipzig, Reclam, p. CI.] + +[Footnote 85: Schurz, Vol. I, p. 169.] + +[Footnote 86: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 144.] + +[Footnote 87: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 152f.] + +[Footnote 88: Schurz, Vol. I, p. 275.] + +[Footnote 89: Ricarda Huch: "Romantische Lebensläufe." _Neue d. +Rundschau_, Feb. 1902, p. 126.] + +[Footnote 90: Sept. 29, 1844. Cf. Schurz, Vol. II, p. 223.] + +[Footnote 91: L. A. Frankl: "Lenau und Sophie Löwenthal," Stuttgart, +1891 (hereafter quoted as "Frankl") p. 189, incorrectly states the date +as 1838. Possibly it is a misprint.] + +[Footnote 92: Frankl, p. 155.] + +[Footnote 93: Frankl, p. 151.] + +[Footnote 94: Frankl, p. 164.] + +[Footnote 95: Frankl, p. 102.] + +[Footnote 96: Frankl, p. 149.] + +[Footnote 97: Frankl, p. 150.] + +[Footnote 98: Frankl, p. 150.] + +[Footnote 99: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 7.] + +[Footnote 100: Cf. Lenau's Sämmtl. Werke, herausg. von G. Emil Bartel, +Leipzig, ohne Jahr. Introd., p. clxv.] + +[Footnote 101: Frankl, p. 32.] + +[Footnote 102: Frankl, p. 14.] + +[Footnote 103: Frankl, p. 30.] + +[Footnote 104: Cf. _supra_, p. 38.] + +[Footnote 105: Frankl, p. 15.] + +[Footnote 106: Werke, I, p. 89.] + +[Footnote 107: Frankl, p. 114.] + +[Footnote 108: Cf. _supra_, p. 18.] + +[Footnote 109: Hölderlins Werke, Vol. 1, p. 195.] + +[Footnote 110: "Das Kruzifix, Eine Künstlerlegende," 1820.] + +[Footnote 111: Schurz, Vol. I, p. 158f.] + +[Footnote 112: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 6.] + +[Footnote 113: Cf. Breitinger: "Studien und Wandertage;" Frauenfeld, +Huber, 1870.] + +[Footnote 114: Schlossar: "Nicolaus Lenaus Briefe an Emilie von +Reinbeck," Stuttgart, 1896 (hereafter quoted as "Schlossar"), p. 98.] + +[Footnote 115: Werke, Vol. II, p. 260.] + +[Footnote 116: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 193.] + +[Footnote 117: Schlossar, p. 109.] + +[Footnote 118: Schlossar, p. 111.] + +[Footnote 119: Schlossar, p. 112 f.] + +[Footnote 120: "Lenau et son Temps," Paris, 1898, p. 351.] + +[Footnote 121: Schlossar, p. 103.] + +[Footnote 122: Schlossar, p. 154.] + +[Footnote 123: Werke, Vol. II, p. 183.] + +[Footnote 124: Frankl, p. 99.] + +[Footnote 125: Frankl, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 126: Frankl, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 127: Frankl, p. 192.] + +[Footnote 128: Frankl, p. 173.] + +[Footnote 129: Frankl, p. 103.] + +[Footnote 130: Schlossar, p. 55.] + +[Footnote 131: Cf. Schlossar, p. 93 f.] + +[Footnote 132: Cf. _supra_, p. 48.] + +[Footnote 133: Schlossar, p. 46.] + +[Footnote 134: Schlossar, p. 85.] + +[Footnote 135: Schlossar, p. 83.] + +[Footnote 136: Schurz, Vol. I, p. 176.] + +[Footnote 137: Cf. Schlossar, p. 173.] + +[Footnote 138: Schlossar, p. 184.] + +[Footnote 139: Schlossar, p. 87.] + +[Footnote 140: Hölderlin, "An eine Rose," Werke, Vol. I, p. 142.] + +[Footnote 141: Werke, Vol. I, p. 389.] + +[Footnote 142: Hölderlins Werke, Vol. I, p. 253.] + +[Footnote 143: Werke, Vol. I, p. 99.] + +[Footnote 144: Schurz, Vol. I, p. 132.] + +[Footnote 145: Werke, Vol. I, p. 82.] + +[Footnote 146: Frankl, p. 79.] + +[Footnote 147: Frankl, p. 102.] + +[Footnote 148: Frankl, p. 127.] + +[Footnote 149: Werke, Vol. I, p. 267.] + +[Footnote 150: Schlossar, p. 144.] + +[Footnote 151: Frankl, p. 169.] + +[Footnote 152: Schlossar, p. 188.] + +[Footnote 153: Werke, Vol. I, p. 405.] + +[Footnote 154: Werke, Vol. I, p. 130.] + +[Footnote 155: Werke, Vol. I, p. 62.] + +[Footnote 156: Werke, Vol. I, p. 102.] + +[Footnote 157: Werke, Vol. I, p. 299.] + +[Footnote 158: Cf. Farinelli, in _Verhandlungen des 8. deutschen +Neuphilologentages_, Hannover, 1898, p. 58.] + +[Footnote 159: Werke, Vol. I, p. 137.] + +[Footnote 160: Höld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 167.] + +[Footnote 161: Höld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 143.] + +[Footnote 162: Höld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 140.] + +[Footnote 163: Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 258.] + +[Footnote 164: Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 250.] + +[Footnote 165: Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 260.] + +[Footnote 166: Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 249.] + +[Footnote 167: Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 147.] + +[Footnote 168: Höld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 144.] + +[Footnote 169: Höld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 164.] + +[Footnote 170: Höld. Werke, Vol. II, p. 117.] + +[Footnote 171: Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 147.] + +[Footnote 172: Werke, Vol. I, p. 51 f] + +[Footnote 173: "Der Kranich," Werke, Vol. I, p. 328.] + +[Footnote 174: "Herbstlied," Werke, Vol. I, p. 299.] + +[Footnote 175: "Mondlied," Werke, Vol. I, p. 310.] + +[Footnote 176: Höld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 146.] + +[Footnote 177: Werke, Vol. I, p. 299.] + +[Footnote 178: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 104.] + +[Footnote 179: For an exhaustive discussion of Lenau's nature-sense cf. +Prof. Camillo von Klenze's excellent monograph on the subject, "The +Treatment of Nature in the Works of Nikolaus Lenau," Chicago, University +Press, 1902.] + +[Footnote 180: Frankl, p. 116.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +=Heine= + + +Heine was probably the first German writer to use the term Weltschmerz +in its present sense. Breitinger in his essay "Neues über den alten +Weltschmerz"[181] endeavors to trace the earliest use of the word and +finds an instance of it in Julian Schmidt's "Geschichte der +Romantik,"[182] 1847. He seems to have entirely overlooked Heine's use +of the word in his discussion of Delaroche's painting "Oliver Cromwell +before the body of Charles I." (1831).[183] The actual inventor of the +compound was no doubt Jean Paul, who wrote (1810): "Diesen Weltschmerz +kann er (Gott) sozusagen nur aushalten durch den Anblick der Seligkeit, +die nachher vergütet."[184] + +But although Heine may have been the first to adapt the word to its +present use, and although we have fallen into the habit of thinking of +him as the chief representative of German Weltschmerz, it must be +admitted that there is much less genuine Weltschmerz to be found in his +poems than in those of either Hölderlin or Lenau. The reason for this +has already been briefly indicated in the preceding chapter. Hölderlin's +Weltschmerz is altogether the most naïve of the three; Lenau's, while it +still remains sincere, becomes self-conscious, while Heine has an +unfailing antidote for profound feeling in his merciless self-irony. And +yet his condition in life was such as would have wrung from the heart of +almost any other poet notes of sincerest pathos. + +In Lenau's case we noted circumstances which point to a direct +transmission from parent to child of a predisposition to melancholia. In +Heine's, on the other hand, the question of heredity has apparently only +an indirect bearing upon his Weltschmerz. To what extent was his long +and terrible disease of hereditary origin, and in what measure may we +ascribe his Weltschmerz to the sufferings which that disease caused him? +The first of these questions has been answered as conclusively as seems +possible on the basis of all available data, by a doctor of medicine, S. +Rahmer, in what is at this time the most recent and most authoritative +study that has been published on the subject.[185] Stage by stage he +follows the development of the disease, from its earliest indications in +the poet's incessant nervous headaches, which he ascribes to +neurasthenic causes. He attempts to quote all the passages in Heine's +letters which throw light upon his physical condition, and points out +that in the second stage of the disease the first symptoms of paralysis +made their appearance as early as 1832, and not in 1837 as the +biographers have stated. To this was added in 1837 an acute affection of +the eyes, which continued to recur from this time on. In addition to the +pathological process which led to a complete paralysis of almost the +whole body, Rahmer notes other symptoms first mentioned in 1846, which +he describes as "bulbär" in their origin, such as difficulty in +controlling the muscles of speech, difficulty in chewing and swallowing, +the enfeebling of the muscles of the lips, disturbances in the functions +of the glottis and larynx, together with abnormal secretion of saliva. +He discredits altogether the diagnosis of Heine's disease as consumption +of the spinal marrow, to which Klein-Hattingen in his recent book on +Hölderlin, Lenau and Heine[186] still adheres, dismisses as +scientifically untenable the popular idea that the poet's physical +dissolution was the result of his sensual excesses, finally diagnoses +the case as "die spinale Form der progressiven Muskelatrophie"[187] and +maintains that it was either directly inherited, or at least developed +on the basis of an inherited disposition.[188] He finds further +evidence in support of the latter theory in the fact that the first +symptoms of the disease made their appearance in early youth, not many +years after puberty, and concludes that, in spite of scant information +as to Heine's ancestors, we are safe in assuming a hereditary taint on +the father's side. + +The poet himself evidently would have us believe as much, for in his +Reisebilder he says: "Wie ein Wurm nagte das Elend in meinem Herzen und +nagte,--ich habe dieses Elend mit mir zur Welt gebracht. Es lag schon +mit mir in der Wiege, und wenn meine Mutter mich wiegte, so wiegte sie +es mit, und wenn sie mich in den Schlaf sang, so schlief es mit mir ein, +und es erwachte, sobald ich wieder die Augen aufschlug. Als ich grösser +wurde, wuchs auch das Elend, und wurde endlich ganz gross und +zersprengte mein.... Wir wollen von andern Dingen sprechen...."[189] + +And yet Heine's disposition was not naturally inclined to hypochondria. +In his earlier letters, especially to his intimate friends, there is +often more than cheerfulness, sometimes a decided buoyancy if not +exuberance of spirits. A typical instance we find in a letter to Moser +(1824): "Ich hoffe Dich wohl nächstes Frühjahr wiederzusehen und zu +umarmen und zu necken und vergnügt zu sein."[190] Only here and there, +but very rarely, does he acknowledge any influence of his physical +condition upon his mental labors. To Immermann he writes (1823): "Mein +Unwohlsein mag meinen letzten Dichtungen auch etwas Krankhaftes +mitgeteilt haben."[191] And to Merkel (1827): "Ach! ich bin heute sehr +verdriesslich. Krank und unfähig, gesund aufzufassen."[192] In the main, +however, he makes a very brave appearance of cheerfulness, and +especially of patience, which seems to grow with the hopelessness of his +affliction. To his mother (1851): "Ich befinde mich wieder krankhaft +gestimmt, etwas wohler wie früher, vielleicht viel wohler; aber grosse +Nervenschmerzen habe ich noch immer, und leider ziehen sich die Krämpfe +jetzt öfter nach oben, was mir den Kopf zuweilen sehr ermüdet. So muss +ich nun ruhig aushalten, was der liebe Gott über mich verhängt, und ich +trage mein Schicksal mit Geduld.... Gottes Wille geschehe!"[193] Again a +few weeks later: "Ich habe mit diesem Leben abgeschlossen, und wenn ich +so sicher wäre, dass ich im Himmel einst gut aufgenommen werde, so +ertrüge ich geduldig meine Existenz."[194] Not only to his mother, whom +for years he affectionately kept in ignorance of his deplorable +condition, does he write thus, but also to Campe (1852): "Mein Körper +leidet grosse Qual, aber meine Seele ist ruhig wie ein Spiegel und hat +manchmal auch noch ihre schönen Sonnenaufgänge und Sonnenuntergänge."[195] +1854: "Gottlob, dass ich bei all meinem Leid sehr heiteren Gemütes bin, +und die lustigsten Gedanken springen mir durchs Hirn."[196] Much of this +sort of thing was no doubt nicely calculated for effect, and yet these +and similar passages show that he was not inclined to magnify his +physical afflictions either in his own eyes or in the eyes of others. +Nor is he absolutely unreconciled to his fate: "Es ist mir nichts +geglückt in dieser Welt, aber es hätte mir doch noch schlimmer gehen +können."[197] + +In his poems, references to his physical sufferings are remarkably +infrequent. We look in vain in the "Buch der Lieder," in the "Neue +Gedichte," in fact in all his lyrics written before the "Romanzero," not +only for any allusion to his illness, but even for any complaint against +life which might have been directly occasioned by his physical +condition. What is there then in these earlier poems that might fitly be +called Weltschmerz? Very little, we shall find. + +Their inspiration is to be found almost exclusively in Heine's +love-affairs, decent and indecent. Now the pain of disappointed love is +the motive and the theme of very many of Hölderlin's and Lenau's lyrics, +poems which are heavy with Weltschmerz, while most of Heine's are not. +To speak only of the poet's most important attachments, of his +unrequited love for his cousin Amalie, and his unsuccessful wooing of +her sister Therese,--there can be no doubt that these unhappy loves +brought years of pain and bitterness into his life, sorrow probably as +genuine as any he ever experienced, and yet how little, comparatively, +there is in his poetry to convince us of the fact. Nearly all these +early lyrics are variations of this love-theme, and yet it is the +exception rather than the rule when the poet maintains a sincere note +long enough to engender sympathy and carry conviction. Such are his +beautiful lyrics "Ich grolle nicht,"[198] "Du hast Diamanten und +Perlen."[199] Let us see how Lenau treats the same theme: + + Die dunklen Wolken hingen + Herab so bang und schwer, + Wir beide traurig gingen + Im Garten hin und her. + + So heiss und stumm, so trübe, + Und sternlos war die Nacht, + So ganz wie unsre Liebe + Zu Thränen nur gemacht. + + Und als ich musste scheiden + Und gute Nacht dir bot, + Wünscht' ich bekümmert beiden + Im Herzen uns den Tod.[200] + +We believe implicitly in the poet's almost inexpressible grief, and +because we are convinced, we sympathize. And we feel too that the poet's +sorrow is so overwhelming and has so filled his soul that it has +entirely changed his views of life and of nature, or has at least +contributed materially to such a change,--that it has assumed larger +proportions and may rightly be called Weltschmerz. Compare with this the +first and third stanzas of Heine's "Der arme Peter:" + + Der Hans und die Grete tanzen herum, + Und jauchzen vor lauter Freude. + Der Peter steht so still und stumm, + Und ist so blass wie Kreide. + + * * * * * + + Der Peter spricht leise vor sich her + Und schauet betrübet auf beide: + "Ach! wenn ich nicht zu vernünftig wär', + Ich thät' mir was zu leide."[201] + +It is scarcely necessary to cite further examples of this mannerism of +Heine's, for so it early became, such as his "Erbsensuppe,"[202] "Ich +wollte, er schösse mich tot,"[203] "Doktor, sind Sie des Teufels;"[204] +"Madame, ich liebe Sie!"[205] and many other glaring instances of the +"Sturzbad," in order to show how the poet himself deliberately +attempted, and usually with success, to destroy the traces of his grief. +This process of self-irony, which plays such havoc with all sincere +feeling and therefore with his Weltschmerz, becomes so fixed a habit +that we are almost incapable, finally, of taking the poet seriously. He +makes a significant confession in this regard in a letter to Moser +(1823): "Aber es geht mir oft so, ich kann meine eigenen Schmerzen nicht +erzählen, ohne dass die Sache komisch wird."[206] How thoroughly this +mental attitude had become second nature with Heine, may be inferred +from a statement which he makes to Friederike Roberts (1825): "Das +Ungeheuerste, das Ensetzlichste, das Schaudervollste, wenn es nicht +unpoetisch werden soll, kann man auch nur in dem buntscheckigen Gewände +des Lächerlichen darstellen, gleichsam versöhnend--darum hat auch +Shakespeare das Grässlichste im "Lear" durch den Narren sagen lassen, +darum hat auch Goethe zu dem furchtbarsten Stoffe, zum "Faust," die +Puppenspielform gewählt, darum hat auch der noch grössere Poet (der +Urpoet, sagt Friederike), nämlich Unser-Herrgott, allen Schreckensszenen +dieses Lebens eine gute Dosis Spasshaftigkeit beigemischt."[207] + +In not a few of his lyrics Heine gives us a truly Lenauesque +nature-setting, as for instance in "Der scheidende Sommer:" + + Das gelbe Laub erzittert, + Es fallen die Blätter herab; + Ach, alles, was hold und lieblich + Verwelkt und sinkt ins Grab.[208] + +This is one of the comparatively few instances in Heine's lyrics in +which he maintains a dignified seriousness throughout the entire poem. +It is worth noting, too, because it touches a note as infrequent in +Heine as it is persistent in Lenau--the fleeting nature of all things +lovely and desirable.[209] This is one of the characteristic differences +between the two poets,--Heine's eye is on the present and the future, +much more than on the past; Lenau is ever mourning the happiness that is +past and gone. Logically then, thoughts of and yearnings for death are +much more frequent with Lenau than with Heine.[210] + +Reverting to the point under consideration: even in those love-lyrics in +which Heine does not wilfully destroy the first serious impression by +the jingling of his harlequin's cap, as he himself styles it,[211] he +does not succeed,--with the few exceptions just referred to,--in +convincing us very deeply of the reality of his feelings. They are +either trivially or extravagantly stated. Sometimes this sense of +triviality is caused by the poet's excessive fondness for all sorts of +diminutive expressions, giving an artificial effect, an effect of +"Tändelei" to his verses. For example: + + Du siehst mich an wehmütiglich, + Und schüttelst das blonde Köpfchen, + Aus deinen Augen schleichen sich + Die Perlenthränentröpfchen.[212] + +Sometimes this effect is produced by a distinct though unintended +anti-climax. Nowhere has Heine struck a more truly elegiac note than in +the stanza: + + Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht, + Das Leben ist der schwüle Tag. + Es dunkelt schon, mich schläfert, + Der Tag hat mich müde gemacht.[213] + +There is the most profound Weltschmerz in that. But in the second stanza +there is relatively little: + + Ueber mein Bett erhebt sich ein Baum, + Drin singt die junge Nachtigall; + Sie singt von lauter Liebe, + Ich hör' es sogar im Traum. + +Lenau's lyrics have shown that much Weltschmerz may grow out of +unsatisfied love; Heine's demonstrate that mere love sickness is not +Weltschmerz. The fact is that Heine frequently destroys what would have +been a certain impression of Weltschmerz by forcing upon us the +immediate cause of his distemper,--it may be a real injury, or merely a +passing annoyance. What a strange mixture of acrimonious, sarcastic +protest and Weltschmerz elements we find in the poem "Ruhelechzend"[214] +of which a few stanzas will serve to illustrate. Again he strikes a full +minor chord: + + Las bluten deine Wunden, lass + Die Thränen fliessen unaufhaltsam; + Geheime Wollust schwelgt im Schmerz, + Und Weinen ist ein süsser Balsam. + +This in practice rather than in theory is what we observe in Lenau,--his +melancholy satisfaction in nursing his grief,--and we have promise of a +poem of genuine Weltschmerz. Even through the second and third stanzas +this feeling is not destroyed, although the terms "Schelm" and "Tölpel" +gently arouse our suspicion: + + Des Tages Lärm verhallt, es steigt + Die Nacht herab mit langen Flöhren. + In ihrem Schosse wird kein Schelm, + Kein Tölpel deine Ruhe stören. + +But the very next stanza brings the transition from the sublime to the +ridiculous: + + Hier bist du sicher vor Musik, + Vor des Pianofortes Folter, + Und vor der grossen Oper Pracht + Und schrecklichem Bravourgepolter. + + * * * * * + + O Grab, du bist das Paradies + Für pöbelscheue, zarte Ohren-- + Der Tod ist gut, doch besser wär's, + Die Mutter hätt' uns nie geboren. + +It is scarcely necessary to point out that the specific cause which the +poet confides to us of his "wounds, tears and pains" is ridiculously +unimportant as compared with the conclusion which he draws in the last +two lines. + +Evidently then, he does not wish us to take him seriously, nor could we, +if he did. Thus in their very attitude toward the ills and vexations of +life, there appears a most essential difference between Lenau and Heine. +Auerbach aptly remarks: "Spott und Satire verkleinern, Zorn und Hass +vergrössern das Object."[215] And Lenau knew no satire; where Heine +scoffed and ridiculed, he hated and scorned, with a hatred that only +contributed to his own undoing. With Heine the satire's the thing, +whether of himself or of others, and to this he willingly sacrifices the +lofty sentiments of which he is capable. Indeed he frequently introduces +these for no other purpose than to make the laugh or grimace all the +more striking. And with reference to his love affair with Amalie, while +the question as to the reality and depth of his feelings may be left +entirely out of discussion, this much may be safely asserted, that in +comparatively few poems do those feelings find expression in the form of +Weltschmerz. Now there is something essentially vague about Weltschmerz; +it is an atmosphere, a "Stimmung" more or less indefinable, rather than +the statement in lyric form of certain definite grievances with their +particular and definite causes. And that is exactly what we find in +Lenau, even in his love-songs. His love-sorrow is blended with his many +other heart-aches, with his disappointments and regrets, with his +yearning for death. He sings of his pain rather than of its immediate +causes, and the result is an atmosphere of Weltschmerz. + +Turning to Heine's later poems, especially to the "Romanzero," we find +that atmosphere much more perceptible. But even here the poet is for the +most part specific, and his method concrete. So for instance in "Der +Dichter Firdusi"[216] in which he tells a story to illustrate his belief +that merit is appreciated and rewarded only after the death of the one +who should have reaped the reward. So also in "Weltlauf,"[217] the first +stanza of which suggests a poetic rendering of Matth. 13:12, "For +whosoever hath, to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance; +but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he +hath,"--to which the poet adds a stanza of caustic ironical comment: + + Wenn du aber gar nichts hast, + Ach, so lasse dich begraben-- + Denn ein Recht zum Leben, Lump, + Haben nur, die etwas haben. + +And again, the poem "Lumpentum"[218] presents an ironical eulogy of +flattery. His failure to realize the hopes of his youth is made the +subject of "Verlorne Wünsche"[219] which maintains throughout a strain +of seriousness quite unusual for Heine, and concludes: + + Goldne Wünsche! Seifenblasen! + Sie zerrinnen wie mein Leben-- + Ach ich liege jetzt am Boden, + Kann mich nimmermehr erheben. + + Und Ade! sie sind zerronnen, + Goldne Wünsche, süsses Hoffen! + Ach, zu tötlich war der Faustschlag, + Der mich just ins Herz getroffen. + +A number of these lyrics from the Romanzero show very strikingly Heine's +objective treatment of his poems of complaint. Such selections as "Sie +erlischt,"[220] in which he compares his soul to the last flicker of a +lamp in the darkened theater, or "Frau Sorge,"[221] which gives us the +personification of care, represented as a nurse watching by his bedside, +bring his objective method into marked contrast with Hölderlin's +subjective Weltschmerz. The same may be said of his autobiography in +miniature, "Rückschau,"[222] which catalogues the poet's experiences, +pleasant and adverse, with evident sincerity though of course with a +liberal admixture of witty irony. Needless to say there is no real +Weltschmerz discoverable in such a pot pourri as the following: + + Die Glieder sind mir rheumatisch gelähmt, + Und meine Seele ist tief beschämt. + + * * * * * + + Ich ward getränkt mit Bitternissen, + Und grausam von den Wanzen gebissen, etc. + +It would scarcely be profitable to attempt to estimate the causes and +development of this self-irony, which plays so important a part in +Heine's poetry. Its possibility lay no doubt in his native mother-wit, +with its genial perception of the incongruous, combined, it must be +admitted, with a relatively low order of self-respect. Its first +incentive he may have found in his unrequited love for Amalie. Had it +been like that of Hölderlin for Diotima, or Lenau for Sophie, +reciprocated though unsatisfied, we could not easily imagine the +ironical tone which pervades most of his love-songs. And so he uses it +as a veil for his chagrin, preferring to laugh and have the world laugh +with him, rather than to weep alone. But the incident in Heine's life +which probably more than any other experience fostered this habit of +making himself the butt of his witty irony was his outward renunciation +of Judaism. Little need be said concerning this, since the details are +so well known. He himself confesses that the step was taken from the +lowest motives, for which he justly hated and despised himself. To Moser +he writes (1825): "Ich weiss nicht, was ich sagen soll, Cohen versichert +mich, Gans predige das Christentum und suche die Kinder Israels zu +bekehren. Thut er dieses aus Ueberzeugung, so ist er ein Narr; thut er +es aus Gleissnerei, so ist er ein Lump. Ich werde zwar nicht aufhören, +Gans zu lieben; dennoch gestehe ich, weit lieber wär's mir gewesen, wenn +ich statt obiger Nachricht erfahren hätte, Gans habe silberne Löffel +gestohlen.... Es wäre mir sehr leid, wenn mein eigenes Getauftsein Dir +in einem günstigen Lichte erscheinen könnte. Ich versichere Dich, wenn +die Gesetze das Stehlen silberner Löffel erlaubt hätten, so würde ich +mich nicht getauft haben."[223] But in addition to the loss of +self-respect came his disappointment and chagrin at the non-success of +his move, since he realized that it was not even bringing him the +material gain for which he had hoped. Instead, he felt himself an object +of contempt among Christians and Jews alike. "Ich bin jetzt bei Christ +und Jude verhasst. Ich bereue sehr, dass ich mich getauft hab'; ich sehe +gar nicht ein, dass es mir seitdem besser gegangen sei; im Gegenteil, +ich habe seitdem nichts als Unglück."[224] He is so unhappy in +consequence of this step that he earnestly desires to leave Germany. "Es +ist aber ganz bestimmt, dass es mich sehnlichst drängt, dem deutschen +Vaterlande Valet zu sagen. Minder die Lust des Wanderns als die Qual +persönlicher Verhältnisse (z. B. der nie abzuwaschende Jude) treibt mich +von hinnen."[225] + +In his tragedy "Almansor," written during the years 1820 and 1821,[226] +his deep-rooted antipathy to Christianity finds strong expression +through Almansor, although the countervailing arguments are eloquently +stated by the heroine. Prophetic of the poet's own later experience is +the representation of the hero, who is beguiled by his love for Zuleima +into vowing allegiance to the Christian faith, only to find that the +sacrifice has failed to win for him the object for which it was made. In +the character of Almansor, more than anywhere else, Heine's +"Liebesschmerz" and "Judenschmerz" have combined to produce in him an +inner dissonance which expresses itself in lyric lines of real +Weltschmerz: + + Ich bin recht müd + Und krank, und kranker noch als krank, denn ach, + Die allerschlimmste Krankheit ist das Leben; + Und heilen kann sie nur der Tod....[227] + +But here too, as in "Ratcliff," such passages are exceptional. In the +main these tragedies are nothing more than vehicles for the poet's +stormy protest, much of it after the Storm and Stress pattern;[228] and +mere protest, however acrimonious, cannot be called Weltschmerz. + +Certain it is that during these early years numerous disappointments +other than those of love contributed to produce in the poet a gloomy +state of mind. A reflection of the unhappiness which he had experienced +during his residence in Hamburg is found in many passages in his +correspondence which express his repugnance for the city and its people. +To Immanuel Wohlwill (1823): "Es freut mich, dass es Dir in den Armen +der aimablen Hammonia zu behagen beginnt; mir ist diese Schöne zuwider. +Mich täuscht nicht der goldgestickte Rock, ich weiss, sie trägt ein +schmutziges Hemd auf dem gelben Leibe, und mit den schmelzenden +Liebesseufzern 'Rindfleisch[3] Banko!' sinkt sie an die Brust des +Meistbietenden.... Vielleicht thue ich aber der guten Stadt Hamburg +unrecht; die Stimmung, die mich beherrschte, als ich dort einige Zeit +lebte, war nicht dazu geeignet, mich zu einem unbefangenen Beurteiler zu +machen; mein _inneres_ Leben war brütendes Versinken in den düsteren, +nur von phantastischen Lichtern durchblitzten Schacht der Traumwelt, +mein _äusseres_ Leben war toll, wüst, cynisch, abstossend; mit einem +Worte, ich machte es zum schneidenden Gegensatz meines inneren Lebens, +damit mich dieses nicht durch sein Uebergewicht zerstöre."[229] To Moser +(1823): "Hamburg? sollte ich dort noch so viele Freuden finden können, +als ich schon Schmerzen dort empfand? Dieses ist freilich +unmöglich--"[230] "Hamburg!!! mein Elysium und Tartarus zu gleicher +Zeit! Ort, den ich detestiere und am meisten liebe, wo mich die +abscheulichsten Gefühle martern und we ich mich dennoch +hinwünsche."[231] Another letter to Moser is dated: "Verdammtes Hamburg, +den 14. Dezember, 1825."[232] The following year he writes, in a letter +to Immermann: "Ich verliess Göttingen, suchte in Hamburg ein +Unterkommen, fand aber nichts als Feinde, Verklatschung und +Aerger."[233] And to Varnhagen von Ense (1828): "Nach Hamburg werde ich +nie in diesem Leben zurückkehren; es sind mir Dinge von der äussersten +Bitterkeit dort passiert, sie wären auch nicht zu ertragen gewesen, ohne +den Umstand, dass nur ich sie weiss."[234] To his mother's insistent +pleading he replies (1833): "Aber ich will, wenn Du es durchaus +verlangst, diesen Sommer auf acht Tage nach Hamburg kommen, nach dem +schändlichen Neste, wo ich meinen Feinden den Triumph gönnen soll, mich +wiederzusehen und mit Beleidigungen überhäufen zu können."[235] + +His several endeavors to establish himself on a firm material footing in +life had failed,--he had sought for a place in a Berlin high school, +then entertained the idea of practising law in Hamburg, then aspired to +a professorship in Munich, but without success. But more than by all +these reverses, more even than by the circumstances and consequences of +his Hebrew parentage, was the poet wrought up by the family strife over +the payment of his pension, which followed upon the death of his uncle +in December, 1844, and which lasted for several years. From the very +beginning he had had much intermittent annoyance through his dealings +with his sporadically generous uncle Salomon Heine. As early as 1823 +Heine writes to Moser: "Auch weiss ich, dass mein Oheim, der sich hier +so gemein zeigt, zu andern Zeiten die Generosität selbst ist; aber es +ist doch in mir der Vorsatz aufgekommen, alles anzuwenden, um mich so +bald als möglich von der Güte meines Oheims loszureissen. Jetzt habe ich +ihn freilich noch nötig, und wie knickerig auch die Unterstützung ist, +die er mir zufliessen lässt, so kann ich dieselbe nicht entbehren."[236] +And again in the same year: "Es ist fatal, dass bei mir der ganze Mensch +durch das Budget regiert wird. Auf meine Grundsätze hat Geldmangel oder +Ueberfluss nicht den mindesten Einfluss, aber desto mehr auf meine +Handlungen. Ja, grosser Moser, der H. Heine ist sehr klein."[237] And +when, after his uncle's demise, the heirs of the latter threatened to +cut off the poet's pension, he writes to Campe[238] and to Detmold,[239] +in a frenzy of wrath and excitement, and shows what he is really capable +of under pressure of circumstances. Perhaps it is only fair to suppose +that his long years of suffering, both from his physical condition and +from the unscrupulous attacks of his enemies, had had a corroding effect +upon his moral sensibilities. In his request to Campe to act as mediator +in the disagreeable affair he says: "Sie können alle Schuld des +Missverständnisses auf mich schieben, die Grossmut der Familie +hervorstreichen, kurz, mich sacrificiren." And all this to be submitted +to the public in print! "Ich gestehe Ihnen heute offen, ich habe gar +keine Eitelkeit in der Weise andrer Menschen, mir liegt am Ende gar +nichts an der Meinung des Publikums; mir ist nur eins wichtig, die +Befriedigung meines inneren Willens, die Selbstachtung meiner Seele." +But how he was able to preserve his self-respect, and at the same time +be willing to employ any and all means to attain his end, perhaps no one +less unscrupulous than he could comprehend. He intimates that he has +decided upon threats and public intimidation as being probably more +effective than a servile attitude, which, he allows us to infer, he +would be quite willing to take if advisable. "Das Beste muss hier die +Presse thun zur Intimidation, und die ersten Kotwürfe auf Karl Heine und +namentlich auf Adolf Halle werden schon wirken. Die Leute sind an Dreck +nicht gewöhnt, während ich ganze Mistkarren vertragen kann, ja diese, +wie auf Blumenbeeten, nur mein Gedeihen zeitigen."[240] + +It is quite evident that this long drawn out quarrel aroused all that +was mean and vindictive, all that was immoral in the man, and that the +nervous excitement thereby induced had a most baneful effect upon his +entire nature, physical as well as mental. In a number of poems he has +given expression to his anger and has masterfully cursed his +adversaries, for example, "Es gab den Dolch in deine Hand,"[241] "Sie +küssten mich mit ihren falschen Lippen,"[242] and several following +ones. But here, too, his fancy is altogether too busy with the suitable +characterization of his enemies and the invention of adequate tortures +for them, to leave room for even a suggestion of the Weltschmerz which +we might expect to result from such painful emotions. + +It is scarcely necessary to theorize as to what would have been the +attitude and conduct of a sensitive Hölderlin or a proud-spirited Lenau +in a similar position. Lenau is too proud to protest, preferring to +suffer. Heine is too vain to appear as a sufferer, so he meets +adversity, not in a spirit of admirable courage, but in a spirit of +bravado. In giving lyric utterance to his resentment, Heine is conscious +that the world is looking on, and so he indulges, even in the expression +of his Weltschmerz, in a vain ostentation which stands in marked +contrast to Lenau's dignified pride. He is quite right when he says in a +letter to his friend Moser: "Ich bin nicht gross genug, um Erniedrigung +zu tragen."[243] + +As an illustration of the vain display which he makes of his sadness, +his poem "Der Traurige" may be quoted in part: + + Allen thut es weh in Herzen, + Die den bleichen Knaben sehn, + Dem die Leiden, dem die Schmerzen + Auf's Gesicht geschrieben stehn.[244] + +A similar impression is made by the concluding numbers of the +Intermezzo, "Die alten, bösen Lieder."[245] And here again the +comparison,--even if merely as to size,--of a coffin with the +"Heidelberger Fass" is most incongruous, to say the least, and tends +very effectually to destroy the serious sentiment which the poem, with +less definite exaggerations, might have conveyed. Similarly overdone is +his poetic preface to the "Rabbi" sent to his friend Moser:[246] + + Brich aus in lauten Klagen + Du düstres Märtyrerlied, + Das ich so lang getragen + Im flammenstillen Gemüt! + + Es dringt in alle Ohren, + Und durch die Ohren ins Herz; + Ich habe gewaltig beschworen + Den tausendjährigen Schmerz. + + Es weinen dir Grossen und Kleinen, + Sogar die kalten Herrn, + Die Frauen und Blumen weinen, + Es weinen am Himmel die Stern. + +It is not necessary, even if it were to the point, to adduce further +evidence of Heine's vanity as expressed in his prose writings, or in +poems such as the much-quoted + + Nennt man die besten Namen, + So wird auch der meine genannt.[247] + +It cannot be denied that this element of vanity, of showiness, only +serves to emphasize our impression of the unreality of much of Heine's +Weltschmerz. + +With the reference to this element of ostentation in Heine's Weltschmerz +there is suggested at once the question of the Byronic pose, and of +Byron's influence in general upon the German poet. On the general +relationship between the two poets much has been written,[248] so that +we may confine ourselves here to the consideration of certain points of +resemblance in their Weltschmerz. + +Julian Schmidt names Byron as the constellation which ruled the heavens +during the period from the Napoleonic wars to the "Völkerfrühling," +1848, as the meteor upon which at that time the eyes of all Europe were +fixed. Certainly the English poet could not have wished for a more +auspicious introduction and endorsation in Germany, if he had needed +such, than that which was given him by Goethe himself, whose subsequent +tribute in his Euphorion in the second part of "Faust" is one of Byron's +most splendid memorials. The enthusiasm which Lord Byron aroused in +Germany is attested by Goethe: "Im Jahre 1816, also einige Jahre nach +dem Erscheinen des ersten Gesanges des 'Childe Harold,' trat englische +Poesie und Literatur vor allen andern in den Vordergrund. Lord Byrons +Gedichte, je mehr man sich mit den Eigenheiten dieses ausserordentlichen +Geistes bekannt machte, gewannen immer grössere Teilnahme, so dass +Männer und Frauen, Mägdlein und Junggesellen fast aller Deutschheit und +Nationalität zu vergessen schienen."[249] + +It is important to note that this first period of unrestrained Byron +enthusiasm coincides with the formative and impressionable years of +Heine's youth. In his first book of poems, published in 1821, he +included translations from Byron, in reviewing which Immermann pointed +out[250] that while Heine's poems showed a superficial resemblance to +those of Byron, the temperament of the former was far removed from the +sinister scorn of the English lord, that it was in fact much more +cheerful and enamored of life.[251] There is plenty of evidence, +however, to show that it was exceedingly gratifying to the young Heine +to have his name associated with that of Byron; and although he had no +enthusiasm for Byron's philhellenism, he was pleased to write, June 25, +1824, on hearing of the Englishman's death: "Der Todesfall Byrons hat +mich übrigens sehr bewegt. Es war der einzige Mensch, mit dem ich mich +verwandt fühlte, und wir mögen uns wohl in manchen Dingen geglichen +haben; scherze nur darüber, soviel Du willst. Ich las ihn selten seit +einigen Jahren; man geht lieber um mit Menschen, deren Charakter von dem +unsrigen verschieden ist. Ich bin aber mit Byron immer behaglich +umgegangen, wie mit einem völlig gleichen Spiesskameraden. Mit +Shakespeare kann ich gar nicht behaglich umgehen, ich fühle nur zu +sehr, dass ich nicht seinesgleichen bin, er ist der allgewaltige +Minister, und ich bin ein blosser Hofrat, und es ist mir, als ob er mich +jeden Augenblick absetzen könnte."[252] Significant is the allusion in +this same letter to a proposition which the writer seems to have made to +his friend in a previous one: " ... ich darf Dir Dein Versprechen in +Hinsicht des 'Morgenblattes' durchaus nicht erlassen. Robert besorgt +gern den Aufsatz. Byron ist jetzt tot, und ein Wort über ihn ist jetzt +passend. Vergiss es nicht; Du thust mir einen sehr grossen +Gefallen."[253] We shall probably not be far astray in assuming that the +"Gefallen" was to have been the advertising of Heine as the natural +successor of Byron in European literature. Three months later he once +more urges the request: "Auch fände ich es noch immer angemessen, ja +jetzt mehr als je, dass Du Dich über Byron und Komp. vernehmen +liessest."[254] + +But it was not long before Heine, with an increasing sense of literary +independence, reinforced no doubt by the reaction of public opinion +against Byron, and influenced also by his friend Immermann's judgment in +particular,[255] was no longer willing to be considered a disciple of +the English master. Several unmistakable references betoken this change +of heart, for example, the following from his "Nordsee" III (1826): +"Wahrlich in diesem Augenblicke fühle ich sehr lebhaft, dass ich kein +Nachbeter, oder, besser gesagt, Nachfrevler, Byrons bin, mein Blut ist +nicht so spleenisch schwarz, meine Bitterkeit kömmt nur aus den +Galläpfeln meiner Dinte, und wenn Gift in mir ist, so ist es doch nur +Gegengift, Gegengift wider jene Schlangen, die im Schutte der alten Dome +und Burgen so bedrohlich lauern."[256] Byron, instead of being regarded +as "kindred spirit" and "cousin," is now characterized as a ruthless +destroyer of venerable forms, injuring the most sacred flowers of life +with his melodious poison, or as a mad harlequin who thrusts the steel +into his heart, in order that he may teasingly bespatter ladies and +gentlemen with the black spurting blood. In remarkable contrast with his +former views, he now writes: "Von allen grossen Schriftstellern ist +Byron just derjenige, dessen Lektüre mich am unleidigsten berührt." + +Perhaps the most interesting passage in this connection, because so +thoroughly characteristic of the Byronic pose in Heine, occurs in the +"Bäder von Lucca": "Lieber Leser, gehörst du vielleicht zu jenen frommen +Vögeln, die da einstimmen in das Lied von Byronischer Zerrissenheit, das +mir schon seit zehn Jahren in allen Weisen vorgepfiffen und +vorgezwitschert worden ...? Ach, teurer Leser, wenn du über jene +Zerrissenheit klagen willst, so beklage lieber, dass die Welt selbst +mitten entzwei gerissen ist. Denn da das Herz des Dichters der +Mittelpunkt der Welt ist, so musste es wohl in jetziger Zeit jämmerlich +zerrissen werden. Wer von seinem Herzen rühmt, es sei ganz geblieben, +der gesteht nur, dass er ein prosaisches, weitabgelegenes Winkelherz +hat. Durch das meinige ging aber der grosse Weltriss, und eben deswegen +weiss ich, dass die grossen Götter mich vor vielen andern hoch begnadigt +und des Dichtermärtyrtums würdig geachtet haben."[257] Here while +vociferously disclaiming all kinship or sympathy with Byron, he pays him +the flattering compliment of imitation. Probably nowhere in Byron could +we find a more pompous display of egoism under the guise of Weltschmerz. + +Byron's Weltschmerz, like Heine's, had its first provocation in a purely +personal experience. "To a Lady"[258] and "Remembrance"[259] both give +expression in passionate terms to the poet's disappointed love for Mary +Chaworth, the parallel in Heine's case being his infatuation for his +cousin Amalie. The necessity for defending himself against a public +opinion actively hostile to his earliest poems,[260] largely diverted +Byron from this first painful theme, so that from this time on until he +left England, he is almost incessantly engaged in a bitter warfare +against the injustice of critics and of society. To this second period +Heine's development also shows a general resemblance. Thus far both +poets exhibit a purely egoistic type of Weltschmerz. But with his +separation from his wife in 1816, and his final departure from England, +that of Byron enters upon a third period and becomes cosmic. Ostracized +by English society, his relations with it finally severed, he disdains +to defend himself further against its criticism, and espouses the cause +of unhappy humanity. No longer his own personal woes, but rather those +of the nations of the earth are nearest his heart: + + What are our woes and sufferance?... + ................................ Ye! + Whose agonies are evils of a day-- + A world is at our feet as fragile as our clay.[261] + +And in contemplating the ruins of the Palatine Hill: + + ..................... Upon such a shrine + What are our petty griefs? Let me not number mine.[262] + +Here we have the essential difference between these two types of +Weltschmerz. Heine does not, like Byron, make this transition from the +personal to the universal stage. Instead of becoming cosmic in his +Weltschmerz, he remains for ever egoistic. + +Numerous quotations might be adduced from the writings of both poets, +which would seem to indicate that Heine had borrowed many of his ideas +and even some forms of expression from Byron. Except in the case of the +most literal correspondence, this is generally a very unsafe deduction. +Such passages as a rule prove nothing more than a similarity, possibly +quite independent, in the trend of their pessimistic thought. Compare +for example Byron's lines in the poem "And wilt thou weep when I am +low?" + + Oh lady! blessed be that tear-- + It falls for one who cannot weep; + Such precious drops are doubly dear + To those whose eyes no tear may steep,[263] + +with Heine's stanza: + + Seit ich sie verloren hab', + Schafft' ich auch das Weinen ab; + Fast vor Weh das Herz mir bricht, + Aber weinen kann ich nicht.[264] + +Or again, "Childe Harold," IV, 136: + + From mighty wrongs to petty perfidy + Have I not seen what human things could do? + From the loud roar of foaming calumny + To the small whisper of the as paltry few-- + And subtler venom of the reptile crew,[265] + +with the first lines of Heine's ninth sonnet: + + Ich möchte weinen, doch ich kann es nicht; + Ich möcht' mich rüstig in die Höhe heben, + Doch kann ich's nicht; am Boden muss ich kleben, + Umkrächzt, umzischt von eklem Wurmgezücht,[266] + +a thought which in one of his letters (1823) he paraphrases thus: "Der +Gedanke an Dich, liebe Schwester, muss mich zuweilen aufrecht halten, +wenn die grosse Masse mit ihrem dummen Hass und ihrer ekelhaften Liebe +mich niederdrückt."[267] There can be no doubt that Heine for a time +studied diligently to imitate this fashionable model, pose, irony and +all. So diligently perhaps, that he himself was sometimes unable to +distinglish between imitation and reality. So at least it would appear +from No. 44 of "Die Heimkehr:" + + Ach Gott! im Scherz und unbewusst + Sprach ich, was ich gefühlet: + Ich hab mit dem Tod in der eignen Brust + Den sterbenden Fechter gespielet.[268] + +In summing up our impressions of the two poets we shall scarcely escape +the feeling that while Byron is pleased to display his troubles and his +heart-aches before the curious gaze of the world, they are at least in +the main real troubles and sincere heart-aches, whereas Heine, on the +other hand, does a large business in Weltschmerz on a very small +capital. + +Nor is Heine the man more convincing as to his sincerity than Heine the +poet. No more striking instance of this fact could perhaps be found than +his letter to Laube on hearing the news of Immermann's death.[269] +"Gestern Abend erfuhr ich durch das _Journal des Debats_ ganz zufällig +den Tod von Immermann. Ich habe die ganze Nacht durch geweint. Welch ein +Unglück!... Welch einen grossen Dichter haben wir Deutschen verloren, +ohne ihn jemals recht gekannt zu haben! Wir, ich meine Deutschland, die +alte Rabenmutter! Und nicht nur ein grosser Dichter war er, sondern auch +brav und ehrlich, und deshalb liebte ich ihn. Ich liege ganz darnieder +vor Kummer." But scarcely has he turned the page with a short +intervening paragraph, when he continues: "Ich bin, sonderbar genug, +sehr guter Laune," and concludes the letter with some small talk. Now if +he was sincere, as we may assume he was, in the asseveration of his +grief at the death of his friend, then either that grief must have been +anything but profound, or we have the clearest sort of evidence of the +poet's incapacity for serious feeling of more than momentary duration. +It is safe to assert that Heine never set himself a high artistic task, +and remained true to his purpose until the task was accomplished. In +other words, Heine betrays a lack of will-energy along artistic lines, +which in the case of Hölderlin and Lenau was more evident in their +attitude toward the practical things of life. + +But the fact that Heine never created a monumental literary work of +enduring worth is not attributable solely to a fickleness of artistic +purpose or lack of will-energy. We find its explanation rather in the +poet's own statement: "Die Poesie ist am Ende doch nur eine schöne +Nebensache."[270] and to this principle, consciously or unconsciously, +Heine steadily adhered. Certain it is that he took a much lower view of +his art than did Hölderlin or Lenau. Hence we find him ever ready to +degrade his muse by making it the vehicle for immoral thoughts and +abominable calumnies.[271] + +The question of Heine's patriotism has always been a much-debated one, +and must doubtless remain so. But whatever opinion we may hold in regard +to his real attitude and feelings toward the land of his birth, this we +shall have to admit, that there are exceedingly few traces of +Weltschmerz arising from this source. Genuine feeling is expressed in +the two-stanza poem "Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland"[272] and +also in "Lebensfahrt,"[273] although this latter poem illustrates a +characteristic of so many of his writings, namely that he himself is +their central figure. It is the sublime egoism which characterizes Heine +and all his works. No wonder, then, that one of his few +"Freiheitslieder" refers to his own personal liberty.[274] For the +failings of his countrymen he is ever ready with scathing satire,[275] +he grieves over his separation from them only when he thinks of his +mother;[276] and in regard to the future of Germany he is for the most +part sceptical.[277] In a word, Heine's lyric utterances in regard to +his fatherland are of so mixed a character, that altogether aside from +the question of the sincerity of his feeling toward the land of his +birth, certainly none but the blindest partisan would be able to +discover more than a negligible quantity of Weltschmerz directly +attributable to this influence. + +Heine's conscience is at best a doubtful quantity. Where Byron with a +sincere sense and acknowledgment of his guilt writes: + + "My injuries came down on those who loved me-- + On those whom I best loved: . . . . . . + But my embrace was fatal."[278] + +Heine sees it in quite another light: "War ich doch selber jetzt das +lebende Gesetz der Moral und der Quell alles Rechtes und aller Befugnis; +die anrüchigsten Magdalenen wurden purifiziert durch die läuternde und +sühnende Macht meiner Liebesflammen,"[279] a moral aberration which he +attributes to an imperfect interpretation of the difficult philosophy of +Hegel. If further evidence were necessary to show the perversity of +Heine's moral sense, the following paragraph from a letter to Varnhagen +would suffice, in its way perhaps as remarkable a contribution to the +theory of ethics as has ever been penned: "In Deutschland ist man noch +nicht so weit, zu begreifen, dass ein Mann, der das Edelste durch Wort +und That befördern will, sich oft einige kleine Lumpigkeiten, sei es aus +Spass oder aus Vorteil, zu schulden kommen lassen darf, wenn er nur +durch diese Lumpigkeiten (d. h. Handlungen, die im Grunde ignobel sind,) +der grossen Idee seines Lebens nichts schadet, ja dass diese +Lumpigkeiten oft sogar lobenswert sind, wenn sie uns in den Stand +setzen, der grossen Idee unsres Lebens desto würdiger zu dienen."[280] +Scarcely less remarkable is the poet's confession to his friend Moser +that he has a rubber soul: "Ich kann Dir das nicht oft genug +wiederholen, damit Du mich nicht misst nach dem Massstabe Deiner eigenen +grossen Seele. Die meinige ist Gummi elastic, zieht sich oft ins +Unendliche und verschrumpft oft ins Winzige. Aber eine Seele habe ich +doch. I am positive, I have a soul, so gut wie Sterne. Das genüge Dir. +Liebe mich um der wunderlichen Sorte Gefühls willen, die sich bei mir +ausspricht in Thorheit und Weisheit, in Güte und Schlechtigkeit. Liebe +mich, weil es Dir nun mal so einfällt, nicht, weil Du mich der Liebe +wert hältst.... Ich hatte einen Polen zum Freund, für den ich mich bis +zu Tod besoffen hätte, oder, besser gesagt, für den ich mich hätte +totschlagen lassen, und für den ich mich noch totschlagen liesse, und +der Kerl taugte für keinen Pfennig, und war venerisch, und hatte die +schlechtesten Grundsätze--aber er hatte einen Kehllaut, mit welchem er +auf so wunderliche Weise das Wort 'Was?' sprechen konnte, dass ich in +diesem Augenblick weinen und lachen muss, wenn ich daran denke."[281] + +Taking him all in all then, Heine is not a serious personality, a fact +which we need to keep constantly in mind in judging almost any and every +side of his nature. + +As a matter of fact, Heine's Weltschmerz, like his whole personality, is +of so complex and contradictory a nature, that it would be a hopeless +undertaking to attempt to weigh each contributing factor and estimate +exactly the amount of its influence. All the elements which have been +briefly noted in the foregoing pages, and probably many minor ones which +have not been mentioned, combined to produce in him that "Zerrissenheit" +which finds such frequent expression in his writings. But it must be +remembered that this "Zerrissenheit" does not always express itself as +Weltschmerz. In Heine it often appears simply as pugnacity; and where +wit, satire, self-irony or even base calumny succeeds in covering up all +traces of the poet's pathos we are no longer justified on sentimental or +sympathetic grounds in taking it for granted. In looking for pathos in +Heine's verse we shall not have to look in vain, it is true, but we +shall find much less than his popular reputation as a poet of +Weltschmerz would lead us to expect; and we frequently gain the +impression that his disposition and his personal experiences are after +all largely the excuse for rather than the occasion of his Weltschmerz. + +Plümacher maintains: "Der Weltschmerz ist entweder die absolute +Passivität, und die Klage seine einzige Aeusserung, oder aber er +verpufft seine Kräfte in rein subjectivistischen, eudämonischen +Anstrengungen,"[282]--a characterization which certainly holds good in +the case of Lenau and Hölderlin respectively. Hölderlin, although in a +visionary, idealistic way, remains, en in his Weltschmerz, altruistic +and constructive. Lenau is passive, while Heine is solely egoistic and +destructive. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 181: "Studien und Wandertage," Frauenfeld, Huber, 1884.] + +[Footnote 182: Vol. II, p. 265.] + +[Footnote 183: "Französische Maler. Gemälde-Ausstellung in Paris, 1831." +Heines Sämmtliche Werke, mit Einleitung von E. Elster. Leipzig, +Bibliogr. Inst., 1890. (Hereafter quoted as "Werke.") Vol. IV, p. 61.] + +[Footnote 184: "Selina, oder über die Unsterblichkeit," II, p. 132.] + +[Footnote 185: "Heinrich Heines Krankheit und Leidensgeschichte." Eine +kritische Studie, von S. Rahmer, Dr. Med., Berlin, 1901.] + +[Footnote 186: "Das Liebesleben Hölderlin's, Lenaus, Heines." Berlin, +1901.] + +[Footnote 187: Rahmer, op. cit. p. 45.] + +[Footnote 188: Rahmer, p. 46.] + +[Footnote 189: Werke, Vol. III, p. 194.] + +[Footnote 190: Karpeles ed. Werke (2. Aufl.) VIII, p. 441.] + +[Footnote 191: _Ibid._, p. 378.] + +[Footnote 192: _Ibid._, p. 520.] + +[Footnote 193: Karpeles ed. Werke, IX, p. 371.] + +[Footnote 194: _Ibid._, p. 374.] + +[Footnote 195: _Ibid._, p. 459 ff.] + +[Footnote 196: _Ibid._, p. 513.] + +[Footnote 197: _Ibid._, p. 475.] + +[Footnote 198: Werke, Vol. I, p. 72, Nos. 18 and 19.] + +[Footnote 199: Werke, Vol. I, p. 123, No. 62.] + +[Footnote 200: Lenaus Werke, Vol. I, p. 257 ff.] + +[Footnote 201: Werke, Vol. I, p. 37.] + +[Footnote 202: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 11.] + +[Footnote 203: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 97.] + +[Footnote 204: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 177.] + +[Footnote 205: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 197.] + +[Footnote 206: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 408.] + +[Footnote 207: _Ibid._, p. 468.] + +[Footnote 208: Karpeles ed. Werke, Vol. II, p. 31.] + +[Footnote 209: A few other examples of this same coloring in Heine's +lyrics are to be found in the "Neuer Frühling," Nos. 40, 41 and 43.] + +[Footnote 210: Werke, Vol. II, p. 89, No. 55, "O Gott, wie hässlich +bitter ist das Sterben!" etc.] + +[Footnote 211: Engel: "Heine's Memoiren," p. 133.] + +[Footnote 212: Werke, Vol. I, p. 87.] + +[Footnote 213: Werke, Vol. I, p. 134.] + +[Footnote 214: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 102.] + +[Footnote 215: "Nicolaus Lenau. Erinnerung und Betrachtung." Wien, +1876.] + +[Footnote 216: Werke, Vol. I, p. 367f.] + +[Footnote 217: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 415.] + +[Footnote 218: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 48.] + +[Footnote 219: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 42 f.] + +[Footnote 220: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 428.] + +[Footnote 221: Werke, Vol. I, p. 424.] + +[Footnote 222: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 416.] + +[Footnote 223: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 473.] + +[Footnote 224: Cf. Heine's letter to Moser, Jan. 9, 1826, in Karpeles' +Autob. p. 191.] + +[Footnote 225: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 491.] + +[Footnote 226: Cf. Werke, Einleitung, Vol. II, p. 241.] + +[Footnote 227: Werke, Vol. II, p. 293.] + +[Footnote 228: Cf. Almansor's Speech, Werke, Vol. II, p. 288 f.] + +[Footnote 229: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 363.] + +[Footnote 230: _Ibid._, p. 384.] + +[Footnote 231: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 391.] + +[Footnote 232: _Ibid._, p. 472.] + +[Footnote 233: _Ibid._, p. 503.] + +[Footnote 234: _Ibid._, p. 540.] + +[Footnote 235: _Ibid._, IX, p. 25.] + +[Footnote 236: _Ibid._, VIII, p. 392.] + +[Footnote 237: Karpeles ed. VIII, p. 396.] + +[Footnote 238: _Ibid._, IX, p. 308 ff.] + +[Footnote 239: _Ibid._, p. 316.] + +[Footnote 240: Letter to Detmold, Jan. 9, 1845, Werke (Karpeles ed.), +Vol. IX, p. 310.] + +[Footnote 241: Werke, Vol. II, p. 104.] + +[Footnote 242: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 105.] + +[Footnote 243: Cf. Karpeles' Autob. p. 164.] + +[Footnote 244: Werke, Vol. I, p. 35.] + +[Footnote 245: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 92.] + +[Footnote 246: Werke, Vol. II, p. 164.] + +[Footnote 247: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 102.] + +[Footnote 248: One of the most exhaustive monographs on the subject is +that of Felix Melchior (Cf. bibliography, _infra_ p. 90), to whom I am +indebted for several of the parallels suggested.] + +[Footnote 249: Weimar Ausg. I Abt. Bd. 36, p. 128.] + +[Footnote 250: In the _Rheinisch-westfälischer Anzeiger_, May 31, 1822, +No. 23.] + +[Footnote 251: Cf. Strodtmann, "H. Heines Leben und Werke," 3. ed., +Hamburg, 1884. Vol. I, p. 200.] + +[Footnote 252: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 434.] + +[Footnote 253: _Ibid._, p. 433.] + +[Footnote 254: _Ibid._, p. 441.] + +[Footnote 255: In discussing the first volume of Heine's "Reisebilder," +Immermann had said: "Man hat Heinen beim Beginn seiner dichterischen +Laufbahn mit Byron vergleichen wollen. Diese Vergleichung scheint nicht +zu passen. Der Brite bringt mit ungeheuren Mitteln nur massige poetische +Effekte hervor, während Heine eine Anlage zeigt, sich künstlerisch zu +begrenzen und den Stoff gänzlich in die Form zu absorbieren." +(_Jahrbücher f. wissenschaftliche Kritik_, 1827, No. 97, p. 767.)] + +[Footnote 256: Werke, III, p. 116.] + +[Footnote 257: Werke, Vol. Ill, p. 304.] + +[Footnote 258: Byron's Works, Coleridge ed., London and New York, 1898. +Vol. I, p. 189 ff.] + +[Footnote 259: _Ibid._, p. 211.] + +[Footnote 260: Cf. the poems "To a Knot of Ungenerous Critics," "English +Bards and Scotch Reviewers," and others.] + +[Footnote 261: Coleridge ed., Vol. II, p. 388 f.] + +[Footnote 262: _Ibid._, p. 406.] + +[Footnote 263: Coleridge ed., Vol. I, p. 266 f.] + +[Footnote 264: Werke, Vol. I, p. 78.] + +[Footnote 265: Coleridge ed., Vol. II, p. 429.] + +[Footnote 266: Werke, Vol. I, p. 61.] + +[Footnote 267: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 411.] + +[Footnote 268: Werke, I, p. 117.] + +[Footnote 269: Werke, Karpeles ed. Vol. IX, p. 162 f.] + +[Footnote 270: Letter to Immermann, Werke (Karpeles ed.), Vol. VIII, p. +354.] + +[Footnote 271: Cf. his vulgar prognostication of Germany's future, Kaput +XXVI of the "Wintermärchen," Werke, Vol. II, p. 488 ff.] + +[Footnote 272: Werke, Vol. I, p. 263.] + +[Footnote 273: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 308.] + +[Footnote 274: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 301, "Adam der erste."] + +[Footnote 275: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 316, "Zur Beruhigung."] + +[Footnote 276: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 320, "Nachtgedanken."] + +[Footnote 277: Cf. _supra_, note 1.] + +[Footnote 278: "Manfred," Coleridge ed., IV, p. 101.] + +[Footnote 279: Werke VI, p. 48.] + +[Footnote 280: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 541.] + +[Footnote 281: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 399.] + +[Footnote 282: Plümacher: "Der Pessimismus." Heidelberg, 1888, p. 103.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +=Bibliography= + + +_General_ + +Breitinger, H. Neues über den alten Weltschmerz. "Studien und +Wandertage." Frauenfeld, Huber, 1884, p. 246-62. + +Caro, E. Le Pessimisme au 19. Siècle; Leopardi, Schopenhauer, Hartmann. +4th. ed. Paris, 1889. + +Deutsches Litteraturblatt, Halle a. S. 1879, Nr. 1. Der Pessimismus in +der Litteratur. + +"Europa," 1869, Nr. 16. Der Weltschmerz in der Poesie. von Golther, +Ludwig. Der Moderne Pessimismus. Leipzig, 1878. + +Hartmann, Ed. Zur Begründung und Geschichte des Pessimismus. Leipzig, +1892. + +Heyse, Paul. Leopardi, der Dichter des Pessimismus. Deutsche Rundschau, +Band 14, Art. 15. + +Huber, Johannes. Der Pessimismus. München, 1876. + +Lenzi, Annita. Il problema del dolore in alcune figure della +letteratura. Roma, Bertero. + +Lombroso, C. Der geniale Mensch. Hamburg, 1900. + +Nisbet. Pessimism and its Antidote. Macmillan's Magazine, London, Aug. +1877. + +Pfleiderer, E. Der Moderne Pessimismus. "Deutsche Zeit- und +Streitfragen," Berlin, 1875. + +Plümacher, O. Der Pessimismus in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. 2d. ed. +Heidelberg, 1888. + +Revue des deux Mondes, Dec. 1877, p. 481-514. L'Ecole pessimiste en +Allemagne; son influence et son avenir. + +Sully, James. Pessimism. A History and a Criticism. London, 1877. + +Westminster Review, Vol. 138, Oct. 1892. Pessimism and Poetry. + +Weygoldt, G. P. Kritik des philosophischen Pessimismus der neusten Zeit. +Leiden, 1875. + + +_Hölderlin_ + +Hölderlins Sämmtliche Werke, herausgegeben von C. T. Schwab. Stuttgart, +1846. + +Hölderlins gesammelte Dichtungen. Neu durchgesehene und vermehrte +Ausgabe, mit biographischer Einleitung herausgegeben von B. Litzmann. +Stuttgart, Cotta. + +Arnold, R. F. Der deutsche Philhellenismus. Euphorion, 1896, II +Ergänzungsheft, p. 71 ff. + +Brandes, G. Die Hauptströmungen der Litteratur des 19. Jahrhunderts. +Leipzig, 1894. Vol. 2, p. 48-53. + +Challemel-Lacour. La Poesie paienne en Allemagne au XIX. Siècle. Revue +des deux Mondes, June, 1867. + +Haym, R. Die Romantische Schule. Berlin, 1870, p. 289-324 + +Jung, Alexander. Friedrich Hölderlin und seine Werke. Cotta, 1848. + +Klein-Hattingen, Oskar. Das Liebesleben Hölderlins, Lenaus, Heines. +Berlin, 1901. + +Köstlin, K. Dichtungen von Friedrich Hölderlin, mit biographischer +Einleitung. Tübingen, 1884. + +Litzmann, Carl C. T. Friedrich Hölderlins Leben, in Briefen von und an +Hölderlin. Berlin, 1890. (Reviewed by O. F. Walzel, Zeitschrift f. d. +Alt. Anz. 17, p. 314-320.) + +Müller, David. Friedrich Hölderlin, eine Studie. Preuss. Jahrbücher, +1866, 17, p. 548-68. + +Müller-Rastatt. Friedrich Hölderlins Leben und Dichten, Bremen, 1894. +(Reviewed by Hermann Fischer, Anz. f. d. Alt. 22, p. 212-18.) + +Rosenkranz, K. Aus Hegels Leben. I. Hegel und Hölderlin. Prutz, +Literarhistor. Taschenbuch, 1843, Bd. I, p. 89-200. + +Scherer, Wilh. Vorträge und Aufsätze zur Geschichte des geistigen Lebens +in Deutschland und Oesterreich. Berlin, 1874. Hölderlin, p. 346-355. + +Teuffel, W. S. Studien und Charakteristiken zur griechischen u. +römischen sowie zur deutschen Litteraturgeschichte. Leipzig, 1871. +Hölderlin, p. 473-502. + +Waiblinger, Wilh. Friedrich Hölderlin's Leben, Dichtung und Wahnsinn. In +Waiblinger's Werken, 3, p. 219-61. + +Wenzel, G. Hölderlin und Keats als geistesverwandte Dichter. Programm. +Magdeburg, 1896. + +Wilbrandt, Adolf. Hölderlin. In "Geisteshelden. Eine Sammlung von +Biographien," herausgegeben von Dr. Anton Bettelheim. Berlin, 1896. 2 +und 3 Band, p. 1-46. + +(Originally published as "Hölderlin, der Dichter des Pantheismus," in +Riehls Historisches Taschenbuch, 5. Folge, 1. Jahrgang. Leipzig, 1871, +p. 373-413.) + + +_Lenau_ + +Nicolaus Lenau's Sämmtliche Werke, herausgegeben von G. Emil Barthel. 2. +Aufl. Leipzig (Ohne Jahr). + +Lenau's Sämmtliche Werke, in 4 Bänden, Stuttgart, Cotta (Ohne Jahr). + +Lenau's Werke, herausgegeben von Max Koch. Kürschners Nationallitt. 154 +und 155. + +Auerbach. Nicolaus Lenau. Erinnerung und Betrachtung. Wien, 1876. + +Barewicz, Witold. Rezension von Zdziechowski, Der deutsche Byronismus. +Euphorion, 1894, p. 417-18. + +Berdrow, Otto. Frauenbilder aus der neueren deutschen +Litteraturgeschichte. Stuttgart (ohne Jahr). Lenau's Mutter, p. 223-235; +Sophie Löwenthal, p. 236-259; Marie Behrends, p. 260-80. + +Castle, Ed. Nicolaus Lenau. Zur Jahrhundertfeier seiner Geburt. Leipzig, +1902. + +Castle, Ed. Heimaterinnerungen bei Lenau. Grillparzer Jahrb. Wien, 1900, +p. 80-95. + +Castle, Ed. Nicolaus Lenaus Savonarola. Euphorien, 1896, Vol. 3, p. +74-92; 441-64; 1897, Vol. 4, p. 66-91. + +Ernst, Ad. Wilh. Litterarische Charakterbilder. Hamburg, 1895. Lenau, p. +253-74. + +Ernst, Ad. Lenaus Frauengestalten. Stuttgart, 1902. + +Faggi, A. Lenau und Leopardi. Palermo, 1898. + +Farinelli, A. Ueber Leopardis und Lenaus Pessimismus. Verhandlungen des +8. Allgem. d. Neuphilologentages, 1898. (Reviewed in Neuphil. +Centralblatt, Sept. 1898). + +Fischer, Kuno. Der Philosoph des Pessimismus. Kleine Schriften, +Heidelberg, 1897. + +Frankl, L. A. Zur Biographie Nicolaus Lenaus. 2. Aufl. Wien, Pest, +Leipzig, Hartleben, 1885. + +Frankl, L. A. Lenau und Sophie Löwenthal. Cotta, 1891. (Reviewed by +Minor, Anz. f. d. Alt. 18, p. 276-291.) + +Friedrichs, Paul. Nicolaus Lenau. Nordd. Allg. Ztg. 1902, Nr. 188. + +Gesky, Theodor. Lenau als Naturdichter. Leipzig, 1902. + +Hohenhausen, F. Nicolaus Lenau und Emilie Reinbeck. Westermanns Ill. +Monatsh. Mai, 1873. + +Kerner, Theobald. Das Kernerhaus und seine Gäste. Deutsche +Verlagsanstalt, 1894. + +Klein-Hattingen, Oscar. See under Hölderlin. + +Marchand, Alfred. Les Poètes lyriques de l'Autriche. Paris, Fischbacher, +1889. + +Martensen, U. Aus meinem Leben. Berlin, 1891. + +Mayer, Karl. Nicolaus Lenaus Briefe an einen Freund. Stuttgart, 1853. + +Müller-Frauenstein. Von Heinrich von Kleist his zur Gräfin M. +Ebner-Eschenbach. Hannover, 1891. Lenau, p. 123-33. + +Röttinger, Heinrich. Lenaus Bertha. Ein Beitrag zur Lebensgeschichte des +Dichters. Euphor. 1899, p. 752-61. + +Sadger, J. Nicolaus Lenau. Ein pathologisches Lebensbild. Neue Freie +Presse, Nr. 111166-7. Sept. 25, 26, 1895. (Reviewed by Castle, Euphor. +1899, p. 792-95.) + +Roustan, L. Lenau et son Temps, Paris, 1898. (Reviewed by Castle, +Euphor. 1899, p. 785-97, in which review he quotes at length the opinion +of Dr. Med. Karl Weiler.) + +Saly-Stern, J. La vie d'un Poète. Essai sur Lenau. Paris, 1902. + +Scherr, J. Ein Dichter des Weltleids. Hammerschläge und Historien, +Zürich, 1872. + +Schlossar, Dr. A. Nicolaus Lenau's Briefe an Emilie v. Reinbeck, nebst +Aufzeichnungen. Stuttgart, 1896. + +Schurz, Anton X. Lenaus Leben, grossentheils aus des Dichters eignen +Briefen. 2 vols. Cotta, 1855. + +Sintenis, Franz. Nicolaus Lenau. Vortrag. 1892. + +Von Klenze, Camillo. The Treatment of Nature in the Works of Lenau. +Chicago Univ. Press, 1902. + +Wechsler, Ed. Nicolaus Lenau. Eine litterarische Studie. Westermanns +Ill. Monatsh. 68, p. 676-92. + +Weisser, Paul. Lenau und Marie Behrends. Deutsche Rundschau, 1889, p. +420 ff. + +Witt, A. Lenau's Leben und Charakter. Marburg, 1893. + + +_Heine_ + +Heinrich Heines Sämmtliche Werke. Hamburg, Hoffmann und Campe, 1876. + +Heinrich Heines Gesammelte Werke. Kritische Gesammtausgabe, +herausgegeben von Gustav Karpeles. Berlin, 1887. + +Heinrich Heines Sämmtliche Werke. Kritisch durchgesehene und erläuterte +Ausgabe, herausgegeben von Ernst Elster. Leipzig, Bibliogr. Inst. 1890. + +Briefe von Heinrich Heine an seinen Freund Moses Moser. Leipzig, 1862. + +Arnold, Matthew. Essays in Criticism. 3d. ed. London, 1875. Heinrich +Heine, p. 181-224. + +Betz, Dr. Louis P. Heine in Frankreich. Eine litterarhistorische +Untersuchung. Zürich, 1895. Betz, Dr. Heinrich Heine und Alfred de +Musset. Eine biographisch-litterarische Parallele. Zürich, 1897. +(Reviewed by Walzel, Euphor. 1898, p. 788 ff.) + +Bölsche, Wilhelm. Heinrich Heine. Versuch einer ästhetisch-kritischen +Analyse seiner Werke und seiner Weltanschauung. Leipzig, 1888. + +Ducros, Louis. Henri Heine et son Temps. Paris, 1886. + +Eliot, George. Essays and Leaves from a Note-book. London, 1884. Heine, +p. 79-141. + +Elster, Ernest. Zu Heines Biographie. Vierteljahrschrift für +Litteraturgeschichte, 1891, Vol. 4, p. 465-512. + +Engel, E. Heine's Memoiren und Gedichte. Prosa und Briefe. Hamburg, +1884. + +Gautier, Théophile. Portraits et Souvenirs Littéraires. Paris, 1875. +Henri Heine, p. 105-128. + +Goetze, R. Heines Buch der Lieder und sein Verhältnis zum Volkslied. +Dissertation. Halle, 1895. + +Gottschall, Rudolf. Porträts und Studien. Leipzig, 1870. Heinrich Heine +nach neuen Quellen, Bd. I. p. 185-264. + +Houghton, Lord. Monographs, personal and social. London, 1873. The last +days of Heinrich Heine, p. 293-339. + +Hüffer, H. Aus dem Leben Heinrich Heines. Berlin, 1878. + +Hüffer, H. H. Heine und Ernst C. A. Keller. Deutsche Rundschau, Nov. and +Dec., 1895. + +Kalischer, Dr. Alfred C. Heinrich Heines Verhältnis zur Religion. +Dresden, 1890. + +Karpeles, Gustav. Heinrich Heine und das Judentum. Breslau, 1868. + +Karpeles, Gustav. Heinrich Heine und seine Zeitgenossen. Berlin, 1888. + +Karpeles, Gustav. Heine's Autobiographie, nach seinen Werken, Briefen +und Gesprächen. Berlin, 1888. + +Karpeles, Gustav. H. Heine. Aus seinem Leben und aus seiner Zeit. +Leipzig, 1899. + +Kaufmann, Max. Heine's Charakter und die Moderne Seele. Zürich, 1902. + +Keiter, H. H. Heine. Sein Leben, sein Charakter, seine Werke. Köln, +1891. + +Kohn-Abrest, F. Les, Coulisses d'un Livre. A propos des Memoires de +Henri Heine, Poète. Paris, 1884. + +Legras, Jules. Henri Heine, Poète. Paris, 1897. (Reviewed by Walzel, +Euphor. 1898, Vol. 5, p. 149.) + +Magnus, Lady. Jewish Portraits. London, 1888. p. 45-81. (Originally in +Macmillan's Magazine for 1883.) + +Meiszner, Alfred. Heinrich Heine. Erinnerungen. Hamburg, 1856. + +Melchior, Felix. Heinrich Heines Verhältnis zu Lord Byron. Litterarische +Forschungen, XXVII Heft. Berlin, 1903. + +Nietzki, M. Heine als Dichter und Mensch. Berlin, 1895. (Reviewed by +Fürst, Euphor. 1898, Vol. 5, p. 342 f.) + +Nollen. Heine und Wilhelm Müller. Mod. Lang. Notes, April, 1902. + +Proelss, Robert. Heinrich Heine. Sein Lebensgang und seine Schriften. +Stuttgart, 1886. + +Rahmer, S. Heinrich Heines Krankheit und Leidensgeschichte. Eine +kritische Studie. Berlin, 1902. + +Delia Rocca. Skizzen über H. Heine. Wien, Pest, Leipzig, Hartleben, +1882. + +Sandvoss, Franz. Was dünket Euch um Heine? Ein Bekenntnis. Leipzig, +1888. + +Schmidt, Julian. Bilder aus dem geistigen Leben unsrer Zeit. Leipzig, +1870-71. Heine, Bd. 2, p. 283-350. + +Schmidt-Weissenfels. Ueber Heinrich Heine. Berlin, 1857. + +Selden, Camille. Les derniers Jours de H. Heine. Paris, 1884. + +Sharp, William. Life of Heinrich Heine. London, 1888. + +Sintenis, F. H. Heine; ein Vortrag. Dorpat, 1877. + +Stigand. The Life, Works and Opinions of Heinrich Heine. London, 1875. + +Strodtmann, Adolf. Heinrich Heine's Wirken und Streben, Dargestellt an +seinen Werken. Hamburg, 1857. + +Strodtmann, Adolf. Immortellen Heinrich Heine's. Berlin, 1871. + +Strodtmann, Adolf. H. Heine's Leben und Werke. III Aufl. Berlin, 1884. + +Stylo, A. Heine und die Romantik. Programm. Krakau, 1900. + +Weill, Alexandre: Souvenirs Intimes de Henri Heine. Paris, 1883. + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + +[Note TN1: Correction of the original, which has +'Menchen' here.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WELTSCHMERZ *** + +***** This file should be named 17364-8.txt or 17364-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/6/17364/ + +Produced by David Starner, Ralph Janke and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/17364-8.zip b/17364-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4736882 --- /dev/null +++ b/17364-8.zip diff --git a/17364-h.zip b/17364-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..814a1a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/17364-h.zip diff --git a/17364-h/17364-h.htm b/17364-h/17364-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1fcd906 --- /dev/null +++ b/17364-h/17364-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5081 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Types Of Weltschmerz, by Wilhelm Alfred Braun. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + a[title].page { + position: absolute; + right: 4%; + font-size: x-small; + color: gray; + display: inline; /* set to "none" to make page numbers disappear */ + } + a[title].page:after { + content: attr(title); + } + + p { text-indent: 1.5em; + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + hr.stanza { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + border-style: dotted; + margin-right: auto; + margin-left: auto; + position: relative; left: 20% + } + + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + table.toc { + font-size: medium; + width: 50%; + line-height: 160%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + table.toc caption { + font-size: x-large; + font-style: normal; + line-height: 200%; + letter-spacing: 0.35ex; + padding-left: 0.35ex; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + } + + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + right: 4%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .right {text-align: right; margin-right: 1em;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .fwsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 110%;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + .hanging {text-indent: 1.5em;} + .noindent {text-indent: 0em;} + .thanging {vertical-align: top; } + .tphanging { + margin-top: 0em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: 1em; + text-indent: -1em; + } + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {/*vertical-align: super;*/ font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .transnotes {border: dashed 1px; background-color: silver;} + .transnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .transnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .tnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem .tstanza {margin: 0em 0em 0em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i10 {display: block; margin-left: 10em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i12 {display: block; margin-left: 12em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i14 {display: block; margin-left: 14em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i16 {display: block; margin-left: 16em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i18 {display: block; margin-left: 18em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry, by +Wilhelm Alfred Braun + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry + +Author: Wilhelm Alfred Braun + +Release Date: December 21, 2005 [EBook #17364] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WELTSCHMERZ *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Ralph Janke and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_i" id="Page_i" title="i"></a></span></p> +<h1>TYPES OF WELTSCHMERZ</h1> +<h1>IN GERMAN POETRY</h1> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="center">BY</p> + +<p><br /></p> + +<h2>WILHELM ALFRED BRAUN, Ph.D.</h2> + +<h4>SOMETIME FELLOW IN GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND</h4> +<h4>LITERATURES, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY</h4> + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + +<h3>AMS PRESS, INC.</h3> +<h3>NEW YORK</h3> +<h3>1966</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii" title="ii"></a></span></p> +<p class="center"><a name="Copyright_1905_Columbia_University_Press" id="Copyright_1905_Columbia_University_Press"></a>Copyright 1905, Columbia University Press,</p> +<p class="center">New York</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + + +<p class="center">Reprinted with the permission of the</p> +<p class="center">Original Publisher, 1966</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<p class="center">AMS PRESS, INC.</p> +<p class="center">New York, N.Y. 10003</p> +<p class="center">1966</p> + +<p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p class="center">Manufactured in the United States of America<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii" title="iii"></a></span></p> + + +<h2><a name="NOTE" id="NOTE"></a>NOTE</h2> + + +<p><span class="fwsmcap">The</span> author of this essay has attempted to make, as he himself +phrases it, "a modest contribution to the natural history of +Weltschmerz." What goes by that name is no doubt somewhat +elusive; one can not easily delimit and characterize it with +scientific accuracy. Nevertheless the word corresponds to a +fairly definite range of psychical reactions which are of great +interest in modern poetry, especially German poetry. The +phenomenon is worth studying in detail. In undertaking a +study of it Mr. Braun thought, and I readily concurred in the +opinion, that he would do best not to essay an exhaustive history, +but to select certain conspicuously interesting types and +proceed by the method of close analysis, characterization and +comparison. I consider his work a valuable contribution to +literary scholarship.</p> + +<p class="right">CALVIN THOMAS.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Columbia University</span>, June, 1905</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv" title="iv"></a></span></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_v" id="Page_v" title="v"></a></span></p> + + + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p><span class="fwsmcap">The</span> work which is presented in the following pages is +intended to be a modest contribution to the natural history of +Weltschmerz.</p> + +<p>The writer has endeavored first of all to define carefully the +distinction between pessimism and Weltschmerz; then to classify +the latter, both as to its origin and its forms of expression, +and to indicate briefly its relation to mental pathology and to +contemporary social and political conditions. The three poets +selected for discussion, were chosen because they represent distinct +types, under which probably all other poets of Weltschmerz +may be classified, or to which they will at least be +found analogous; and to the extent to which such is the case, +the treatise may be regarded as exhaustive. In the case of each +author treated, the development of the peculiar phase of Weltschmerz +characteristic of him has been traced, and analyzed +with reference to its various modes of expression. Hölderlin +is the idealist, Lenau exhibits the profoundly pathetic side of +Weltschmerz, while Heine is its satirist. They have been considered +in this order, because they represent three progressive +stages of Weltschmerz viewed as a psychological process: +Hölderlin naïve, Lenau self-conscious, Heine endeavoring to +conceal his melancholy beneath the disguise of self-irony.</p> + +<p>It is a pleasure to tender my grateful acknowledgments to my +former Professors, Calvin Thomas and William H. Carpenter +of Columbia University, and Camillo von Klenze and Starr +Willard Cutting of the University of Chicago, under whose +stimulating direction and never-failing assistance my graduate +studies were carried on.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi" title="vi"></a></span></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii" title="vii"></a></span></p> + + + + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. +<p> +<a href="#Copyright_1905_Columbia_University_Press"><b>Copyright 1905, Columbia University Press,</b></a><br /> +<a href="#NOTE"><b>NOTE</b></a><br /> +<a href="#PREFACE"><b>PREFACE</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CONTENTS"><b>CONTENTS</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV</b></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V</b></a><br /> +</p> +End Autogenerated TOC. --> + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table class="toc"> +<tr><td /><td align="right">Page</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>Chapter I—Introduction</b></a></td><td align="right">1</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>Chapter II—Hölderlin</b></a></td><td align="right">9</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>Chapter III—Lenau</b></a></td><td align="right">35</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>Chapter IV—Heine</b></a></td><td align="right">59</td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>Chapter V—Bibliography</b></a></td><td align="right">85</td></tr> +</table> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii" title="viii"></a></span></p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_1" id="Page_1" title="1"></a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3><b>Introduction</b></h3> + + +<p>The purpose of the following study is to examine closely +certain German authors of modern times, whose lives and writings +exemplify in an unusually striking degree that peculiar +phase of lyric feeling which has characterized German literature, +often in a more or less epidemic form, since the days of +"Werther," and to which, at an early period in the nineteenth +century, was assigned the significant name "Weltschmerz."</p> + +<p>With this side of the poet under investigation, there must of +necessity be an enquiry, not only into his writings, his expressed +feelings, but also his physical and mental constitution on the +one hand, and into his theory of existence in general on the +other. Psychology and philosophy then are the two adjacent +fields into which it may become necessary to pursue the subject +in hand, and for this reason it is only fair to call attention to +the difficulties which surround the student of literature in discussing +philosophical ideas or psychological phenomena. Intrepid +indeed would it be for him to attempt a final judgment in +these bearings of his subject, where wise men have differed and +doctors have disagreed.</p> + +<p>Although sometimes loosely used as synonyms, it is necessary +to note that there is a well-defined distinction between Weltschmerz +and pessimism. Weltschmerz may be defined as the +poetic expression of an abnormal sensitiveness of the feelings to +the moral and physical evils and misery of existence—a condition +which may or may not be based upon a reasoned conviction +that the sum of human misery is greater than the sum of human +happiness. It is usually characterized also by a certain lack of +will-energy, a sort of sentimental yielding to these painful emotions. +It is therefore entirely a matter of "Gemüt." Pessi<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_2" id="Page_2" title="2"></a></span>mism, +on the other hand, purports to be a theory of existence, +the result of deliberate philosophic argument and investigation, +by which its votaries have reached the dispassionate conclusion +that there is no real good or pleasure in the world that is not +clearly outweighed by evil or pain, and that therefore self-destruction, +or at least final annihilation is the consummation +devoutly to be wished.</p> + +<p>James Sully, in his elaborate treatise on Pessimism,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> divides +it, however, into reasoned and unreasoned Pessimism, including +Weltschmerz under the latter head. This is entirely compatible +with the definition of Weltschmerz which has been attempted +above. But it is interesting to note the attitude of the pessimistic +school of philosophy toward this unreasoned pessimism. +It emphatically disclaims any interest in or connection with it, +and describes all those who are afflicted with the malady as +execrable fellows—to quote Hartmann—: "Klageweiber männlichen +und weiblichen Geschlechts, welche am meisten zur Discreditierung +des Pessimismus beigetragen haben, die sich in +ewigem Lamento ergehen, und entweder unaufhörlich in +Thränen schwimmen, oder bitter wie Wermut und Essig, sich +selbst und andern das Dasein noch mehr vergällen; eine jämmerliche +Situation des Stimmungspessimismus, der sie nicht +leben und nicht sterben lässt."<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> And yet Hartmann himself +does not hesitate to admit that this very condition of +individual Weltschmerz, or "Zerrissenheit," is a necessary +and inevitable stage in the progress of the mind toward that +clarified universal Weltschmerz which is based upon theoretical +insight, namely pessimism in its most logical sense. This being +granted, we shall not be far astray in assuming that it is also +the stage to which the philosophic pessimist will sometimes +revert, when a strong sense of his own individuality asserts +itself.</p> + +<p>If we attempt a classification of Weltschmerz with regard to +its essence, or, better perhaps, with regard to its origin, we shall +find that the various types may be classed under one of two<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_3" id="Page_3" title="3"></a></span> +heads: either as cosmic or as egoistic. The representatives of +cosmic Weltschmerz are those poets whose first concern is not +their personal fate, their own unhappiness, it may be, but who +see first and foremost the sad fate of humanity and regard their +own misfortunes merely as a part of the common destiny. The +representatives of the second type are those introspective +natures who are first and chiefly aware of their own misery +and finally come to regard it as representative of universal evil. +The former proceed from the general to the particular, the latter +from the particular to the general. But that these types must +necessarily be entirely distinct in all cases, as Marchand<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> asserts, +seems open to serious doubt. It is inconceivable that a poet +into whose personal experience no shadows have fallen should +take the woes of humanity very deeply to heart; nor again could +we imagine that one who has brooded over the unhappy condition +of mankind in general should never give expression to a +note of personal sorrow. It is in the complexity of motives in +one and the same subject that the difficulty lies in making rigid +and sharp distinctions. In some cases Weltschmerz may arise +from honest conviction or genuine despair, in others it may be +something entirely artificial, merely a cloak to cover personal +defects. Sometimes it may even be due to a desire to pose as a +martyr, and sometimes nothing more than an attempt to ape the +prevailing fashion. To these types Wilhelm Scherer adds +"Müssiggänger, welche sich die Zeit mit übler Laune vertreiben, +missvergnügte Lyriker, deren Gedichte nicht mehr gelesen werden, +und Spatzenköpfe, welche den Pessimismus für besonderen +Tiefsinn halten und um jeden Preis tiefsinnig erscheinen +wollen."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>But it is with Weltschmerz in its outward manifestations as +it finds expression in the poet's writings, that we shall be chiefly +concerned in the following pages. And here the subdivisions, +if we attempt to classify, must be almost as numerous as the +representatives themselves. In Hölderlin we have the ardent +Hellenic idealist; Lenau gives expression to all the pathos of<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_4" id="Page_4" title="4"></a></span> +Weltschmerz, Heine is its satirist, the misanthrope, while in +Raabe we even have a pessimistic humorist.</p> + +<p>This brief list needs scarcely be supplemented by other names +of poets of melancholy, such as Reinhold Lenz, Heinrich von +Kleist, Robert Southey, Byron, Leopardi, in order to command +our attention by reason of the tragic fate which ended the lives +of nearly all of these men, the most frequent and the most terrible +being that of insanity. It is of course a matter of common +knowledge that chronic melancholy or the persistent brooding +over personal misfortune is an almost inevitable preliminary to +mental derangement. And when this melancholy takes root in +the finely organized mind of genius, it is only to be expected +that the result will be even more disastrous than in the case of +the ordinary mind. Lombroso holds the opinion that if men of +genius are not all more or less insane, that is, if the "spheres +of influence" of genius and insanity do not actually overlap, +they are at least contiguous at many points, so that the +transition from the former to the latter is extremely easy and +even natural. But genius in itself is not an abnormal mental +condition. It does not even consist of an extraordinary memory, +vivid imagination, quickness of judgment, or of a combination +of all of these. Kant defines genius as the talent of +invention. Originality and productiveness are the fundamental +elements of genius. And it is an almost instinctive force which +urges the author on in his creative work. In the main his +activity is due less to free will than to this inner compulsion.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">"Ich halte diesen Drang vergebens auf,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Der Tag und Nacht in meinem Busen wechselt.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wenn ich nicht sinnen oder dichten soll,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So ist das Leben mir kein Leben mehr,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>says Goethe's Tasso.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> If this impulse of genius is embodied in +a strong physical organism, as for example in the case of +Shakespeare and Goethe, there need be no detriment to physical +health; otherwise, and especially if there is an inherited tendency +to disease, there is almost sure to be a physical collapse. +Specialists in the subject have pointed out that violent passions +are even more potent in producing mental disease than mere<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_5" id="Page_5" title="5"></a></span> +intellectual over-exertion. And these are certainly characteristic +in a very high degree of the mind of genius. It has often +been remarked that it is the <i>corona spinosa</i> of genius to feel all +pain more intensely than do other men. Schopenhauer says +"der, in welchem der Genius lebt, leidet am meisten." It is +only going a step further then, when Hamerling writes to his +friend Möser: "Schliesslich ist es doch nur der Kranke, der +sich das Leid der ganzen Welt zu Herzen nimmt."</p> + +<p>Radestock, in his study "Genie und Wahnsinn," mentions and +elaborates among others the following points of resemblance +between the mind of genius and the insane mind: an abnormal +activity of the imagination, very rapid succession of ideas, extreme +concentration of thought upon a single subject or idea, +and lastly, what would seem the cardinal point, a weakness of +will-energy, the lack of that force which alone can serve to +bring under control all these other unruly elements and give +balance to what must otherwise be an extremely one-sided +mechanism. Here again the exception may be taken to prove +the rule. It is not too much, I think, to assert that Goethe +could never have become so uniquely great, not even through +the splendid versatility of his genius, but for that incomparable +self-control, which he made the watchword of his life. And in +the case of the poet of Weltschmerz the presence or absence of +this quality may even decide whether he shall rise superior to +his beclouded condition or perish in the gloom. The conclusion +at which Radestock arrives is that genius, as the +expression of the most intense mental activity, occupies the +middle ground, as it were, between the normal healthy state on +the one hand, and the abnormal, pathological state on the other, +and has without doubt many points of contact with mental disease; +and that although the elements which genius has in +common with insanity may not be strong enough in themselves +to induce the transition from the former to the latter state, yet +when other aggravating causes are added, such as physical +disease, violent emotions or passions, overwork, the pressure or +distress of outward circumstances, the highly gifted individual +is much more liable to cross the line of demarkation between +the two mental states than is the average mind, which is more<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_6" id="Page_6" title="6"></a></span> +remote from that line. If this can be asserted of genius in +general, it must be even more particularly and widely applicable +in reference to a combination of genius and Weltschmerz. We +shall find pathetic examples in the first two types selected for +examination.</p> + +<p>Having thus introduced the subject in its most general bearings +and aspects, it remains for us to review briefly its historical +background.</p> + +<p>Weltschmerz is essentially a symptom of a period of conflict, +of transition. The powerful reaction which marks the +eighteenth century—a reaction against all traditional intellectual +authority, and a struggle for the emancipation of the +individual, of research, of inspiration and of genius—reached +its high-water mark in Germany in the seventies. But with +the unrestrained outbursts of the champions of Storm and +Stress the problem was by no means solved; there remained the +basic conflict between the idea of personal liberty and the +strait-jacket of Frederician absolutism, the conflict between +the dynastic and the national idea of the state. Should the +individual yield a blind, unreasoned submission to the state as +to a divinely instituted arbitrary authority, good or bad, or was +the state to be regarded as the conscious and voluntary coöperation +of its subjects for the general good? It was, moreover, +a time not only of open and active revolt, as represented by the +spirit of Klinger, but also of great emotional stirrings, and sentimental +yearnings of such passive natures as Hölty. Rousseau's +plea for a simplified and more natural life had exerted a +mighty influence. And what has a most important bearing +upon the relation between these intellectual currents and Weltschmerz—these +minds were lacking in the discipline implied in +our modern scientific training. Scientific exactness of thinking +had not become an integral part of education. Hence the +difference between the pessimism of Ibsen and the romantic +Weltschmerz of these uncritical minds.</p> + +<p>In accounting for the tremendous effect produced by his +"Werther," Goethe compares his work to the bit of fuse which +explodes the mine, and says that the shock of the explosion was +so great because the young generation of the day had already<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_7" id="Page_7" title="7"></a></span> +undermined itself, and its members now burst forth individually +with their exaggerated demands, unsatisfied passions and +imaginary sufferings.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> And in estimating the influences which +had prepared the way for this mental disposition, Goethe emphasizes +the influence of English literature. Young's "Night +Thoughts," Gray's "Elegy," Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," +even "Hamlet" and his monologues haunted all minds. +"Everyone knew the principal passages by heart, and everyone +believed he had a right to be just as melancholy as the Prince +of Denmark, even though he had seen no ghost and had no +royal father to avenge." Finally Ossian had provided an eminently +suitable setting,—under the darkly lowering sky the +endless gray heath, peopled with the shadowy forms of departed +heroes and withered maidens. To quote the substance +of Goethe's criticism:<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Amid such influences and surroundings, +occupied with fads and studies of this sort, lacking all incentive +from without to any important activity and confronted +by the sole prospect of having to drag out a humdrum existence, +men began to reflect with a sort of sullen exultation upon the +possibility of departing this life at will, and to find in this +thought a scant amelioration of the ills and tedium of the times. +This disposition was so general that "Werther" itself exerted +a powerful influence, because it everywhere struck a responsive +chord and publicly and tangibly exhibited the true inwardness +of a morbid youthful illusion.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>Nor did the dawning nineteenth century bring relief. No +other period of Prussian history, says Heinrich von Treitschke,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +is wrapped in so deep a gloom as the first decade of the reign +of Frederick William III. It was a time rich in hidden intellectual +forces, and yet it bore the stamp of that uninspired +Philistinism which is so abundantly evidenced by the barren<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_8" id="Page_8" title="8"></a></span> +commonplace character of its architecture and art. Genius +there was, indeed, but never were its opportunities for public +usefulness more limited. It was as though the greatness of the +days of the second Frederick lay like a paralyzing weight upon +this generation. And this oppressing sense of impotence was +followed, after the Napoleonic Wars, by the bitterness of disappointment, +all the more keenly felt by reason of this first +reawakening of the national consciousness. Great had been +the expectations, enormous the sacrifice; exceedingly small was +the gain to the individual.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> And the resultant dissonance was +the same as that to which Alfred de Musset gave expression in +the words: "The malady of the present century is due to two +causes; the people who have passed through 1793 and 1814 +bear in their hearts two wounds. All that was is no more; all +that will be is not yet. Do not hope to find elsewhere the +secret of our ills."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>This then in briefest outline is the transition from the century +of individualism and autocracy to the nineteenth century +of democracy. Small wonder that the struggle claimed its +victims in those individuals who, unable to find a firm basis of +conviction and principle, vacillated constantly between instinctive +adherence to old traditions, and unreasoned inclination to +the new order of things.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> "Pessimism, a History and a Criticism," London, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Ed. von Hartmann: "Zur Geschichte und Begründung des Pessimismus," +Leipzig, Hermann Haacke, p. 187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "Les Poètes Lyriques de l'Autriche," Paris, 1886, p. 293.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> "Vorträge und Aufsätze zur Geschichte des geistigen Lebens in Deutschland +und Oesterreich," Berlin, 1874, p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Act 5, Sc. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> "Goethes Werke," Weimar ed. Vol. 28, p. 227 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 216 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> In view of Goethe's own words, then, the caution of a recent critic (Felix +Melchior in <i>Litt. Forsch.</i> XXVII Heft, Berlin, 1903) against applying the term +Weltschmerz to "Werther," would seem to miss the mark entirely. Werther is a +type, just as truly as is Faust, though in a smaller way, and the malady which he +typifies has its ultimate origin in the development of public life,—the very condition +which this critic insists upon as a mark of Weltschmerz in the proper application +of the term.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> "Historische und politische Aufsätze," Leipzig, 1897. Vol. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> As early as 1797 Hölderlin's Hyperion laments: "Mein Geschäft auf Erden +ist aus. Ich bin voll Willens an die Arbeit gegangen, habe geblutet darüber, und +die Welt um keinen Pfennig reicher gemacht." ("Hölderlin's gesammelte Dichtungen, +herausgegeben von B. Litzmann," Stuttgart, Cotta, undated. Vol. II, p. +68.) Several decades later Heine writes: "Ich kann mich über die Siege meiner +liebsten Ueberzeugungen nicht recht freuen, da sie mir gar zu viel gekostet haben. +Dasselbe mag bei manchem ehrlichen Manne der Fall sein, und es trägt viel bei zu +der grossen düsteren Verstimmung der Gegenwart." (Brief vom 21 April, 1851, an +Gustav Kolb; Werke, Karpeles ed. Vol. IX, p. 378.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "Confession d'un enfant du siècle." Œuvres compl. Paris, 1888 (Charpentier). +Vol. VIII, p. 24.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_9" id="Page_9" title="9"></a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3><b>Hölderlin</b></h3> + + +<p>A case such as that of Hölderlin, subject as he was from the +time of his boyhood to melancholy, and ending in hopeless insanity, +at once suggests the question of heredity. Little or +nothing is known concerning his remote ancestors. His great-grandfather +had been administrator of a convent at Grossbottwar, +and died of dropsy of the chest at the age of forty-seven. +His grandfather had held a similar position as "Klosterhofmeister +und geistlicher Verwalter" at Lauffen, to which his +son, the poet's father, succeeded. An apoplectic stroke ended +his life at the early age of thirty-six. In regard to Hölderlin's +maternal ancestors, our information is even more scant, though +we know that both his grandmother and his mother lived to a +ripe old age. From the poet's references to them we judge +them to have been entirely normal types of intelligent, lovable +women, gifted with a great deal of good practical sense. The +only striking thing is the premature death of Hölderlin's great-grandfather +and father. But in view of the nature of their +stations in life, in which they may fairly be supposed to have +led more than ordinarily sober and well-ordered lives, there +seems to be no ground whatever for assuming that Hölderlin's +Weltschmerz owed its inception in any degree to hereditary +tendencies, notwithstanding Hermann Fischer's opinion to the +contrary.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> There is no sufficient reason to assume "erbliche +Belastung," and there are other sufficient causes without merely +guessing at such a possibility.</p> + +<p>But while there are no sufficient historical grounds for the +supposition that he brought the germ of his subsequent mental +disease with him in his birth, we cannot fail to observe, even in<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_10" id="Page_10" title="10"></a></span> +the child, certain natural traits, which, being allowed to develop +unchecked, must of necessity hasten and intensify the gloom +which hung over his life. To his deep thoughtfulness was +added an abnormal sensitiveness to all external influences. +Like the delicate anemone, he recoiled and withdrew within +himself when touched by the rougher material things of life.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +He himself poetically describes his absentmindedness when a +boy, and calls himself "ein Träumer"; and a dreamer he +remained all his life. It seems to have been this which first +brought him into discord with the world:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Oft sollt' ich stracks in meine Schule wandern,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Doch ehe sich der Träumer es versah,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So hatt' er in den Garten sich verirrt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und sass behaglich unter den Oliven,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und baute Flotten, schifft' ins hohe Meer.<br /></span> + +<hr class= "stanza" /> + +<span class="i2">Dies kostete mich tausend kleine Leiden,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Verzeihlich war es immer, wenn mich oft<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die Klügeren, mit herzlichem Gelächter<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Aus meiner seligen Ekstase schreckten,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Doch unaussprechlich wehe that es mir.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>If ever a boy needed a strong fatherly hand to guide him, to +teach him self-reliance and practical sense, it was this dreamy, +tender-spirited child.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> The love and sympathy which his +mother bestowed upon him was not calculated to fit him for +the rugged experiences of life, and while probably natural and +pardonable, it was nevertheless extremely unfortunate that the +boy was unconsciously encouraged to be and to remain a "Muttersöhnchen." +But even with his peculiar trend of disposition, +the result might not have been an unhappy one, had the course +of his life not brought him more than an ordinary share of misfortune. +This overtook him early in life, for when but two<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_11" id="Page_11" title="11"></a></span> +years of age his father died. His widowed mother now lived +for a few years in complete retirement with her two children—the +poet's sister Henrietta having been born just a few weeks +after his father's demise. But it was not long before death +again entered the household and robbed it of Hölderlin's aunt, +his deceased father's sister, who was herself a widow and the +faithful companion of the poet's mother. When the latter +found herself again alone with her two little ones, whose care +was weighing heavily upon her, she consented to become the +wife of her late husband's friend, Kammerrat Gock, and accompanied +him to his home in the little town of Nürtingen on the +Neckar. But this re-established marital happiness was to be of +brief duration, for in 1779 her second husband died, and the +mother was now left with four little children to care and provide +for.</p> + +<p>The frequency with which death visited the family during +his childhood and youth, familiarized him at an early age with +scenes of sorrow and grief. No doubt he was too young when +his father died to comprehend the calamity that had come upon +the household, but it was not many months before he knew the +meaning of his mother's tears, not only for his father, but also +for his sister, who died in her infancy. Referring to his +father's death, he writes in one of his early poems, "Einst +und Jetzt":<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Einst schlugst du mir so ruhig, empörtes Herz!<br /></span> +</div> + +<hr class="stanza" /> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Einst in des Vaters Schoosse, des liebenden<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Geliebten Vaters,—aber der Würger kam,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wir weinten, flehten, doch der Würger<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Schnellte den Pfeil, und es sank die Stütze.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>At his tenderest and most impressionable age, the boy was thus +made sadly aware of the fleetingness of human life and the +pains of bereavement. We cannot wonder then at finding these +impressions reflected in his most juvenile poetic attempts. His +poem "Das menschliche Leben," written at the age of fifteen, +begins:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_12" id="Page_12" title="12"></a></span></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Menschen, Menschen! was ist euer Leben,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Eure Welt, die thränenvolle Welt!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dieser Schauplatz, kann er Freude geben<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wo sich Trauern nicht dazu gesellt?<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But a time of still greater unhappiness was in store for him +when he left his home at the age of fourteen to enter the convent +school at Denkendorf, where he began his preparation for +a theological course. A more direct antithesis to all that his +body and soul yearned for and needed for their proper development +could scarcely have been devised than that which existed +in the chilling atmosphere and rigorous discipline of the monastery. +He had not even an incentive to endure hardships for +the sake of what lay beyond, for it was merely in passive submission +to his mother's wish that he had decided to enter holy +orders. And now, clad in a sombre monkish gown, deprived +of all freedom of thought or movement and forced into companionship +with twenty-five or thirty fellows of his own age, +who nearly all misunderstood him, Hölderlin felt himself +wretched indeed. "Wär' ich doch ewig ferne von diesen +Mauern des Elends!" he writes in a poem at Maulbronn in +1787.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> There was for him but one way of escape. It was to +isolate himself as much as possible from the world of harsh +reality about him, to be alone, and there in his solitude to construct +for himself an ideal world of fancy, a poetic dreamland. +This mental habit not only remained with him as he grew into +manhood, it may be said to have been through life one of his +most distinguishing characteristics. It would be impossible +to make room here for all the passages in his poems and letters +of this period, which reflect his love of solitude and his habit +of retreating into a world of his own imagining. His letters +to his friend Nast almost invariably contain some expression +of his heart-ache. "Bilfinger ist wohl mein Freund, aber es +geht ihm zu glücklich, als dass er sich nach mir umsehen +möchte. Du wirst mich schon verstehen—er ist immer lustig, +ich hänge immer den Kopf."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> Another letter begins: "Wieder +eine Stunde wegphantasiert!—dass es doch so schlechte +Menschen giebt, unter meinen Cameraden so elende Kerls<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_13" id="Page_13" title="13"></a></span>—wann +mich die Freundschaft nicht zuweilen wieder gut machte, +so hätt' ich mich manchmal schon lieber an jeden andern Ort +gewünscht, als unter Menschengesellschaft.—Wann ich nur +auch einmal etwas recht Lustiges schreiben könnte! Nur +Gedult! 's wird kommen—hoff' ich, oder—oder hab' ich dann +nicht genug getragen? Erfuhr ich nicht schon als Bube, was +den Mann seufzen machen würde? und als Jüngling, geht's da +besser?—Du lieber Gott! bin ich's denn allein? jeder andre +glücklicher als ich? Und was hab' ich dann gethan?"<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> There +is a world of pathos in this helpless cry of pain, with its suggestion +of retributive fate. A poem of 1788, "Die Stille," written +at Maulbronn, epitomizes almost everything that we have thus +far noted as to Hölderlin's nature. He goes back in fancy to +the days of his childhood, describing his lonely rambles, from +which he would return in the moonlight, unmindful of his lateness +for the evening meal, at which he would hastily eat of that +which the others had left:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Schlich mich, wenn ich satt gegessen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Weg von meinem lustigen Geschwisterpaar.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">O! in meines kleinen Stübchens Stille<br /></span> +<span class="i2">War mir dann so über alles wohl,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wie im Tempel war mir's in der Nächte Hülle,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wann so einsam von dem Turm die Glocke scholl.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Als ich weggerissen von den Meinen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Aus dem lieben elterlichen Haus<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Unter Fremden irrte, we ich nimmer weinen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Durfte, in das bunte Weltgewirr hinaus,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">O wie pflegtest du den armen Jungen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Teure, so mit Mutterzärtlichkeit,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wann er sich im Weltgewirre müd gerungen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In der lieben, wehmutsvollen Einsamkeit.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This love of solitude is carried to the extreme in his contemplation +of a hermit's life. In a letter to Nast he says: "Heute +ging ich so vor mich hin, da fiel mir ein, ich wolle nach vollendeten +Universitäts Jahren Einsiedler werden—und der Gedanke<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_14" id="Page_14" title="14"></a></span> +gefiel mir so wohl, eine ganze Stunde, glaub' ich, war ich in +meiner Fantasie Einsiedler."<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> And although he never became +a hermit, this is the final disposition which he makes of himself +in his "Hyperion."</p> + +<p>These habits of thought and feeling, formed in boyhood, +could lead to only one result. He became less and less qualified +to comprehend and to grapple with the practical problems +and difficulties of life, and entered young manhood and the +struggle for existence at a tremendous disadvantage.</p> + +<p>Another trait of his character which served to intensify his +subsequent disappointments, was the strong ambition which +early filled his soul. He aspired to high achievements in his +chosen field of art. In a letter to Louise Nast, written probably +about the beginning of 1790, he makes the confession: +"Der unüberwindliche Trübsinn in mir ist wohl nicht ganz, +doch meist—unbefriedigter Ehrgeiz."<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> The mere lad of +seventeen had scarcely learned to admire Klopstock, when he +speaks of his own "kämpfendes Streben nach Klopstocksgrösse," +and exclaims: "Hinan den herrlichen Ehrenpfad! +Hinan! im glühenden kühnen Traum, sie zu erreichen!"<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> It is +remarkable to note how this fancy of a dream-life becomes +fixed in Hölderlin's mind and reappears in almost every poem. +Closely allied to this idea is that of a "glückliche Trunkenheit," +and expressions like "wie ein Göttertraum das Alter schwand," +"liebetrunken," "Wie ein Traum entfliehen Ewigkeiten," "siegestrunken," +"süsse, kühne Trunkenheit," "trunken dämmert +die Seele mir," can be found on almost every page of his shorter +poems. Hyperion expresses himself on one occasion in the +words: "O ein Gott ist der Mensch, wenn er träumt, ein +Bettler, wenn er nachdenkt, und wenn die Begeisterung hin ist, +steht er da, wie ein missrathener Sohn, den der Vater aus dem +Hause stiess, und betrachtet die ärmlichen Pfennige, die ihm +das Mitleid auf den Weg gab,"<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> which further illustrates the +extravagant idealism by which he allowed himself to be carried +away, and the etherial and thoroughly unpractical trend of his<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_15" id="Page_15" title="15"></a></span> +mind. The flights of fancy of which Hölderlin is capable are +well illustrated by another passage in "Hyperion." Referring +to Hyperion's conversation with Alabanda, he says: "Ich war +hingerissen von unendlichen Hoffnungen, Götterkräfte trugen +wie ein Wölkchen mich fort."<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> These facts have a direct bearing +upon Hölderlin's Weltschmerz, inasmuch as it was just +this unequal and unsuccessful struggle of the idealist with the +stern realities of life that brought about the catastrophe which +wrought his ruin.</p> + +<p>And just as his ideals are vague and abstract, so too are the +expressions of his Weltschmerz. It needs no concrete idea to +arouse his enthusiasm to its highest pitch. Thus Hyperion exclaims: +"Der Gott in uns, dem die Unendlichkeit zur Bahn +sich öffnet, soll stehen und harren, bis der Wurm ihm aus dem +Wege geht? Nein! nein! man frägt nicht, ob ihr wollt! ihr +wollt ja nie—ihr Knechte und Barbaren! Euch will man auch +nicht bessern, denn es ist umsonst! Man will nur dafür +sorgen, dass ihr dem Siegeslauf der Menschheit aus dem Wege +geht!"<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> It is in the form of lofty generalities such as these, +and seldom with reference to practical details, that Hölderlin's +longings find expression.</p> + +<p>Entirely consistent with this idealism is the nature of his +love, ardent, but etherial, "übersinnlich." This is reflected +also in his lyrics, which are statuesque and beautiful, but lacking +in passion and sensuous charm. Hölderlin's earliest love-affair, +that with Louise Nast, is important for his Weltschmerz +only in its bearing upon the development of his general character. +This influence was a twofold one: in the first place his +sweetheart was herself inclined to a sort of visionary mysticism, +and therefore had an unwholesome influence upon the youth, +who had already been carried too far in that direction. She +too was a lover of solitude and wrote her letters to him in the +stillness of the night, when all others were asleep. There can +be no doubt that she had at least some share in determining his +mental activity, especially his reading. In one of his earliest +letters to her he writes: "Weil Du den Don Carlos liest, will<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_16" id="Page_16" title="16"></a></span> +ich ihn auch lesen."<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> It was during this time too that that he +became so ardent an admirer of Schubart and Ossian. "Da +leg' ich meinen Ossian weg und komme zu Dir," he writes in +1788 to his friend Nast. "Ich habe meine Seele geweidet an +den Helden des Barden, habe mit ihm getrauert, wann er +trauert über sterbende Mädchen."<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> There is not a sensuous +note in all Hölderlin's poems or letters to Louise. Typical are +the lines which he addresses to her on his departure from Maulbronn:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Lass sie drohen, die Stürme, die Leiden,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Lass trennen—der Trennung Jahre<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sie trennen uns nicht!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sie trennen uns nicht!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Denn mein bist du! Und über das Grab hinaus<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Soll sie dauren, die unzertrennbare Liebe.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">O! wenn's einst da ist<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Das grosse selige Jenseits,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wo die Krone dem leidenden Pilger,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die Palme dem Sieger blinkt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dann Freundin—lohnet auch Freundschaft—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Auch Freundschaft der Ewige.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The second bearing which his relations to Louise have upon +his Weltschmerz lies in the fact that his love ended in disappointment. +This is true not only of this particular episode, not +only of all his love-affairs, but it may even be said that disappointment +was the fate to which he found himself doomed in +all his aspirations. And in the persistency with which this +evil angel pursued his footsteps through life may be found +one of the chief causes of the early collapse of his faculties. +What David Müller<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> and Hermann Fischer<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> have said in their +essays in regard to this point—that Hölderlin did not become +insane because his life was a succession of unsatisfactory situations +and painful disappointments, but because he had not the +strength to work himself out of these situations into more +favorable ones—states only half the case. True, a stronger<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_17" id="Page_17" title="17"></a></span> +mental organization might have overcome these or even greater +difficulties; Schiller, Herder, Fichte are examples; but not +all of Hölderlin's failures and disappointments were the result +of his weakness, and so while it is right to state that a stronger +and more robust nature would have conquered in the fight, it +is also fair to say that Hölderlin would have had a good +chance of winning, had fortune been more kind. For this +reason these external influences must be reckoned with as an +important cause of his Weltschmerz and subsequently of his +insanity.</p> + +<p>This suggests an interesting point of comparison—if I may +be permitted to anticipate somewhat—with Lenau, the second +type selected. Hölderlin earnestly pursued happiness and contentment, +but it eluded him at every step. Lenau on the contrary +reached a point in his Weltschmerz where he refused to +see anything in life but pain, wilfully thrusting from him even +such happiness as came within his reach.</p> + +<p>We may postpone any detailed reference to Hölderlin's relations +with Susette Gontard, which were vastly more important +in their influence upon the poet's character and Weltschmerz, +until we come to the discussion of his "Hyperion," of which +Susette, under the pseudonym of Diotima, forms one of the +central figures.</p> + +<p>To speak of all the disappointments which fell to Hölderlin's +lot would practically require the writing of his biography +from the time of his graduation from Tübingen to his return +from Bordeaux, almost the entire period of his sane manhood. +Unsuccessful in his first position as a tutor, and unable, after +having abandoned this, to provide even a meagre living for +himself with his pen, his migration to Frankfort to the house +of the merchant Gontard at last gave him a hope of better +things, but a hope which soon proved vain. Following close +upon these disappointments was his failure to carry out a +project which he had long cherished, of establishing a literary +journal; then came his dismissal from a situation which he had +just entered upon in Switzerland. On his return he wrote to +Schiller for help and advice, and his failure to receive a reply +grieved him deeply. We can only surmise that it was a cruel<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_18" id="Page_18" title="18"></a></span> +disappointment, finally, which caused his sudden departure +from Bordeaux, and brought him back a mental wreck to his +mother's home. Even as early as 1788 Hölderlin complains +bitterly in the poem "Der Lorbeer," in which he eulogizes the +poets Klopstock and Young and expresses his own ambition +to aspire to their greatness:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Schon so manche Früchte schöner Keime<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Logen grausam mir ins Angesicht.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>As the years passed, this feeling of disappointment and disillusion +became more and more intense and bitter. A stanza +from one of his more mature poems (1795) "An die Natur," +will serve to illustrate the sentiment which pervades almost all +his writings:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Tot ist nun, die mich erzog und stillte,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Tot ist nun die jugendliche Welt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Diese Brust, die einst ein Himmel füllte,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Tot und dürftig wie ein Stoppelfeld;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ach es singt der Frühling meinen Sorgen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Noch, wie einst, ein freundlich tröstend Lied,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Aber hin ist meines Lebens Morgen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Meines Herzens Frühling ist verblüht.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>In close causal connection with Hölderlin's Weltschmerz is +his belief that his life is ruled by an inexorable fate whose plaything +he is. "Wenn hinfort mich das Schicksal ergreift, und +von einem Abgrund in den andern mich wirft, und alle Kräfte +in mir ertränkt und alle Gedanken," Hyperion exclaims.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> He +goes even further, and conceives the idea of a sacrifice to Fate. +Thus he makes Alabanda say near the close of "Hyperion:" +"Ach! weil kein Glück ist ohne Opfer, nimm als Opfer mich, o +Schicksal an, und lass die Liebenden in ihrer Freude."<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> Wilhelm +Scherer calls attention to Gervinus' remark that new intellectual +tendencies which call for unaccustomed and unusual +mental effort often prove disastrous to single individuals, and +says: "Hölderlin war also ein Opfer der Erneuerung des +deutschen Lebens—seltsam, wie der Gedanke des Opfers als<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_19" id="Page_19" title="19"></a></span> +ein hoher und herrlicher ihn in allen seinen Gedichten viel beschäftigt +hat."<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> But the poet does not apply this fatalism only +to himself, to the individual; he widens its influence to humanity +in general. "Wir sprechen von unserm Herzen, unsern +Planen, als wären sie unser," says Hyperion, "und es ist doch +eine fremde Gewalt, die uns herumwirft und ins Grab legt, +wie es ihr gefällt, und von der wir nicht wissen, von wannen sie +kommt, noch wohin sie geht:"<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> Perhaps nowhere better than +in Hyperion's "Schicksalslied" does he give poetic expression to +this thought. Omitting the first stanza it reads thus:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Schicksallos wie der schlafende<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Säugling atmen die Himmlischen;<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Keusch bewahrt<br /></span> +<span class="i8">In bescheidener Knospe,<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Blühet ewig<br /></span> +<span class="i12">Ihnen der Geist,<br /></span> +<span class="i14">Und die seligen Augen<br /></span> +<span class="i16">Blicken in stiller<br /></span> +<span class="i18">Ewiger Klarheit.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Doch uns ist gegeben,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">Auf keiner Stätte zu ruhn,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">Es schwinden, es fallen<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Die leidenden Menschen<br /></span> +<span class="i10">Blindlings von einer<br /></span> +<span class="i12">Stunde zur andern,<br /></span> +<span class="i14">Wie Wasser von Klippe<br /></span> +<span class="i16">Zu Klippe geworfen,<br /></span> +<span class="i18">Jahrlang ins Ungewisse hinab.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The fundamental difference between Hölderlin's "Anschauung" +and Goethe's is at once apparent when we recall the "Lied der +Parzen" from "Iphigenie." Hölderlin does not bring the +blessed Genii into any relation with mortals, but merely contrasts +their free and blissful existence, emphasizing their immunity +from Fate, to which suffering humanity is subject. But +this humanity is represented by Hölderlin characteristically as +helpless, passive—"schwinden," "fallen," "blindlings von einer +Stunde zur andern." Whereas the opening lines of Goethe's<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_20" id="Page_20" title="20"></a></span> +"Parzen" strike the keynote of <i>conflict</i> between the gods and +men:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Es fürchte die Götter<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Das Menschengeschlecht!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sie halten die Herrschaft<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In ewigen Händen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und können sie brauchen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wie's ihnen gefällt.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Der fürchte sie doppelt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Den je sie erheben!<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And those who come to grief at the hands of the gods, are not +weak passive creatures, but heaven-scaling Titans. This points +to the antipodal difference between the characters of these two +poets, and explains in part why Goethe did not succumb to the +sickly sentimentalism of which he rid himself in "Werther." +The difference between yielding and striving resulted in the +difference between an acute case of Weltschmerz in the one and +a healthy physical and intellectual manhood in the other.</p> + +<p>Thus far it has been almost entirely the personal aspect of +Hölderlin's Weltschmerz and its causes that has come under +our notice. And since he was a lyric poet, it is perhaps natural +that the sorrows which concerned him personally should find +most frequent expression in his verse. But notwithstanding +the fact that this personal element is very prominent in Hölderlin's +writings, Scherer's judgment is correct when he states: +"Die Grundstimmung war eine tiefe Verbitterung gegen die +Versunkenheit des Vaterlands."<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> The reason is not far to +seek, especially when we consider the impossible demands of +the poet's extravagant idealism. The conditions in Germany +which had called forth the terrible arraignment of petty despotism, +crushing militarism, and political rottenness generally, in +the works of Lenz, Klinger and Schubart, had not abated. +Schubart was one of Hölderlin's earliest favorites, so that the +latter was doubtless in this way imbued with sentiments which +could only grow stronger under the influence of his more mature +observations and experiences. Even in his eighteenth +year, in a poem "An die Demut,"<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> he gives expression in strong<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_21" id="Page_21" title="21"></a></span> +terms to his patriotic feelings, in which his disgust with his +faint-hearted, servile compatriots and his defiance of "Fürstenlaune" +and "Despotenblut" are plainly evident. So too in +"Männerjubel," 1788:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Es glimmt in uns ein Funke der Göttlichen!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und diesen Funken soll aus der Männerbrust<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Der Hölle Macht uns nicht entreissen!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hört es, Despotengerichte, hört es!<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Perhaps nowhere outside of his own Württemberg could he +have been more unfavorably situated in this respect. Under +Karl Eugen (1744-1793) the country sank into a deplorable +condition. Regardless of the rights of individuals and communities +alike, he sought in the early part of his reign to replenish +his depleted purse by the most shameless measures, in order +that he might surround himself with luxury and indulge his +autocratic proclivities. Among his most reprehensible violations +of constitutional rights, were his bartering of privileges +and offices and the selling of troops. These things Hölderlin +attacks in one of his youthful poems "Die Ehrsucht" (1788):</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Um wie Könige zu prahlen, schänden<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Kleine Wütriche ihr armes Land;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und um feile Ordensbänder wenden<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Räte sich das Ruder aus der Hand.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Another act of gross injustice which this petty tyrant perpetrated, +and which Hölderlin must have felt very painfully, was +the incarceration of the poet's countryman Schubart from 1777 +to 1787 in the Hohenasperg. But not only from within came +tyrannous oppression. Following upon the coalition against +France after the Revolution, Württemberg became the scene of +bloody conflicts and the ravages of war. Under the regime of +Friedrich Eugen (1795-97) the French gained such a foothold +in Württemberg that the country had to pay a contribution of +four million gulden to get rid of them. These were the conditions +under which Hölderlin grew up into young manhood. +But deeper than in the mere existence of these conditions +themselves lay the cause of the poet's most abject humiliation +and grief. It was the stoic indifference, the servile submission<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_22" id="Page_22" title="22"></a></span> +with which he charged his compatriots, that called forth his bitterest +invectives upon their insensible heads. His own words +will serve best to show the intensity of his feelings. In 1788 +he writes, in the poem "Am Tage der Freundschaftsfeier:"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Da sah er (der Schwärmer) all die Schande<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Der weichlichen Teutonssöhne,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und fluchte dem verderblichen Ausland<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und fluchte den verdorbenen Affen des Auslands,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und weinte blutige Thränen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dass er vielleicht noch lange<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Verweilen müsse unter diesem Geschlecht.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Ten years later he treats the Germans to the following ignominious +comparison:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Spottet ja nicht des Kinds, wenn es mit Peitsch' und Sporn<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Auf dem Rosse von Holz, mutig und gross sich dünkt.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Denn, ihr Deutschen, auch ihr seid<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thatenarm und gedankenvoll.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>With his friend Sinclair, who was sent as a delegate, he attended +the congress at Rastatt in November, 1798, and here he +made observations which no doubt resulted in the bitter characterization +of his nation in the closing letters of Hyperion. +This convention, whose chief object was the compensation of +those German princes who had been dispossessed by the cessions +to France on the left bank of the Rhine, afforded a spectacle +so humiliating that it would have bowed down in shame a +spirit even less proud and sensitive than Hölderlin's. The +French emissaries conducted themselves like lords of Germany, +while the German princes vied with each other in acts of servility +and submission to the arrogant Frenchmen. And it was +the apathy of the average German, as Hölderlin conceived it, +toward these and other national indignities, that caused him to +put such bitter words of contumely into the mouth of Hyperion: +"Barbaren von Alters her, durch Fleiss und Wissenschaft +und selbst durch Religion barbarischer geworden, +tief unfähig jedes göttlichen Gefühls—beleidigend für jede gut +geartete Seele, dumpf und harmonielos, wie die Scherben eines +weggeworfenen Gefässes—das, mein Bellarmin! waren meine<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_23" id="Page_23" title="23"></a></span> +Tröster."<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> In another letter Hyperion explains their incapacity +for finer feeling and appreciation when he writes: "Neide +die Leidensfreien nicht, die Götzen von Holz, denen nichts mangelt, +weil ihre Seele so arm ist, die nichts fragen nach Regen +und Sonnenschein, weil sie nichts haben, was der Pflege bedürfte. +Ja, ja, es ist recht sehr leicht, glücklich, ruhig zu sein +mit seichtem Herzen und eingeschränktem Geiste."<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> Their +work he characterizes as "Stümperarbeit," and their virtues as +brilliant evils and nothing more. There is nothing sacred, he +claims, that has not been desecrated by this nation. But it is +chiefly his own experience which he recites, when, in speaking +of the sad plight of German poets, of those who still love the +beautiful, he says: "Es ist auch herzzerreissend, wenn man +eure Dichter, eure Künstler sieht—die Guten, sie leben in der +Welt, wie Fremdlinge im eigenen Hause."<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> Still more extravagantly +does the poet caricature his own people when he writes: +"Wenn doch einmal diesen Gottverlassnen einer sagte, dass bei +ihnen nur so unvollkommen alles ist, weil sie nichts Reines +unverdorben, nichts Heiliges unbetastet lassen mit den plumpen +Händen—dass bei ihnen eigentlich das Leben schaal und sorgenschwer +ist, weil sie den Genius verschmähen—und darum +fürchten sie auch den Tod so sehr, und leiden um des Austernlebens +willen alle Schmach, weil Höhres sie nicht kennen, als +ihr Machwerk, das sie sich gestoppelt."<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></p> + +<p>But we should get an extremely unjust and one-sided idea of +Hölderlin's attitude toward his country from these quotations +alone. The point which they illustrate is his growing estrangement +from his own people, which in the very nature of the case +must have had an important bearing upon his Weltschmerz. +But his feelings in regard to Germany and the Germans were +not all contempt. In many of his poems there is the true +patriotic ring. It is true, we can nowhere find any clear political +program, neither could we expect one from a poet who +was so absorbed in his own feelings, and whose ideals soared so +high above the sphere of practical politics. In this too Höld<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_24" id="Page_24" title="24"></a></span>erlin +was the product of previous influences. With all their +clamor for political upheavals, the "Stürmer und Dränger" +never arrived at any serious or practical plan of action. Notwithstanding +all this, the word Vaterland was always an +inspiration to Hölderlin, and it is especially gratifying to note +that the calumny which he heaps upon the devoted heads of the +Germans is not his last word on the subject. Nor did he ever +lose sight of his lofty ideal of liberty for his degraded fatherland +or cease to hope for its realization. In this strain he concludes +the "Hymne an die Freiheit" (1790) with a splendid +outburst of patriotic enthusiasm:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Dann am süssen, heisserrung'nen Ziele,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wenn der Ernte grosser Tag beginnt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wenn verödet die Tyrannenstühle,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die Tyrannenknechte Moder sind,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wenn im Heldenbunde meiner Brüder<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Deutsches Blut und deutsche Liebe glüht,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dann, O Himmelstochter! sing ich wieder,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Singe sterbend dir das letzte Lied.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>What a remarkable change is noticeable in the tone which the +poet assumes toward his country in the lines "Gesang des +Deutschen," written in 1799, probably after the completion of +his "Hyperion":</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">O heilig Herz der Völker, O Vaterland!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Allduldend gleich der schweigenden Muttererd'<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und allverkannt, wenn schon aus deiner<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Tiefe die Fremden ihr Bestes haben.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Du Land des hohen, ernsteren Genius!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Du Land der Liebe! bin ich der Deine schon,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Oft zürnt' ich weinend, dass du immer<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Blöde die eigene Seele leugnest.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>How much the reproach has been softened, and with what +tender regard he strives to mollify his former bitterness! To +this change in his feelings, his sojourn in strange places and +the attendant discouragements and disappointments seem to +have contributed not a little, for in the poem "Rückkehr in die<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_25" id="Page_25" title="25"></a></span> +Heimat," written in 1800, the contempt of "Hyperion" has been +replaced by compassion. He sees himself and his country +linked together in the sacred companionship of suffering, consequently +it can no longer be the object of his scorn.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Wie lange ist's, O wie lange! des Kindes Ruh'<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ist hin, und hin ist Jugend, und Lieb' und Glück,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Doch du, mein Vaterland! du heilig<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Duldendes! siehe, du bist geblieben.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But the fact remains, nevertheless, that Hölderlin from his +early youth felt himself a stranger in his own land and among +his own people. Some of the causes of this circumstance have +already been discussed. The fact itself is important because +it establishes the connection between his Weltschmerz and his +most noteworthy characteristic as a poet, namely, his Hellenism. +No other German poet has allowed himself to be so completely +dominated by the Greek idea as did Hölderlin. And in his +case it may properly be called a symptom of his Weltschmerz, +for it marks his flight from the world of stern reality into an +imaginary world of Greek ideals. An imaginary Greek world, +because in spite of his Hellenic enthusiasm he entertained some +of the most un-Hellenic ideas and feelings.</p> + +<p>That the poet should take refuge in Greek antiquity is not +surprising, when we consider the conditions which prevailed at +that time in the field of learning. It was not many decades +since the study of Latin and Roman institutions had been forced +to yield preëminence of position in Germany to the study of +Greek. Furthermore, his own Suabia had come to be recognized +as a leader in the study of Greek antiquity, and in his contemporaries +Schiller, Hegel, Schelling, who were all countrymen +and acquaintances of his, he found worthy competitors in +this branch of learning. His fondness for the language and +literature of Greece goes back to his early school days, especially +at Denkendorf and Maulbronn. On leaving the latter +school, he had the reputation among his fellow-students of +being an excellent Hellenist, according to the report of Schwab, +his biographer. It was while there that Hölderlin as a boy<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_26" id="Page_26" title="26"></a></span> +of seventeen first made use of the Alcaic measure in which he +subsequently wrote so many of his poems.</p> + +<p>A full discussion of the technic of Hölderlin's poems would +have so remote a connection with the main topic under consideration +that its introduction here would be entirely out of +place. It will suffice, therefore, merely to indicate along broad +lines the extent to which the Greek idea took and held possession +of the poet.</p> + +<p>Out of his 168 shorter poems, 126, exactly three-fourths, are +written in the unrhymed Greek measures.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> Those forms which +are native are confined almost entirely to his juvenile and +youthful compositions, and after 1797 he only once employs +the rhymed stanza, namely, in the poem "An Landauer."<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> As +a boy of sixteen, he wrote verses in the Alcaic and Asclepiadeian +measures,<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> and soon acquired a considerable mastery over them. +At seventeen he composed in the latter form his poem "An +meine Freundinnen:"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">In der Stille der Nacht denket an euch mein Lied,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wo mein ewiger Gram jeglichen Stundenschlag,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Welcher näher mich bringt dem<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Trauten Grabe, mit Dank begrüsst.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>While not exhibiting the finish of expression and musical qualities +of his more mature Alcaic lyrics, still it is not bad poetry +for a boy of seventeen, and the reader feels what the boy was +not slow to learn, that the stately movement of the Greek +stanzas lends an added dignity to the expression of sorrow, +which was to constitute so large a part of his poetic activity. +As already stated, the Alcaic measure was of all the Greek +verse-forms Hölderlin's favorite, and the one most frequently +and successfully employed by him. He is very fond of introducing +Germanic alliteration into these unrhymed stanzas, as +the following example will illustrate:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Und wo sind Dichter, denen der Gott es gab,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wie unsern Alten, freundlich und fromm zu sein,</span><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_27" id="Page_27" title="27"></a><br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wo Weise, wie die unsern sind, die<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Kalten und Kühnen, die unbestechbarn?<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The Asclepiadeian stanza he employs much less frequently, +the Sapphic only once, and that with indifferent success. It +was the ode, dithyramb and hymn, the serious lyric, which +Hölderlin selected as the models for his poetic fashion. In this +purpose he was not alone, for his friend Neuffer writes to him +in 1793, with an enthusiasm which in the intensity of expression +common at the time, seems almost like an inspiration: "Die +höhere Ode und der Hymnus, zwei in unsern Tagen, und vielleicht +in allen Zeitaltern am meisten vernachlässigte Musen! in +ihre Arme wollen wir uns werfen, von ihren Küssen beseelt +uns aufraffen. Welche Aussichten! Dein Hymnus an die +Kühnheit mag Dir zum Motto dienen! Mir gehe die Hoffnung +voran."<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> + +<p>But it was in the form much more than in the contents of his +poems, that Hölderlin carried out the Greek idea. Most of his +lyrics are occasional poems, or have abstract subjects, as for +example, "An die Stille," "An die Ehre," "An den Genius der +Kühnheit," and so on. Only here and there does he take a +classic subject or introduce classic references. The truth of the +matter is, that with all his fervid enthusiasm for Hellenic ideals, +and with all his Greek cult, Hölderlin was not the genuine Hellenist +he thought himself to be. This is due to the fact that his +turning to Greece was in its final analysis attributable rather to +selfish than to altruistic motives. He wanted to get away from +the deplorable realities about him, the things which hurt his +tender soul, and so he constructed for himself this idealized +world of ancient and modern Greece, and peopled it with his +own creations.</p> + +<p>In Hölderlin's "Hyperion," we have the first poetic work in +German which takes modern Greece as its locality and a +modern Hellene as its hero. Hölderlin calls it "ein Roman," +but it would be rather inaccurately described by the usual translation +of that term. It is not only the poetic climax of his +Hellenism, but also the most complete expression of his Welt<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_28" id="Page_28" title="28"></a></span>schmerz +in its various phases. It must naturally be both, for +the poet and the hero are one. He speaks of it as "mein +Werkchen, in dem ich lebe und webe."<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> Its subject is the +emancipation of Greece. What little action is narrated may be +very briefly indicated. Russia is at war with Turkey and calls +upon Hellas to liberate itself. The hero and his friend Alabanda +are at the head of a band of volunteers, fighting the +Turks. After several minor successes Hyperion lays siege +to the Spartan fortress of Misitra. But at its capitulation, he +is undeceived concerning the Hellenic patriots; they ravage +and plunder so fiercely that he turns from them with repugnance +and both he and Alabanda abandon the cause of liberty +which they had championed. To his bride Hyperion had +promised a redeemed Greece—a lament is all that he can bring +her. She dies, Hyperion comes to Germany where his +aesthetic Greek soul is severely jarred by the sordidness, apathy +and insensibility of these "barbarians." Returning to the +Isthmus, he becomes a hermit and writes his letters to Bellarmin, +no less "thatenarm und gedankenvoll" himself than his +unfortunate countrymen whom he so characterizes.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>"Hyperion," though written in prose, is scarcely anything +more than a long drawn out lyric poem, so thoroughly is action +subordinated to reflection, and so beautiful and rhythmic is the +dignified flow of its periods. But having said that the locality +is Greece and its hero is supposed to be a modern Greek, that in +its scenic descriptions Hölderlin produces some wonderfully +natural effects, and that the language shows the imitation of +Greek turns of expression—Homeric epithets and similes—having +said this, we have mentioned practically all the Greek +characteristics of the composition. And there is much in it +that is entirely un-Hellenic. To begin with, the form in which +"Hyperion" is cast, that of letters, written not even during the +progress of the events narrated, but after they are all a thing +of the past, is not at all a Greek idea. Moreover Weltschmerz, +which constitutes the "Grundstimmung" of all Hölderlin's +writings, and which is most plainly and persistently expressed<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_29" id="Page_29" title="29"></a></span> +in "Hyperion," is not Hellenic. Not that we should have to +look in vain for pessimistic utterances from the classical poets +of Greece—for does not Sophocles make the deliberate statement: +"Not to be born is the most reasonable, but having seen +the light, the next best thing is to go to the place whence we +came as soon as possible."<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> Nevertheless, this sort of sentiment +cannot be regarded as representing the spirit of the +ancient Greeks, which was distinctly optimistic. They were +happy in their worship of beauty in art and in nature, and above +all, happy in their creativeness. The question suggests itself +here, whether a poet can ever be a genuine pessimist, since he +has within him the everlasting impulse to create. And to +create is to hope. Hyperion himself says: "Es lebte nichts, +wenn es nicht hoffte."<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> But we have already distinguished +between pessimism as a system of philosophy, and Weltschmerz +as a poetic mood.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> It is certainly un-Hellenic that +Hölderlin allows Hyperion with his alleged Greek nature to +sink into contemplative inactivity. +In the poem "Der Lorbeer," 1789, he exclaims:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Soll ewiges Trauern mich umwittern,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ewig mich töten die bange Sehnsucht?<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class="noindent">which gives expression to the fact that in his Weltschmerz +there was a very large admixture of "Sehnsucht," an entirely +un-Hellenic feeling. Nor is there to be found in his entire +make-up the slightest trace of Greek irony, which would have +enabled him to overcome much of the bitterness of his life, and +which might indeed have averted its final catastrophe.</p> + +<p>Undeniably Grecian is Hölderlin's idea that the beautiful is +also the good. Long years he sought for this combined ideal. +In Diotima, the muse of his "Hyperion," whose prototype was +Susette Gontard, he has found it—and now he feels that he is in +a new world. To his friend Neuffer, from whom he has no +secrets, he writes: "Ich konnte wohl sonst glauben, ich wisse, +was schön und gut sei, aber seit ich's sehe, möcht' ich lachen +über all mein Wissen. Lieblichkeit und Hoheit, und Ruh und<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_30" id="Page_30" title="30"></a></span> +Leben, und Geist und Gemüt und Gestalt ist Ein seeliges Eins +in diesem Wesen."<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> And six or eight months later: "Mein +Schönheitsinn ist nun vor Störung sicher. Er orientiert sich +ewig an diesem Madonnenkopfe.... Sie ist schön wie Engel! +Ein zartes, geistiges, himmlisch reizendes Gesicht! Ach ich +könnte ein Jahrtausend lang mich und alles vergessen bei ihr—Majestät +und Zärtlichkeit, und Fröhlichkeit und Ernst—und +Leben und Geist, alles ist in und an ihr zu einem göttlichen +Ganzen vereint."<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> It would be difficult to conceive of a more +complete and sublime eulogy of any object of affection than +the words just quoted, and yet they do not conceal their +author's etherial quality of thought, his "Uebersinnlichkeit." +Even his boyish love-affairs seem to have been largely of this +character, and were in all likelihood due to the necessity which +he felt of bestowing his affection somewhere, rather than to +irresistible forces proceeding from the objects of his regard.</p> + +<p>Lack of self-restraint, so often characteristic of the poet of +Weltschmerz, was not Hölderlin's greatest fault. And yet if +his intense devotion to Susette remained undebased by sensual +desires, as we know it did, this was not solely due to the practice +of heroic self-restraint, but must be attributed in part to +the fact that that side of his nature was entirely subordinate to +his higher ideals; and these were always a stronger passion +with Hölderlin than his love. So that Diotima's judgment of +Hyperion is correct when she says: "O es ist so ganz natürlich, +dass Du nimmer lieben willst, weil Deine grössern +Wünsche verschmachten."<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> This consideration at once compels +a comparison with Lenau, which must be deferred, however, +until the succeeding chapter. Undoubtedly this year and +a half at Frankfurt was the happiest period of his whole life. +It brought him a serenity of mind which he had never before +known. Ardent was the response called forth by his devotion, +but its influence was wholesome—it was soothing to his sensitive +nerves. And because it was altogether more a sublime +than an earthly passion, he indulged himself in it with a con<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_31" id="Page_31" title="31"></a></span>science +void of offence. Doubtless he correctly describes the +influence of his relations with Diotima upon his life when he +writes: "Ich sage Dir, lieber Neuffer! ich bin auf dem Wege, +ein recht guter Knabe zu werden.... mein Herz ist voll Lust, +und wenn das heilige Schicksal mir mein glücklich Leben erhält, +so hoff' ich künftig mehr zu thun als bisher."<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> But the happy +life was not to continue long. Rudely the cup was dashed +from his lips, and the poet's pain intensified by one more disappointment—the +bitterest of all he had experienced. It filled +him with thoughts of revenge, which he was powerless to execute. +There can be no question that if his love for Susette had +been of a less etherial order, less a thing of the soul, he would +have felt much less bitterly her husband's violent interference. +But returning to the poem "Hyperion," for as such we may +regard it, we find in it the most complete expression of the +attitude which the poet, in his Weltschmerz, assumed toward +nature. Nature is his constant companion, mother, comforter +in sorrow, in his brighter moments his deity. This nature-worship, +which speedily develops into a more or less consistent +pantheism, Hölderlin expresses in Hyperion's second letter, +in the following creed: "Eines zu sein mit allem, was lebt, in +seliger Selbstvergessenheit wiederzukehren ins All der Natur, +das ist der Gipfel der Gedanken und Freuden, das ist die heilige +Bergeshöhe, der Ort der ewigen Ruhe."<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> And so nature is to +Hölderlin always intensely real and personal. The sea is +youthful, full of exuberant joy; the mountain-tops are hopeful +and serene; with shouts of joy the stream hurls itself like a +giant down into the forests. Here and there his personification +of nature becomes even more striking: "O das Morgenlicht +und ich, wir gingen uns entgegen, wie versöhnte Freunde."<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> +Still more intense is this feeling of personal intimacy, when he +exclaims: "O selige Natur! ich weiss nicht, wie mir geschiehet, +wenn ich mein Auge erhebe von deiner Schöne, aber alle Lust +des Himmels ist in den Thränen, die ich weine vor dir, der +Geliebte vor der Geliebten."<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> It is important for purposes of<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_32" id="Page_32" title="32"></a></span> +comparison, to note that notwithstanding his intense Weltschmerz, +in his treatment of nature Hölderlin does not select +only its gloomy or terrible aspects. Light and shade alternate +in his descriptions, and only here and there is the background +entirely unrelieved. The thunderstorm is to him a dispenser of +divine energies among forest and field, even the seasons of +decline and decay are not left without sunshine: "auf der +stummen entblätterten Landschaft, wo der Himmel schöner +als je, mit Wolken und Sonnenschein um die herbstlich schlafenden +Bäume spielte."<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> One passage in "Hyperion" bears so +striking a resemblance, however, to Lenau's characteristic +nature-pictures, that it shall be given in full—although even +here, when the gloom of his sorrow and disappointment was +steadily deepening, he does not fail to derive comfort from the +warm sunshine, a thought for which we should probably look +in vain, had Lenau painted the picture: "Ich sass mit Alabanda +auf einem Hügel der Gegend, in lieblich wärmender +Sonn', und um uns spielte der Wind mit abgefallenem Laube. +Das Land war stumm; nur hie und da ertönte im Wald ein +stürzender Baum, vom Landmann gefällt, und neben uns murmelte +der vergängliche Regenbach hinab ins ruhige Meer."<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p> + +<p>In spite of his deep and persistent Weltschmerz, Hölderlin +rarely gives expression to a longing for death. This forms so +prominent a feature in the thought of other types of Weltschmerz, +for instance of Lenau and of Leopardi, that its absence +here cannot fail to be noticed. It is true that in his +dramatic poem "Der Tod des Empedokles," which symbolizes +the closing of his account with the world, Hölderlin causes his +hero to return voluntarily to nature by plunging into the fiery +crater of Mount Etna. But Empedokles does this to atone +for past sin, not merely to rid himself of the pain of living; and +thus, even as a poetic idea, it impresses us very differently from +the continual yearning for death which pervades the writings +of the two poets just mentioned. Leopardi declared that it +were best never to see the light, but denounced suicide as a +cowardly act of selfishness; and yet at the approach of an epi<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_33" id="Page_33" title="33"></a></span>demic +of cholera, he clung so tenaciously to life that he urged a +hurried departure from Naples, regardless of the hardships of +such a journey in his feeble condition, and took refuge in a +little villa near Vesuvius. Hölderlin's Weltschmerz was absolutely +sincere.</p> + +<p>Numerous passages might be quoted to show that Hölderlin's +mind was intensely introspective. This is true also of +Lenau, even to a greater extent, and may be taken as generally +characteristic of poets of this type. The fact that this introspection +is an inevitable symptom in many mental derangements, +hypochondria, melancholia and others, indicates a not +very remote relation of Weltschmerz to insanity. In Hölderlin's +poems there are not a few premonitions of the sad fate +which awaited him. One illustration from the poem "An die +Hoffnung," 1801, may suffice:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Wo bist du? wenig lebt' ich, doch atmet kalt<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mein Abend schon. Und stille, den Schatten gleich,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Bin ich schon hier; und schon gesanglos<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Schlummert das schau'rende Herz im Busen.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is impossible to read these lines without feeling something of +the cold chill of the heart that Hölderlin felt was already upon +him, and which he expresses in a manner so intensely realistic +and yet so beautiful.</p> + +<p>Having thus attempted a review of the growth of Hölderlin's +Weltschmerz and of its chief characteristics, it merely +remains to conclude the chapter with a brief resume. We +have then in Friedrich Hölderlin a youth peculiarly predisposed +to feel himself isolated from and repelled by the world, +growing up without a strong fatherly hand to guide, giving +himself over more and more to solitude and so becoming +continually less able to cope with untoward circumstances and +conditions. Growing into manhood, he was unfortunate in all +his love-affairs and as though doomed to unceasing disappointments. +Early in life he devoted himself to the study of antiquity, +making Greece his hobby, and thus creating for himself +an ideal world which existed only in his imagination, and taking +refuge in it from the buffetings of the world about him. He was<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_34" id="Page_34" title="34"></a></span> +a man of a deeply philosophical trend of mind, and while not +often speaking of it, felt very keenly the humiliating condition +of Germany, although his patriotic enthusiasm found its artistic +expression not with reference to Germany but to Greece. As a +poet, finally, his intimacy with nature was such that nature-worship +and pantheism became his religion.</p> + +<p>In reviewing the whole range of Hölderlin's writings, we +cannot avoid the conclusion, that in him we have a type of +Weltschmerz in the broadest sense of the term; we might +almost term it Byronism, with the sensual element eliminated. +He shows the hypersensitiveness of Werther, fanatical enthusiasm +for a vague ideal of liberty, vehement opposition to existing +social and political conditions; there is, in fact, a breadth in +his Weltschmerz, which makes the sorrows of Werther seem +very highly specialized in comparison. Bearing in mind the +distinction made between the two classes, we must designate +Hölderlin's Weltschmerz as cosmic rather than egoistic; the +egoistic element is there, but it is outweighed by the cosmic and +finds its poetic expression not so frequently nor so intensely +with reference to the poet himself, as with reference to mankind +at large.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Anz. f. d. Alt.</i>, vol. 22, p. 212-218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> In a letter to his mother he writes: "Freilich ist's mir auch angeboren, dass +ich alles schwerer zu Herzen nehme." ("Friedrich Hölderlins Leben, in Briefen +von und an Hölderlin, von Carl C.T. Litzmann," Berlin, 1890, p. 27. Hereafter +quoted as "Briefe.").</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> "Hölderlins gesammelte Dichtungen, herausgegeben von B. Litzmann," Stuttgart, +Cotta (hereafter quoted as "Werke"). Vol. II, p. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> It is a reminiscence of Hölderlin's boyhood which finds expression in the +words of Hyperion: "Ich war aufgewachsen, wie eine Rebe ohne Stab, und die +wilden Ranken breiteten richtungslos über dem Boden sich aus." Werke, Vol. II, +p. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> "Auf einer Heide geschrieben," Werke, Vol. I, p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Briefe, p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Briefe, p. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 53 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Briefe, p. 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Briefe, p. 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> "Mein Vorsatz," Werke, Vol. I, p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 69.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Briefe, p. 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Briefe, p. 50.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> "Friedrich Hölderlin, Eine Studie," <i>Preuss. Jahrb.</i>, 1866, p. 548-568.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Anz. f. d. Altertum</i>, Vol. 22, p. 212-218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 75.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 146.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 107.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> "Vorträge und Aufsätze," 1874, Fried. Hölderlin, p. 354.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 96.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Cf. op. cit., p. 352.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 50.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 198.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 200 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> "An die Nachtigall," "An meinen Bilfinger," Werke, Vol. I, p. 42f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Briefe, p. 160.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Briefe, p. 162.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Cf. <i>supra</i>, p. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> "Oedipus Coloneus," 1225 seq.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> Cf. Introduction, p. 1 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> Briefe, p. 382 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Briefe, p. 403-405.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Briefe, p. 404.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 100.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 253.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_35" id="Page_35" title="35"></a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3><b>Lenau</b></h3> + + +<p>If Hölderlin's Weltschmerz has been fittingly characterized +as idealistic, Lenau's on the other hand may appropriately be +termed the naturalistic type. He is par excellence the "Pathetiker" +of Weltschmerz.</p> + +<p>Without presuming even to attempt a final solution of a +problem of pathology concerning which specialists have failed +to agree, there seems to be sufficient circumstantial as well as +direct evidence to warrant the assumption that Lenau's case +presents an instance of hereditary taint. Notwithstanding the +fact that Dr. Karl Weiler<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> discredits the idea of "erbliche Belastung" +and calls heredity "den vielgerittenen Verlegenheitsgaul," +the conclusion forces itself upon us that if the theory +has any scientific value whatsoever, no more plausible instance +of it could be found than the one under consideration. The +poet's great-grandfather and grandfather had been officers in +the Austrian army, the latter with some considerable distinction. +Of his five children, only Franz, the poet's father, survived. +The complete lack of anything like a systematic +education, and the nomadic life of the army did not fail to +produce the most disastrous results in the wild and dissolute +character of the young man. Even before the birth of the poet, +his father had broken his marriage vows and his wife's heart by +his abominable dissipations and drunkenness. Lenau was but +five years old when his father, not yet thirty-five, died of a disease +which he is believed to have contracted as a result of these +sensual and senseless excesses. To the poet he bequeathed +something of his own pathological sensuality, instability of +thought and action, lack of will-energy, and the tears of a heart<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_36" id="Page_36" title="36"></a></span>broken +mother, a sufficient guarantee, surely, of a poet of melancholy. +Even though we cannot avoid the reflection that the +loss of such a father was a blessing in disguise, the fact remains +that Lenau during his childhood and youth needed paternal +guidance and training even more than did Hölderlin. He became +the idol of his mother, who in her blind devotion did not +hesitate to show him the utmost partiality in all things. This +important fact alone must account to a large extent for that presumptuous +pride, which led him to expect perhaps more than +his just share from life and from the world.</p> + +<p>Lenau's aimlessness and instability were so extreme that they +may properly be counted a pathological trait. It is best illustrated +by his university career. In 1819 he went to Vienna +to commence his studies. Beginning with Philosophy, he soon +transferred his interests to Law, first Hungarian, then German; +finding the study of Law entirely unsuited to his tastes, +he now declared his intention of pursuing once more a philosophical +course, with a view to an eventual professorship. +But this plan was frustrated by his grandmother, the upshot of +it all being that Lenau allowed himself to be persuaded to take +up the study of agriculture at Altenburg. But a few months +sufficed to bring him back to Vienna. Here his legal studies, +which he had resumed and almost completed, were interrupted +by a severe affection of the throat which developed into +laryngitis and from which he never quite recovered. This too, +according to Dr. Sadger,<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> marks the neurasthenic, and often +constitutes a hereditary taint. Lenau thereupon shifted once +more and entered upon a medical course, this time not absolutely +without predilection. He did himself no small credit in +his medical examinations, but the death of his grandmother, +just before his intended graduation, provided a sufficient excuse +for him to discontinue the work, which was never again +resumed or brought to a conclusion. But not only in matters +of such relative importance did Lenau exhibit this vacillation. +There was a spirit of restlessness in him which made it impossible +for him to remain long in the same place. Of this condition +no one was more fully aware than he himself. In one of<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_37" id="Page_37" title="37"></a></span> +his letters he writes: "Gestern hat jemand berechnet, wieviel +Poststunden ich in zwei Monaten gefahren bin, und es ergab +sich die kolossale Summe von 644, die ich im Eilwagen unter +beständiger Gemütsbewegung gefahren bin."<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> That this habit +of almost incessant travel tended to aggravate his nervous +condition is a fair supposition, notwithstanding the fact that +Dr. Karl Weiler<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> skeptically asks "what about commercial +travellers?" Lenau himself complains frequently of the distressing +effect of such journeys: "Ein heftiger Kopfschmerz +und grosse Müdigkeit waren die Folgen der von Linz an unausgesetzten +Reise im Eilwagen bei schlechtem Wetter und +abmüdenden Gedanken an meine Zukunft."<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> Many similar +Statements might be quoted from his letters to show that it was +not merely the ordinary process of traveling, though that at +best must have been trying enough, but the breathless haste of +his journeys, combined with mental anxiety, which usually +characterized them, that made them so detrimental to his +health.</p> + +<p>It is as interesting as it is significant to note in this connection +the fact that while on a journey to Munich, just a short +time before the light of his intellect failed, Lenau wrote the +following lines, the last but one of all his poems:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">'s ist eitel nichts, wohin mein Aug' ich hefte!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Das Leben ist ein vielbesagtes Wandern,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ein wüstes Jagen ist's von dem zum andern,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und unterwegs verlieren wir die Kräfte.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Doch trägt uns eine Macht von Stund zu Stund,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wie's Krüglein, das am Brunnenstein zersprang,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und dessen Inhalt sickert auf den Grund,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So weit es ging, den ganzen Weg entlang,—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nun ist es leer. Wer mag daraus noch trinken?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und zu den andern Scherben muss es sinken.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Hölderlin also uses the striking figure contained in the last +line, not however as here to picture the worthlessness of human<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_38" id="Page_38" title="38"></a></span> +life in general, but to stigmatize the Germans, whom Hyperion +describes as "dumpf und harmonielos, wie die Scherben eines +weggeworfenen Gefässes."<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<p>That Lenau was a neurasthenic seems to be the consensus of +opinion, at least of those medical authorities who have given +their views of the case to the public.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> This fact also has an +important bearing upon our discussion, since it will help to +show a materially different origin for Lenau's Weltschmerz +and Hölderlin's.</p> + +<p>Much more frequent than in the case of the latter are the +ominous forebodings of impending disaster which characterize +Lenau's poems and correspondence. In a letter to his friend +Karl Mayer he writes: "Mich regiert eine Art Gravitation +nach dem Unglücke. Schwab hat einmal von einem Wahnsinnigen +sehr geistreich gesprochen.... Ein Analogon von solchem +Dämon (des Wahnsinns) glaub' ich auch in mir zu beherbergen."<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> +He is continually engaged in a gruesome self-diagnosis: +"Dann ist mir zuweilen, als hielte der Teufel seine +Jagd in dem Nervenwalde meines Unterleibes: ich höre ein +deutliches Hundegebell daselbst und ein dumpfes Halloh des +Schwarzen. Ohne Scherz; es ist oft zum Verzweifeln."<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> +This process of self-diagnosis may be due in part to his medical +studies, but much more, we think, to his morbid imagination, +which led him, on more than one occasion, to play the +madman in so realistic a manner that strangers were frightened +out of their wits and even his friends became alarmed, +lest it might be earnest and not jest which they were witnessing.</p> + +<p>Lenau was not without a certain sense of humor, grim +humor though it was, and here and there in his letters there is +an admixture of levity with the all-pervading melancholy. An +example may be quoted from a letter to Kerner in Weinsberg, +dated 1832: "Heute bin ich wieder bei Reinbecks auf ein +grosses Spargelessen. Spargel wie Kirchthürme werden da +gefressen. Ich allein verschlinge 50-60 solcher Kirchthürme<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_39" id="Page_39" title="39"></a></span> +und komme mir dabei vor, wie eine Parodie unserer politisch-prosaischen, +durchaus unheiligen Zeit, die auch schon das +Maul aufsperrt, um alles Heilige, und namentlich die guten +gläubigen Kirchthürme wie Spargelstangen zu verschlingen." +The letter concludes with the signature: "Ich umarme Dich, +bis Dir die Rippen krachen. Dein Niembsch."<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> Not infrequently +this humor was at his own expense, especially when +describing an unpleasant condition or situation, as for example +in a letter to Sophie Löwenthal in the year 1844: "Jetzt lebe +ich hier in Saus und Braus,—d. h. es saust und braust mir der +Kopf von einem leidigen Schnupfen."<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> Again, on finding himself +on one occasion very unwell and uncomfortable in Stuttgart, +he writes as follows: "Beständiges Unwohlsein, Kopfschmerz, +Schlaflosigkeit, Mattigkeit, schlechte Verdauung, +Rhabarber, Druckfehler, und Aerger über den trägen Fortschlich +meiner Geschäfte, das waren die Freuden meiner +letzten Woche. Emilie will es nicht gelten lassen, dass die +Stuttgarter Luft nichts als die Ausdünstung des Teufels sei.—Ich +schnappe nach Luft, wie ein Spatz unter der Luftpumpe.—In +vielen der hiesigen Strassen riecht es am Ende auch +lenzhaft, nämlich pestilenzhaft, und die guten Stuttgarter +merken das gar nicht; 'süss duftet die Heimat.'"<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> In his +fondness for bringing together the incongruous, for introducing +the element of surprise, and in the fact that his humor is +almost always of the impatient, disgruntled, cynical type, +Lenau reminds us not a little of Heine in his "Reisebilder" and +some other prose works. Hölderlin, on the other hand, may +be said to have been utterly devoid of humor.</p> + +<p>Lack of self-control, perhaps the most characteristic trait +among men of genius, was even more pronounced in Lenau +than in Hölderlin. This shows itself in the extreme irregularity +of his habits of life. For instance, it was his custom +to work long past the midnight hour, and then take his rest +until nearly noon. He could never get his coffee quite strong +enough to suit him, although it was prepared almost in the<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_40" id="Page_40" title="40"></a></span> +form of a concentrated tincture and he drank large quantities +of it. He smoked to excess, and the strongest cigars at that; in +short, he seems to have been entirely without regard for his +physical condition. Or was it perverseness which prompted +him to prefer close confinement in his room to the long walks +which he ought to have taken for his health? Even his recreation, +which consisted chiefly in playing the violin, brought +him no nervous relaxation, for it is said that he would often +play himself into a state of extreme nervous excitement.</p> + +<p>All these considerations corroborate the opinion of those +who knew him best, that his Weltschmerz, and eventually his +insanity, had its origin in a pathological condition. Indeed +this was the poet's own view of the case. In a letter to his +brother-in-law, Anton Schurz, dated 1834, he says: "Aber, +lieber Bruder, die Hypochondrie schlägt bei mir immer tiefere +Wurzel. Es hilft alles nichts. Der gewisse innere Riss wird +immer tiefer und weiter. Es hilft alles nichts. Ich weiss, es +liegt im Körper; aber—aber—"<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> In its origin then, Lenau's +Weltschmerz differs altogether from that of Hölderlin, who +exhibits no such symptoms of neurasthenia.</p> + +<p>Lenau's nervous condition was seriously aggravated at an +early date by the outcome of his unfortunate relations with the +object of his first love, Bertha, who became his mistress when +he was still a mere boy. His grief on finding her faithless was +doubtless as genuine as his conduct with her had been reprehensible, +for he cherished for many long years the memory of +his painful disappointment. The general statement, "Lenau +war stets verlobt, fand aber stets in sich selbst einen Widerstand +und unerklärliche Angst, wenn die Verbindung endgiltig +gemacht werden sollte,"<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> is inaccurate and misleading, inasmuch +as it fails to take into proper account the causes, mediate +and immediate, of his hesitation to marry. Lenau was only +once "verlobt," and it was the stroke of facial paralysis<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> which +announced the beginning of the end, rather than any "un<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_41" id="Page_41" title="41"></a></span>erklärliche +Angst," that convinced him of the inexpediency of +that important step.</p> + +<p>Beyond a doubt his long drawn out and abject devotion to +the wife of his friend Max Löwenthal proved the most important +single factor in his life. It was during the year 1834, +after his return from America, that Lenau made the acquaintance +of the Löwenthal family in Vienna.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> Sophie, who was +the sister of his old comrade Fritz Kleyle, so attracted the +poet that he remained in the city for a number of weeks instead +of going at once to Stuttgart, as he had planned and promised. +What at first seemed an ideal friendship, increased in intensity +until it became, at least on Lenau's part, the very glow of +passion. We have already alluded to the poet's premature +erotic instinct, an impulse which he doubtless inherited from +his sensual parents. In his numerous letters and notes to +Sophie, he has left us a remarkable record of the intensity of +his passion. Not even excepting Goethe's letters to Frau von +Stein, there are no love-letters in the German language to +equal these in literary or artistic merit; and never has any +other German poet addressed himself with more ardent devotion +to a woman. A characteristic difference between Hölderlin +and Lenau here becomes evident: the former, even in his +relations with Diotima, supersensual; the latter the very incarnation +of sensuality. Lenau was fully conscious of the tremendous +struggle with overpowering passion, and once confessed +to his clerical friend Martensen that only through the +unassailable chastity of his lady-love had his conscience remained +void of offence. Almost any of his innumerable +protestations of love taken at random would seem like the +most extravagant attempt to give utterance to the inexpressible: +"Gottes starke Hand drückt mich so fest an Dich, dass +ich seufzen muss und ringen mit erdrückender Wonne, und +meine Seele keinen Atem mehr hat, wenn sie nicht Deine Liebe +saugen kann. Ach Sophie! ach, liebe, liebe, liebe Sophie!"<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> +"Ich bete Dich an, Du bist mein Liebstes und Höchstes."<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> +<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_42" id="Page_42" title="42"></a></span> +"Am sechsten Juni reis' ich ab, nichts darf mich halten. Mir +brennt Leib und Seele nach Dir. Du! O Sophie! Hätt' ich +Dich da! Das Verlangen schmerzt, O Gott!"<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> Instead of experiencing +the soothing influences of a Diotima, Lenau's fate +was to be engaged for ten long years in a hot conflict between +principle and passion, a conflict which kept his naturally oversensitive +nerves continually on the rack. He himself expresses +the detrimental effect of this situation: "So treibt mich die +Liebe von einer Raserei zur andern, von der zügellosesten +Freude zu verzweifeltem Unmut. Warum? Weil ich am Ziel +der höchsten, so heiss ersehnten Wonne immer wieder umkehren +muss, weil die Sehnsucht nie gestillt wird, wird sie irr und wild +und verkehrt sich in Verzweiflung,—das ist die Geschichte +meines Herzens."<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> It would seem from the tone of many of +his letters that there was much deliberate and successful effort +on the part of Sophie to keep Lenau's feelings toward her always +in a state of the highest nervous tension. So cleverly did +she manage this that even her caprices put him only the more +hopelessly at her mercy. One day he writes: "Mit grosser +Ungeduld erwartete ich gestern die Post, und sie brachte mir +auch einen Brief von Dir, aber einen, der mich kränkt."<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> For +a day or two he is rebellious and writes: "Ich bin verstimmt, +missmutig. Warum störst Du mein Herz in seinen schönen +Gedanken von innigem Zusammenleben auch in der Ferne?"<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> +But only a few days later he is again at her feet: "Ich habe +Dir heute wieder geschrieben, um Dich auch zum Schreiben zu +treiben. Ich sehne mich nach Deinen Briefen. Du bist nicht +sehr eifrig, Du bist es wohl nie gewesen. Und kommt endlich +einmal ein Brief, so hat er meist seinen Haken—O liebe +Sophie! wie lieb' ich Dich!"<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> Her attitude on several occasions +leaves room for no other inference than that she was +extremely jealous of his affections. When in 1839 a mutual +regard sprang up between Lenau and the singer Karoline +Unger, a regard which held out to him the hope of a fuller and<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_43" id="Page_43" title="43"></a></span> +happier existence, we may surmise the nature of Sophie's interference +from the following reply to her: "Sie haben mir mit +Ihren paar Zeilen das Herz zerschmettert,—Karoline liebt +mich und will mein werden. Sie sieht's als ihre Sendung an, +mein Leben zu versöhnen und zu beglücken.—Es ist an Ihnen +Menschlichkeit zu üben an meinem zerrissenen Herzen.—Verstosse +ich sie, so mache ich sie elend und mich zugleich.—Entziehen +Sie mir Ihr Herz, so geben Sie mir den Tod; sind +Sie unglücklich, so will ich sterben. Der Knoten ist geschürzt. +Ich wollte, ich wäre schon tot!"<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> Not only was this proposed +match broken off, but when some five years later Lenau made +the acquaintance of and became engaged to a charming young +girl, Marie Behrends, and all the poet's friends rejoiced with +him at the prospect of a happy marriage, a "Musterehe," as +he fondly called it, Sophie wrote him the cruel words: +"Eines von uns muss wahnsinnig werden."<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> Only a few +months were needed to decide which of them it should be.</p> + +<p>The foregoing illustrations are ample to show what sort of +influence Sophie exerted over the poet's entire nature, and +therefore upon his Weltschmerz. Whereas in their hopeless +loves, Hölderlin and to an even greater extent Goethe, struggled +through to the point of renunciation, Lenau constantly +retrogrades, and allows his baser sensual instincts more and +more to control him. He promises to subdue his wild outbursts +a little,<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> and when he fails he tries to explain,<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> to apologize.<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> +If with Hölderlin love was to a predominating degree +a thing of the soul, it was with Lenau in an equal measure a +matter of nerves, and as such, under these conditions, it could +not but contribute largely to his physical, mental and moral +disruption. With Hölderlin it was the rude interruption from +without of his quiet and happy intercourse with Susette, which +embittered his soul. With Lenau it was the feverish, tumultuous +nature of the love itself, that deepened his melancholy.<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_44" id="Page_44" title="44"></a></span></p> + +<p>The charge of affectation in their Weltschmerz would be an +entirely baseless one, both in the case of Hölderlin and Lenau. +But this difference is readily discovered in the impressions +made upon us by their writings, namely that Hölderlin's Weltschmerz +is absolutely naïve and unconscious, while that of +Lenau is at all times self-conscious and self-centered. Mention +has already been made, in speaking of Lenau's pathological +traits,<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> of his confirmed habit of self-diagnosis. This he applied +not only to his physical condition but to his mental experiences +as well. No one knew so well as he how deeply the +roots of melancholy had penetrated his being. "Ich bin ein +Melancholiker" he once wrote to Sophie, "der Kompass meiner +Seele zittert immer wieder zurück nach dem Schmerze des +Lebens."<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> Innumerable illustrations of this fact might be +found in his lyrics, all of which would repeat with variations +the theme of the stanza:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Du geleitest mich durch's Leben<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sinnende Melancholie!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mag mein Stern sich strebend heben,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mag er sinken,—weichest nie!<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The definite purpose with which the poet seeks out and strives +to keep intact his painful impressions is frankly stated in one +of his diary memoranda, as follows: "So gibt es eine Höhe +des Kummers, auf welcher angelangt wir einer einzelnen +Empfindung nicht nachspringen, sondern sie laufen lassen, +weil wir den Blick für das schmerzliche Ganze nicht verlieren, +sondern eine gewisse kummervolle Sammlung behalten wollen, +die bei aller scheinbaren Aussenheiterkeit recht gut fortbestehen +kann."<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> Hölderlin, as we have noted,<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> not infrequently +pictures himself as a sacrifice to the cause of liberty +and fatherland, to the new era that is to come:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Umsonst zu sterben, lieb' ich nicht; doch<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Lieb' ich zu fallen am Opferhügel<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Für's Vaterland, zu bluten des Herzens Blut,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Für's Vaterland....<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a><br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_45" id="Page_45" title="45"></a></span></div></div> + +<p>Lenau, on the other hand, is anxious to sacrifice himself to his +muse. "Künstlerische Ausbildung ist mein höchster Lebenszweck; +alle Kräfte meines Geistes, meines Gemütes betracht' +ich als Mittel dazu. Erinnerst Du Dich des Gedichtes von +Chamisso,<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> wo der Maler einen Jüngling ans Kreuz nagelt, um +ein Bild vom Todesschmerze zu haben? Ich will mich selber +ans Kreuz schlagen, wenn's nur ein gutes Gedicht gibt."<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> And +again: "Vielleicht ist die Eigenschaft meiner Poesie, dass sie +ein Selbstopfer ist, das Beste daran."<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> The specific instances +just cited, together with the inevitable impressions gathered +from the reading of his lyrics, make it impossible to avoid +the conclusion that we are dealing here with a <i>virtuoso</i> of +Weltschmerz; that Lenau was not only conscious at all times +of the depth of his sorrow, but that he was also fully aware +of its picturesqueness and its poetic possibilities. It is true +that this self-consciousness brings him dangerously near the +bounds of insincerity, but it must also be granted that he never +oversteps those bounds.</p> + +<p>Regarded as a psychological process, Lenau's Weltschmerz +therefore stands midway between that of Hölderlin and Heine. +It is more self-centred than Hölderlin's and while the poet is +able to diagnose the disease which holds him firmly in its grasp, +he lacks those means by which he might free himself from it. +Heine goes still further, for having become conscious of his +melancholy, he mercilessly applies the lash of self-irony, and +in it finds the antidote for his Weltschmerz.</p> + +<p>Fichte, says Erich Schmidt, calls egoism the spirit of the +eighteenth century, by which he means the revelling, the complete +absorption, in the personal. This will naturally find its +favorite occupation in sentimental self-contemplation, which +becomes a sort of fashionable epidemic. It is this fashion +which Goethe wished to depict in "Werther," and therefore +Werther's hopeless love is not wholly responsible for his suicide. +"Werther untergräbt sein Dasein durch Selbstbetrachtung," +is Goethe's own explanation of the case.<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> And it is in<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_46" id="Page_46" title="46"></a></span> +this light only that Werther's malady deserves in any comprehensive +sense the term Weltschmerz. Here, then, Lenau and +Werther stand on common ground. Other traits common to +most poets of Weltschmerz might here be enumerated as characteristic +of both, such as extreme fickleness of purpose, supersensitiveness, +lack of definite vocation, and the like; all of which +goes to show that while for artistic purposes Goethe required a +dramatic cause, or rather occasion, for Werther's suicide, he +nevertheless fully understood all the symptoms of the prevailing +disease with which his sentimental hero was afflicted.</p> + +<p>While the personal elements in Lenau's Weltschmerz are +much more intense in their expression than with Hölderlin, its +altruistic side is proportionately weaker. So far as we may +judge from his lyrics, very little of Lenau's Weltschmerz was +inspired by patriotic considerations. There is opposition, it is +true, to the existing order, but that opposition is directed +almost solely against that which annoyed and inconvenienced +him personally, for example, against the stupid as well as rigorous +Austrian censorship. Against this bugbear he never ceases +to storm in verse and letters, and to it must be attributed in a +large measure his literary alienation from the land of his adoption. +That we must look to his lyrics rather than to his longer +epic writings, in order to discover the poet's deepest interests, is +nowhere more clearly evidenced than in the following reference +to his "Savonarola," in a letter to Emilie Reinbeck during +the progress of the work: "Savonarola wirkte zumeist als +Prediger, darum muss ich in meinem Gedicht ihn vielfach +predigen und dogmatisieren lassen, welches in vierfüssigen +doppeltgereimten Iamben sehr schwierig ist. Doch es freut +mich, Dinge poetisch durchzusetzen, an deren poetischer +Darstellbarkeit wohl die meisten Menschen verzweifeln. Auch +gereicht es mir zu besonderem Vergnügen, mit diesem Gedicht +gegen den herrschenden Geschmack unseres Tages in Opposition +zu treten."<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> The inference lies very near at hand that +his opposition to the prevailing taste was after all a secondary +consideration, and that the poet's first concern was to win glory<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_47" id="Page_47" title="47"></a></span> +by accomplishing something which others would abandon as an +impossibility. While recognizing the fact that Lenau's +"Faust" and "Don Juan" are largely autobiographical, it is, I +think, obvious that an entirely adequate impression of his Weltschmerz +may be gained from his letters and lyrics alone, in +which the poet's sincerest feelings need not be subordinated for +a moment to artistic purposes or demands. And nowhere, +either in lyrics or letters, do we find such spontaneous outbursts +of patriotic sentiment as greet us in Hölderlin's poems:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Glückselig Suevien, meine Mutter!<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This could not be otherwise; for was he (Lenau) not an Hungarian +by birth, an Austrian by adoption, and in his professional +affiliations a German? Had his interests not been +divided between Vienna and Stuttgart, and had he not been +possessed with an apparently uncontrollable restlessness which +drove him from place to place, his patriotic enthusiasm would +naturally have turned to Austria, and the poetic expression of +his home sentiments would not have been confined, perhaps, to +the one occasion when he had put the broad Atlantic between +himself and his kin. That his brother-in-law Schurz should +wish to represent him as a dyed-in-the-wool Austrian is only +natural.<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> However this may be, the poet does not hesitate to +state in a letter to Emilie Reinbeck: "Ein Hund in Schwaben +hat mehr Achtung für mich als ein Polizeipräsident in Oesterreich."<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> +And although he professes to have become hardened +to the pestering interference of the authorities, as a matter of +fact it was a constant source of unhappiness to him. "So aber +war mein Leben seit meinem letzten Briefe ein beständiger +Aerger. Die verfluchten Vexationen der hiesigen Censurbehörde +haben selbst jetzt noch immer kein Ende finden können."<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> +Speaking of his hatred for the censorship law, he says: "Und +doch gebührt mein Hass noch immer viel weniger dem Gesetze +selbst, als denjenigen legalisierten Bestien, die das Gesetz auf +eine so niederträchtige Art handhaben;—und unsre Censoren +stellen im Gegensatze der pflanzen- und fleischfressenden Tiere<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_48" id="Page_48" title="48"></a></span> +die Klasse der geistfressenden Tiere dar, eine abscheuliche, +monströse Klasse!"<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> Roustan expresses the opinion that with +Lenau patriotism occupied a secondary place.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> He had too +many "native lands" to become attached to any one of them.</p> + +<p>There is something of a counterpart to Hölderlin's Hellenism +and championship of Greek liberty in Lenau's espousal of +the Polish cause. But here again the personal element is +strongly in evidence. A chance acquaintance, which afterward +became an intimate friendship, with Polish fugitives, seems to +have been the immediate occasion of his Polenlieder, so that +his enthusiasm for Polish liberty must be regarded as incidental +rather than spontaneous. Needless to say that with a +Greek cult such as Hölderlin's Lenau had no patience whatever. +"Dass die Poesie den profanen Schmutz wieder abwaschen +müsse, den ihr Goethe durch 50 Jahre mit klassischer +Hand gründlich einzureiben bemüht war; dass die Freiheitsgedanken, +wie sie jetzt gesungen werden, nichts seien als konventioneller +Trödel,—davon haben nur wenige eine Ahnung."<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a></p> + +<p>All these considerations tend to convince us that Lenau's +Weltschmerz is after all of a much narrower and more personal +type than Hölderlin's. Again and again he runs through the +gamut of his own painful emotions and experiences, diagnosing +and dissecting each one, and always with the same gloomy +result. Consequently his Weltschmerz loses in breadth what +through the depth of the poet's introspection it gains in intensity.</p> + +<p>One of the most striking and, unless classed among his +numerous other pathological traits, one of the most puzzling +of Lenau's characteristics is the perverseness of his nature. +His intimate friends were wont to explain it, or rather to leave +it unexplained by calling it his "Husarenlaune" when the poet +would give vent to an apparently unprovoked and unreasonable +burst of anger, and on seeing the consternation of those +present, would just as suddenly throw himself into a fit of +laughter quite as inexplicable as his rage. He takes delight<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_49" id="Page_49" title="49"></a></span> +in things which in the ordinarily constructed mind would +produce just the reverse feeling. Speaking once of a particularly +ill-favored person of his acquaintance he says: "Eine so +gewaltige Hässlichkeit bleibt ewig neu und kann sich nie abnützen. +Es ist was Frisches darin, ich sehe sie gerne."<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> And +in not a few of his poems we see a certain predilection for the +gruesome, the horrible. So in the remarkable figure employed +in "Faust:"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Die Träume, ungelehr'ge Bestien, schleichen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Noch immer nach des Wahns verscharrten Leichen.<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This perverseness of disposition is in a large measure accounted +for by the fact that Lenau was eternally at war with himself. +Speaking in the most general way, Hölderlin's Weltschmerz +had its origin in his conflict with the outer world, Lenau's on +the other hand must be attributed mainly to the unceasing conflict +or "Zwiespalt" within his breast. In his childhood a +devout Roman Catholic, he shows in his "Faust" (1833-36) a +mind filled with scepticism and pantheistic ideas; "Savonarola" +(1837) marks his return to and glorification of the Christian +faith; while in the "Albigenser" (1838-42) the poet again +champions complete emancipation of thought and belief. Only +a few months elapsed between the writing of the two poems +"Wanderung im Gebirge" (1830), in which the most orthodox +faith in a personal God is expressed, and "Die Zweifler" +(1831). The only consistent feature of his poems is their +profound melancholy. But Lenau's inner struggle of soul did +not consist merely in his vacillating between religious faith +and doubt; it was the conflict of instinct with reason. This is +evident in his relations with Sophie Löwenthal. He knows +that their love is an unequal one<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> and chides her for her coldness,<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> +warning her not to humiliate him, not even in jest;<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> he +knows too that his alternating moods of exaltation and dejection +resulting from the intensity of his unsatisfied love are de<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_50" id="Page_50" title="50"></a></span>stroying +him.<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> "Oefter hat sich der Gedanke bei mir angemeldet: +Entschlage dich dieser Abhängigkeit und gestatte +diesem Weibe keinen so mächtigen Einfluss auf deine Stimmungen. +Kein Mensch auf Erden soll dich so beherrschen. +Doch bald stiess ich diesen Gedanken wieder zurück als einen +Verräter an meiner Liebe, und ich bot mein reizbares Herz +wieder gerne dar Deinen zärtlichen Misshandlungen.—O geliebtes +Herz! missbrauche Deine Gewalt nicht! Ich bitte Dich, +liebe Sophie!"<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> And yet, in spite of it all, he is unable to +free himself from the thrall of passion: "Wie wird doch all +mein Trotz und Stolz so gar zu nichte, wenn die Furcht in mir +erwacht, dass Du mich weniger liebest";<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> and all this from the +same pen that once wrote: "das Wort Gnade hat ein Schuft +erfunden."<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a></p> + +<p>But just as helpless as this defiant pride proved before his +all-consuming love for Sophie, so strongly did it assert itself +in all his other relations with men and things. A hasty word +from one of his best friends could so deeply offend his spirit +that, according to his own admission, all subsequent apologies +were futile.<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> For Lenau, then, such an attitude of hero worship +as that assumed by Hölderlin towards Schiller, would +have been an utter impossibility. We have already seen the +extent to which he was over-awed (?) by Goethe's views when +they were at variance with their own.<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> On another occasion he +writes: "Was Goethe über Ruysdael faselt, kannte ich +bereits."<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> Toward his critics his bearing was that of haughty +indifference: "Mag auch das Talent dieser <span title="In Original: Menchen">Menschen</span>,<a name="FNanchor_TN1_283" id="FNanchor_TN1_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_TN1_283" class="tnanchor">[TN1]</a> mich +zu insultieren, gross sein, mein Talent, sie zu verachten, ist auf +alle Fälle grösser."<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> When his Frühlingsalmanach of 1835 +had been received with disfavor by the critics, he professed to +be concerned only for his publisher: "Ich meinerseits habe +auf Liebe und Dank nie gezählt bei meinen Bestrebungen."<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_51" id="Page_51" title="51"></a></span> +"Die (Recensenten) wissen den Teufel von Poesie."<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> Whether +this real or assumed nonchalance would have stood the test of +literary disappointments such as Hölderlin's, it is needless to +speculate.</p> + +<p>Hölderlin eagerly sought after happiness and contentment, +but fortune eluded him at every turn. Lenau on the contrary +thrust it from him with true ascetic spirit.</p> + +<p>The mere thought of submitting to the ordinary process of +negotiations and recommendations for a vacant professorship +of Esthetics in Vienna is so repulsive to his pride, that the +whole matter is at once allowed to drop, notwithstanding that +he has been preparing for the place by diligent philosophical +studies.<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> The asceticism with which he regarded life in general +is expressed in a letter to Emilie Reinbeck, 1843, in which +he says: "Wer die Welt gestalten helfen will, muss darauf +verzichten, sie zu geniessen."<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> But more often this resignation +becomes a defiant challenge: "Ich habe dem Leben gegenüber +nun einmal meine Stellung genommen, es soll mich +nicht hinunterkriegen. Dass mein Widerstand nicht der eines +ruhigen Weisen ist, sondern viel Trotziges an sich hat, das +liegt in meinen Temperament."<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p> + +<p>Another characteristic difference between Lenau's Weltschmerz +and Hölderlin's lies in the fact that the writings of the +latter do not exhibit that absolute and abject despair which +marks Lenau's lyrics. Typical for both poets are the lines +addressed by each to a rose:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ewig trägt im Mutterschosse,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Süsse Königin der Flur,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dich und mich die stille, grosse,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Allbelebende Natur.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Röschen unser Schmuck veraltet,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sturm entblättert dich und mich,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Doch der ew'ge Keim entfaltet<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Bald zu neuer Blüte sich!<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a><br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_52" id="Page_52" title="52"></a></span></div></div> + +<p>Unmistakable as is the melancholy strain of these verses, they +are not without a hopeful afterthought, in which the poet turns +from self-contemplation to a view of a larger destiny. Not so +in Lenau's poem, "Welke Rosen":</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">In einem Buche blätternd, fand<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ich eine Rose welk, zerdrückt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und weiss auch nicht mehr, wessen Hand<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sie einst für mich gepflückt.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ach mehr und mehr im Abendhauch<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Verweht Erinn'rung; bald zerstiebt<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mein Erdenlos; dann weiss ich auch<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nicht mehr, wer mich geliebt.<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The intensely personal note of the last stanza is in marked contrast +with the corresponding stanza of Hölderlin's poem just +quoted. Further evidence that Lenau's Weltschmerz was constitutional, +while Hölderlin's was the result of experience, lies +in this very fact, that nowhere do the writings of the former +exhibit that stage of buoyant expectation, youthful enthusiasm, +or hopeful striving, which we find in some of the earlier poems +of the latter. In Hölderlin's ode "An die Hoffnung," he apostrophizes +hope as "Holde! gütig Geschäftige!"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Die du das Haus der Trauernden nicht verschmähst.<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Lenau, in his poem of the same title, tells us he has done with +hope:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">All dein Wort ist Windesfächeln;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hoffnung! dann nur trau' ich dir,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Weisest du mit Trosteslächeln<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mir des Todes Nachtrevier.<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Even his Faust gives himself over almost from the outset to +abject despair.</p> + +<p>Logically consequent upon this state of mind is the poet's +oft-repeated longing for death. The persistency of this +thought may be best illustrated by a few quotations from +poems and letters, arranged chronologically:</p> + +<table border="0"> +<tr><td class="thanging">1831.</td> +<td style="width: 1em"> </td> +<td class="thanging"> +<p class="tphanging">Mir wird oft so schwer, als ob ich einen Todten in mir +herumtrüge. +<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a></p> +<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_53" id="Page_53" title="53"></a></span> +<br /></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="thanging">1833.</td> +<td style="width: 1em"> </td> +<td class="thanging"> +<div class="poem"><div class="tstanza"><span class="i2">Und mir verging die Jugend traurig,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Des Frühlings Wonne blieb versäumt,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Der Herbst durchweht mich trennungsschaurig,</span><br /> +<span class="i2">Mein Herz dem Tod entgegenträumt. +<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></span> +</div></div> +<br /><br /></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="thanging">1837.</td> +<td style="width: 1em"> </td> +<td class="thanging"><p class="tphanging">Heute dachte ich öfter an den Tod, nicht mit bitterem Trotz +und störrischem Verlangen, sondern mit freundlichem Appetit. +<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a><br /> +</p><br /> +</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="thanging">1837.</td> +<td style="width: 1em"> </td> +<td class="thanging"><p class="tphanging">Soll ich Dir alles sagen? Wisse, dass ich wirklich daran +dachte, mir den Tod zu geben. +<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a></p> +<br /> +</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="thanging">1838.</td> +<td style="width: 1em"> </td> +<td class="thanging"><p class="tphanging">Der Gedanke des Todes wird mir immer freundlicher, und ich +verschwende mein Leben gerne. +<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a></p> +<br /> +</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="thanging">1838.</td> +<td style="width: 1em"> </td> +<td class="thanging"><div class="poem"><div class="tstanza"><span class="i6">Durchs Fenster kommt ein dürres Blatt</span><br /> +<span class="i6">Vom Wind hereingetrieben;</span><br /> +<span class="i6">Dies leichte offne Brieflein hat</span><br /> +<span class="i6">Der Tod an mich geschrieben. +<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a></span><br /> +</div></div> +<br /> +</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="thanging">1840.</td> +<td style="width: 1em"> </td> +<td class="thanging"><p class="tphanging">Oft will mich's gemahnen, als hätte ich auf Erden nichts +mehr zu thun, und ich wünschte dann, Gervinus möchte +recht haben, indem er, wie Georg mir erzählte, mir einen +baldigen Zusammenbruch und Tod prophezeite. +<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> +<br /> +</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="thanging">1842.</td> +<td style="width: 1em"> </td> +<td class="thanging"><p class="tphanging">Ich habe ein wollüstiges Heimweh, in Deinen Armen zu sterben. +<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a></p> +<br /> +</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="thanging">1843.</td> +<td style="width: 1em"> </td> +<td class="thanging"><p class="tphanging">Selig sind die Betäubten! noch seliger sind die Toten! +<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr><td><br /></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="thanging">1844.</td> +<td style="width: 1em"> </td> +<td class="thanging"><div class="poem"><div class="tstanza"><span class="i6">In dieses Waldes leisem Rauschen</span><br /> +<span class="i6">Ist mir, als hör' ich Kunde wehen,</span><br /> +<span class="i6">Dass alles Sterben und Vergehen</span><br /> +<span class="i6">Nur heimlichstill vergnügtes Tauschen. +<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a></span><br /> +</div></div> +</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>If we should seek for the Leit-motif of Lenau's Weltschmerz, +we should unquestionably have to designate it as the <i>transientness +of life</i>. Thus in the poem "Die Zweifler," he exclaims:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Vergänglichkeit! wie rauschen deine Wellen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Durch's weite Labyrinth des Lebens fort!<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Ten per cent, of all Lenau's lyrics bear titles which directly express +or suggest this thought, as for example, "Vergangenheit," +"Vergänglichkeit," "Das tote Glück," "Einst und Jetzt,"<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_54" id="Page_54" title="54"></a></span> +"Aus!," "Eitel Nichts," "Verlorenes Glück," "Welke Rose," +"Vanitas," "Scheiden," "Scheideblick," and the like; while in +not less than seventy-one per cent of his lyrics there are allusions, +more or less direct, to this same idea, which shows +beyond a doubt how large a component it must have been of +the poet's characteristic mood.</p> + +<p>If Hölderlin, the idealist, judges the things which are, according +to his standard of things as they <i>ought to be</i>, Lenau, +on the other hand, measures them by the things which <i>have +been</i>.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Friedhof der entschlafnen Tage,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Schweigende Vergangenheit!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Du begräbst des Herzens Klage,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ach, und seine Seligkeit!<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Nowhere is this mental attitude of the poet toward life in all +its forms more clearly defined than in his views of nature. +That this is an entirely different one from Hölderlin's goes +without saying. Lenau has nothing of that naïve and unsophisticated +childlike nature-sense which Hölderlin possessed, +and which enabled him to find comfort and consolation in +nature as in a mother's embrace. So that while for Hölderlin +intercourse with nature afforded the greatest relief from his +sorrows, Lenau's Weltschmerz was on the contrary intensified +thereby. For him the rose has no fragrance, the sunlight no +warmth, springtime no charms, in a word, nature has neither +tone nor temper, until such has been assigned to it by the poet +himself. And as he is fully aware of the artistic possibilities +of the mantle of melancholy "um die wunde Brust geschlungen,"<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> +it follows consistently that he should select for poetic +treatment only those aspects of nature which might serve to +intensify the expression of his grief.</p> + +<p>Among the titles of Lenau's lyrics descriptive of nature are +"Herbst," "Herbstgefühl" (twice), "Herbstlied," "Ein Herbstabend," +"Herbstentschluss," "Herbstklage," and many others +of a similar kind, such as "Das dürre Blatt," "In der Wüste," +"Frühlings Tod," etc. If we disregard a few quite excep<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_55" id="Page_55" title="55"></a></span>tional +verses on spring, the statement will hold that Lenau sees +in nature only the seasons and phenomena of dissolution and +decay. So in "Herbstlied":</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ja, ja, ihr lauten Raben,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hoch in der kühlen Luft,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">'s geht wieder ans Begraben,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ihr flattert um die Gruft!<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Je mehr man sich an die Natur anschliesst," the poet writes +to Sophie Schwab, "je mehr man sich in Betrachtungen ihrer +Züge vertieft, desto mehr wird man ergriffen von dem Geiste +der Sehnsucht, des schwermütigen Hinsterbens, der durch die +Natur auf Erden weht."<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> Characteristic is the setting which +the poet gives to the "Waldkapelle":</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Der dunkle Wald umrauscht den Wiesengrund,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Gar düster liegt der graue Berg dahinter,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Das dürre Laub, der Windhauch gibt es kund,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Geschritten kommt allmählig schon der Winter.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Die Sonne ging, umhüllt von Wolken dicht,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Unfreundlich, ohne Scheideblick von hinnen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und die Natur verstummt, im Dämmerlicht<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Schwermütig ihrem Tode nachzusinnen.<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The sunset is represented as a dying of the sun, the leaves fall +sobbing from the trees, the clouds are dissolved in tears, the +wind is described as a murderer. We see then that Lenau's +treatment of nature is essentially different from Hölderlin's. +The latter explains man through nature; Lenau explains nature +through man. Hölderlin describes love as a heavenly plant,<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> +youth as the springtime of the heart,<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> tears as the dew of +love;<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> Lenau, on the other hand, characterizes rain as the tears +of heaven, for him the woods are glad,<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> the brooklet weeps,<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> +the air is idle, the buds and blossoms listen,<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> the forest in its<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_56" id="Page_56" title="56"></a></span> +autumn foliage is "herbstlich gerötet, so wie ein Kranker, der +sich neigt zum Sterben, wenn flüchtig noch sich seine Wangen +färben."<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> A remarkable simile, and at the same time characteristic +for Lenau in its morbidness is the following:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Wie auf dem Lager sich der Seelenkranke,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wirft sich der Strauch im Winde hin und her.<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Hölderlin speaks of a friend's bereavement as "ein schwarzer +Sturm";<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> when he had grieved Diotima he compares himself +to the cloud passing over the serene face of the moon;<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> gloomy +thoughts he designates by the common metaphor "der Schatten +eines Wölkchens auf der Stirne."<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> Lenau turns the comparison +and says:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Am Himmelsantlitz wandelt ein Gedanke,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die düstre Wolke dort, so bang, so schwer.<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Where Hölderlin finds delight in the incorporeal elements +of nature, such as light, ether, and ascribes personal qualities and +functions to them, Lenau on the contrary always chooses the +tangible things and invests them with such mental and moral +attributes as are in harmony with his gloomy state of mind. +Consequently Lenau's Weltschmerz never remains abstract; +indeed, the almost endless variety of concrete pictures in which +he gives it expression is nothing short of remarkable, not only +in the sympathetic nature-setting which he gives to his lamentations, +but also in the striking metaphors which he employs. +Of the former, probably no better illustration could be found +in all Lenau's poems than his well-known "Schilflieder"<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> and +his numerous songs to Autumn. One or two examples of his +incomparable use of nature-metaphors in the expression of +his Weltschmerz will suffice:<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_57" id="Page_57" title="57"></a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Hab' ich gleich, als ich so sacht<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Durch die Stoppeln hingeschritten,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Aller Sensen auch gedacht,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die ins Leben mir geschnitten.<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Auch mir ist Herbst, und leiser<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Trag' ich den Berg hinab<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mein Bündel dürre Reiser<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die mir das Leben gab.<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Der Mond zieht traurig durch die Sphären,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Denn all die Seinen ruhn im Grab;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Drum wischt er sich die hellen Zähren<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bei Nacht an unsern Blumen ab.<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The forceful directness of Lenau's metaphors from nature is +aptly shown in the following comparison of two passages, one +from Hölderlin's "An die Natur," the other from Lenau's +"Herbstklage," in which both poets employ the same poetic +fancy to express the same idea.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Tot ist nun, die mich erzog und stillte,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Tot ist nun die jugendliche Welt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Diese Brust, die einst ein Himmel füllte,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Tot und dürftig wie ein Stoppelfeld.<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>If we compare the simile in the last line with the corresponding +metaphor used by Lenau in the following stanza,—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Wie der Wind zu Herbsteszeit<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Mordend hinsaust in den Wäldern,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Weht mir die Vergangenheit<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Von des Glückes Stoppelfeldern,<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>the greater artistic effectiveness of the latter figure will be at +once apparent.</p> + +<p>The idea that nature is cruel, even murderous, as suggested +in the opening lines of the stanza just quoted, seems in the +course of time to have become firmly fixed in the poet's mind, for +he not only uses it for poetic purposes, but expresses his conviction +of the fact on several occasions in his conversations and +letters. Tossing some dead leaves with his stick while out<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_58" id="Page_58" title="58"></a></span> +walking, he is said to have exclaimed: "Da seht, und dann +heisst es, die Natur sei liebevoll und schonend! Nein, sie ist +grausam, sie hat kein Mitleid. Die Natur ist erbarmungslos!"<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> +It goes without saying that in such a conception of nature the +poet could find no amelioration of his Weltschmerz.<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a></p> + +<p>In summing up the results of our discussion of Lenau's +Weltschmerz, it would involve too much repetition to mention +all the points in which it stands, as we have seen, in striking +contrast to that of Hölderlin. Suffice it to recall only the most +essential features of the comparison: the predominance of +hereditary and pathological traits as causative influences in +the case of Lenau; the fact that whereas Hölderlin's quarrel was +largely with the world, Lenau's was chiefly within himself; the +passive and ascetic nature of Lenau's attitude, as compared +with the often hopeful striving of Hölderlin; the patriotism of +the latter, and the relative indifference of the former; Lenau's +strongly developed erotic instinct, which gave to his relations +with Sophie such a vastly different influence upon his Weltschmerz +from that exerted upon Hölderlin by his relations with +Diotima; and finally the marked difference in the attitude of +these two poets toward nature.</p> + +<p>A careful consideration of all the points involved will lead to +no other conclusion than that whereas in Hölderlin the cosmic +element predominates, Lenau stands as a type of egoistic Weltschmerz. +To quote from our classification attempted in the +first chapter, he is one of "those introspective natures who +are first and chiefly aware of their own misery, and finally come +to regard it as representative of universal evil." Nowhere is +this more clearly stated than in the poet's own words: "Es +hat etwas Tröstliches für mich, wenn ich in meinem Privatunglück +den Familienzug lese, der durch alle Geschlechter der +armen Menschen geht. Mein Unglück ist mir mein Liebstes,—und +ich betrachte es gerne im verklärenden Lichte eines allgemeinen +Verhängnisses."<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> <i>Euphorion</i>, 1899, p. 791.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> "Nicolaus Lenau," <i>Neue Fr. Pr.</i>, Nr. 11166-7</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Schurz, Vol. II, p. 212.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Cf. <i>Euphorion</i>, 1899, p. 795.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Anton Schurz: "Lenau's Leben," Cotta, 1855 (hereafter quoted as "Schurz"), +Vol. II, p. 199.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> "Lenaus Werke," ed Max Koch, in Kürschner's DNL. (hereafter quoted as +"Werke"), Vol. I, p. 525 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Cf. <i>supra</i>, p. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Cf. among others Sadger, Weiler. <i>Infra</i>, p. 88.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> "Nicolaus Lenau's Briefe an einen Freund," Stuttgart, 1853, p. 68 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> "Nicolaus Lenau's sämmtliche Werke," herausgegeben von G. Emil Barthel, +Leipzig, Reclam, p. CI.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Schurz, Vol. I, p. 169.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Schurz, Vol. II, p. 144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Schurz, Vol. II, p. 152f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> Schurz, Vol. I, p. 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Ricarda Huch: "Romantische Lebensläufe." <i>Neue d. Rundschau</i>, Feb. 1902, +p. 126.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Sept. 29, 1844. Cf. Schurz, Vol. II, p. 223.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> L. A. Frankl: "Lenau und Sophie Löwenthal," Stuttgart, 1891 (hereafter quoted +as "Frankl") p. 189, incorrectly states the date as 1838. Possibly it is a misprint.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Frankl, p. 155.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Frankl, p. 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> Frankl, p. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Frankl, p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Frankl, p. 149.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Frankl, p. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Frankl, p. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Schurz, Vol. II, p. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> Cf. Lenau's Sämmtl. Werke, herausg. von G. Emil Bartel, Leipzig, ohne Jahr. +Introd., p. clxv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Frankl, p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Frankl, p. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Frankl, p. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Cf. <i>supra</i>, p. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Frankl, p. 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Werke, I, p. 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Frankl, p. 114.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> Cf. <i>supra</i>, p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Hölderlins Werke, Vol. 1, p. 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> "Das Kruzifix, Eine Künstlerlegende," 1820.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Schurz, Vol. I, p. 158f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> Schurz, Vol. II, p. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Cf. Breitinger: "Studien und Wandertage;" Frauenfeld, Huber, 1870.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> Schlossar: "Nicolaus Lenaus Briefe an Emilie von Reinbeck," Stuttgart, 1896 +(hereafter quoted as "Schlossar"), p. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 260.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Schurz, Vol. II, p. 193.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 109.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 111.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 112 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> "Lenau et son Temps," Paris, 1898, p. 351.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 154.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 183.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> Frankl, p. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> Frankl, p. 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> Frankl, p. 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> Frankl, p. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> Frankl, p. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> Frankl, p. 103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Cf. Schlossar, p. 93 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> Cf. <i>supra</i>, p. 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 83.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> Schurz, Vol. I, p. 176.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> Cf. Schlossar, p. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> Hölderlin, "An eine Rose," Werke, Vol. I, p. 142.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 389.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> Hölderlins Werke, Vol. I, p. 253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> Schurz, Vol. I, p. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 82.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> Frankl, p. 79.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> Frankl, p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> Frankl, p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 267.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> Frankl, p. 169.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> Schlossar, p. 188.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 405.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 62.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 299.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> Cf. Farinelli, in <i>Verhandlungen des 8. deutschen Neuphilologentages</i>, Hannover, +1898, p. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> Höld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> Höld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> Höld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 140.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 260.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 249.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 147.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> Höld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 144.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> Höld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> Höld. Werke, Vol. II, p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 147.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 51 f</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> "Der Kranich," Werke, Vol. I, p. 328.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> "Herbstlied," Werke, Vol. I, p. 299.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> "Mondlied," Werke, Vol. I, p. 310.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> Höld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 146.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 299.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> Schurz, Vol. II, p. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> For an exhaustive discussion of Lenau's nature-sense cf. Prof. Camillo von +Klenze's excellent monograph on the subject, "The Treatment of Nature in the +Works of Nikolaus Lenau," Chicago, University Press, 1902.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> Frankl, p. 116.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_59" id="Page_59" title="59"></a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3><b>Heine</b></h3> + + +<p>Heine was probably the first German writer to use the term +Weltschmerz in its present sense. Breitinger in his essay +"Neues über den alten Weltschmerz"<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> endeavors to trace the +earliest use of the word and finds an instance of it in Julian +Schmidt's "Geschichte der Romantik,"<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> 1847. He seems to +have entirely overlooked Heine's use of the word in his discussion +of Delaroche's painting "Oliver Cromwell before the body +of Charles I." (1831).<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> The actual inventor of the compound +was no doubt Jean Paul, who wrote (1810): "Diesen Weltschmerz +kann er (Gott) sozusagen nur aushalten durch den +Anblick der Seligkeit, die nachher vergütet."<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p> + +<p>But although Heine may have been the first to adapt the word +to its present use, and although we have fallen into the habit +of thinking of him as the chief representative of German Weltschmerz, +it must be admitted that there is much less genuine +Weltschmerz to be found in his poems than in those of either +Hölderlin or Lenau. The reason for this has already been +briefly indicated in the preceding chapter. Hölderlin's Weltschmerz +is altogether the most naïve of the three; Lenau's, +while it still remains sincere, becomes self-conscious, while +Heine has an unfailing antidote for profound feeling in his +merciless self-irony. And yet his condition in life was such as +would have wrung from the heart of almost any other poet +notes of sincerest pathos.</p> + +<p>In Lenau's case we noted circumstances which point to a<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_60" id="Page_60" title="60"></a></span> +direct transmission from parent to child of a predisposition to +melancholia. In Heine's, on the other hand, the question of +heredity has apparently only an indirect bearing upon his +Weltschmerz. To what extent was his long and terrible disease +of hereditary origin, and in what measure may we ascribe +his Weltschmerz to the sufferings which that disease caused +him? The first of these questions has been answered as conclusively +as seems possible on the basis of all available data, by +a doctor of medicine, S. Rahmer, in what is at this time the +most recent and most authoritative study that has been published +on the subject.<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> Stage by stage he follows the development +of the disease, from its earliest indications in the poet's +incessant nervous headaches, which he ascribes to neurasthenic +causes. He attempts to quote all the passages in Heine's letters +which throw light upon his physical condition, and points +out that in the second stage of the disease the first symptoms +of paralysis made their appearance as early as 1832, and not +in 1837 as the biographers have stated. To this was added in +1837 an acute affection of the eyes, which continued to recur +from this time on. In addition to the pathological process +which led to a complete paralysis of almost the whole body, +Rahmer notes other symptoms first mentioned in 1846, which +he describes as "bulbär" in their origin, such as difficulty in +controlling the muscles of speech, difficulty in chewing and +swallowing, the enfeebling of the muscles of the lips, disturbances +in the functions of the glottis and larynx, together with +abnormal secretion of saliva. He discredits altogether the +diagnosis of Heine's disease as consumption of the spinal marrow, +to which Klein-Hattingen in his recent book on Hölderlin, +Lenau and Heine<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> still adheres, dismisses as scientifically untenable +the popular idea that the poet's physical dissolution was +the result of his sensual excesses, finally diagnoses the case as +"die spinale Form der progressiven Muskelatrophie"<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> and maintains +that it was either directly inherited, or at least developed on<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_61" id="Page_61" title="61"></a></span> +the basis of an inherited disposition.<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> He finds further evidence +in support of the latter theory in the fact that the first symptoms +of the disease made their appearance in early youth, not many +years after puberty, and concludes that, in spite of scant information +as to Heine's ancestors, we are safe in assuming a hereditary +taint on the father's side.</p> + +<p>The poet himself evidently would have us believe as much, +for in his Reisebilder he says: "Wie ein Wurm nagte das +Elend in meinem Herzen und nagte,—ich habe dieses Elend +mit mir zur Welt gebracht. Es lag schon mit mir in der Wiege, +und wenn meine Mutter mich wiegte, so wiegte sie es mit, und +wenn sie mich in den Schlaf sang, so schlief es mit mir ein, und +es erwachte, sobald ich wieder die Augen aufschlug. Als ich +grösser wurde, wuchs auch das Elend, und wurde endlich ganz +gross und zersprengte mein.... Wir wollen von andern Dingen +sprechen...."<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a></p> + +<p>And yet Heine's disposition was not naturally inclined to +hypochondria. In his earlier letters, especially to his intimate +friends, there is often more than cheerfulness, sometimes a +decided buoyancy if not exuberance of spirits. A typical +instance we find in a letter to Moser (1824): "Ich hoffe Dich +wohl nächstes Frühjahr wiederzusehen und zu umarmen und +zu necken und vergnügt zu sein."<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> Only here and there, but +very rarely, does he acknowledge any influence of his physical +condition upon his mental labors. To Immermann he writes +(1823): "Mein Unwohlsein mag meinen letzten Dichtungen +auch etwas Krankhaftes mitgeteilt haben."<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> And to Merkel +(1827): "Ach! ich bin heute sehr verdriesslich. Krank und +unfähig, gesund aufzufassen."<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> In the main, however, he +makes a very brave appearance of cheerfulness, and especially +of patience, which seems to grow with the hopelessness of his +affliction. To his mother (1851): "Ich befinde mich wieder +krankhaft gestimmt, etwas wohler wie früher, vielleicht viel +wohler; aber grosse Nervenschmerzen habe ich noch immer,<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_62" id="Page_62" title="62"></a></span> +und leider ziehen sich die Krämpfe jetzt öfter nach oben, was +mir den Kopf zuweilen sehr ermüdet. So muss ich nun ruhig +aushalten, was der liebe Gott über mich verhängt, und ich trage +mein Schicksal mit Geduld.... Gottes Wille geschehe!"<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> +Again a few weeks later: "Ich habe mit diesem Leben abgeschlossen, +und wenn ich so sicher wäre, dass ich im Himmel +einst gut aufgenommen werde, so ertrüge ich geduldig meine +Existenz."<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> Not only to his mother, whom for years he affectionately +kept in ignorance of his deplorable condition, does he +write thus, but also to Campe (1852): "Mein Körper leidet +grosse Qual, aber meine Seele ist ruhig wie ein Spiegel und hat +manchmal auch noch ihre schönen Sonnenaufgänge und Sonnenuntergänge."<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a> +1854: "Gottlob, dass ich bei all meinem +Leid sehr heiteren Gemütes bin, und die lustigsten Gedanken +springen mir durchs Hirn."<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> Much of this sort of thing was no +doubt nicely calculated for effect, and yet these and similar passages +show that he was not inclined to magnify his physical +afflictions either in his own eyes or in the eyes of others. Nor is +he absolutely unreconciled to his fate: "Es ist mir nichts +geglückt in dieser Welt, aber es hätte mir doch noch schlimmer +gehen können."<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a></p> + +<p>In his poems, references to his physical sufferings are remarkably +infrequent. We look in vain in the "Buch der +Lieder," in the "Neue Gedichte," in fact in all his lyrics written +before the "Romanzero," not only for any allusion to his illness, +but even for any complaint against life which might have been +directly occasioned by his physical condition. What is there +then in these earlier poems that might fitly be called Weltschmerz? +Very little, we shall find.</p> + +<p>Their inspiration is to be found almost exclusively in Heine's +love-affairs, decent and indecent. Now the pain of disappointed +love is the motive and the theme of very many of +Hölderlin's and Lenau's lyrics, poems which are heavy with +Weltschmerz, while most of Heine's are not. To speak only<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_63" id="Page_63" title="63"></a></span> +of the poet's most important attachments, of his unrequited +love for his cousin Amalie, and his unsuccessful wooing of her +sister Therese,—there can be no doubt that these unhappy loves +brought years of pain and bitterness into his life, sorrow probably +as genuine as any he ever experienced, and yet how little, +comparatively, there is in his poetry to convince us of the fact. +Nearly all these early lyrics are variations of this love-theme, +and yet it is the exception rather than the rule when the poet +maintains a sincere note long enough to engender sympathy +and carry conviction. Such are his beautiful lyrics "Ich grolle +nicht,"<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> "Du hast Diamanten und Perlen."<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> +Let us see how Lenau treats the same theme:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Die dunklen Wolken hingen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Herab so bang und schwer,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wir beide traurig gingen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Im Garten hin und her.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">So heiss und stumm, so trübe,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und sternlos war die Nacht,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So ganz wie unsre Liebe<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Zu Thränen nur gemacht.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Und als ich musste scheiden<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und gute Nacht dir bot,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wünscht' ich bekümmert beiden<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Im Herzen uns den Tod.<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We believe implicitly in the poet's almost inexpressible grief, +and because we are convinced, we sympathize. And we feel +too that the poet's sorrow is so overwhelming and has so filled +his soul that it has entirely changed his views of life and of +nature, or has at least contributed materially to such a +change,—that it has assumed larger proportions and may +rightly be called Weltschmerz. Compare with this the first +and third stanzas of Heine's "Der arme Peter:"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Der Hans und die Grete tanzen herum,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und jauchzen vor lauter Freude.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Der Peter steht so still und stumm,</span><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_64" id="Page_64" title="64"></a></span><br /> +<span class="i2">Und ist so blass wie Kreide.<br /></span> +</div> + +<hr class="stanza" /> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Der Peter spricht leise vor sich her<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und schauet betrübet auf beide:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"Ach! wenn ich nicht zu vernünftig wär',<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ich thät' mir was zu leide."<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is scarcely necessary to cite further examples of this mannerism +of Heine's, for so it early became, such as his "Erbsensuppe,"<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> +"Ich wollte, er schösse mich tot,"<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> "Doktor, sind Sie +des Teufels;"<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> "Madame, ich liebe Sie!"<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> and many other glaring +instances of the "Sturzbad," in order to show how the poet +himself deliberately attempted, and usually with success, to +destroy the traces of his grief. This process of self-irony, +which plays such havoc with all sincere feeling and therefore +with his Weltschmerz, becomes so fixed a habit that we are +almost incapable, finally, of taking the poet seriously. He +makes a significant confession in this regard in a letter to +Moser (1823): "Aber es geht mir oft so, ich kann meine +eigenen Schmerzen nicht erzählen, ohne dass die Sache +komisch wird."<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> How thoroughly this mental attitude had +become second nature with Heine, may be inferred from a +statement which he makes to Friederike Roberts (1825): +"Das Ungeheuerste, das Ensetzlichste, das Schaudervollste, +wenn es nicht unpoetisch werden soll, kann man auch nur in +dem buntscheckigen Gewände des Lächerlichen darstellen, +gleichsam versöhnend—darum hat auch Shakespeare das +Grässlichste im "Lear" durch den Narren sagen lassen, darum +hat auch Goethe zu dem furchtbarsten Stoffe, zum "Faust," die +Puppenspielform gewählt, darum hat auch der noch grössere +Poet (der Urpoet, sagt Friederike), nämlich Unser-Herrgott, +allen Schreckensszenen dieses Lebens eine gute Dosis Spasshaftigkeit +beigemischt."<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> +<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_65" id="Page_65" title="65"></a></span></p> + +<p>In not a few of his lyrics Heine gives us a truly Lenauesque +nature-setting, as for instance in "Der scheidende Sommer:"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Das gelbe Laub erzittert,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Es fallen die Blätter herab;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ach, alles, was hold und lieblich<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Verwelkt und sinkt ins Grab.<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This is one of the comparatively few instances in Heine's +lyrics in which he maintains a dignified seriousness throughout +the entire poem. It is worth noting, too, because it touches a +note as infrequent in Heine as it is persistent in Lenau—the +fleeting nature of all things lovely and desirable.<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> This is one +of the characteristic differences between the two poets,—Heine's +eye is on the present and the future, much more than +on the past; Lenau is ever mourning the happiness that is past +and gone. Logically then, thoughts of and yearnings for +death are much more frequent with Lenau than with Heine.<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a></p> + +<p>Reverting to the point under consideration: even in those +love-lyrics in which Heine does not wilfully destroy the first +serious impression by the jingling of his harlequin's cap, as +he himself styles it,<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> he does not succeed,—with the few exceptions +just referred to,—in convincing us very deeply of the +reality of his feelings. They are either trivially or extravagantly +stated. Sometimes this sense of triviality is caused by +the poet's excessive fondness for all sorts of diminutive expressions, +giving an artificial effect, an effect of "Tändelei" +to his verses. For example:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Du siehst mich an wehmütiglich,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und schüttelst das blonde Köpfchen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Aus deinen Augen schleichen sich<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die Perlenthränentröpfchen.<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Sometimes this effect is produced by a distinct though unin<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_66" id="Page_66" title="66"></a></span>tended +anti-climax. Nowhere has Heine struck a more truly +elegiac note than in the stanza:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Das Leben ist der schwüle Tag.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Es dunkelt schon, mich schläfert,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Der Tag hat mich müde gemacht.<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>There is the most profound Weltschmerz in that. But in the +second stanza there is relatively little:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ueber mein Bett erhebt sich ein Baum,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Drin singt die junge Nachtigall;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sie singt von lauter Liebe,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ich hör' es sogar im Traum.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Lenau's lyrics have shown that much Weltschmerz may grow +out of unsatisfied love; Heine's demonstrate that mere love sickness +is not Weltschmerz. The fact is that Heine frequently +destroys what would have been a certain impression of +Weltschmerz by forcing upon us the immediate cause of his +distemper,—it may be a real injury, or merely a passing annoyance. +What a strange mixture of acrimonious, sarcastic protest +and Weltschmerz elements we find in the poem "Ruhelechzend"<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> +of which a few stanzas will serve to illustrate. Again +he strikes a full minor chord:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Las bluten deine Wunden, lass<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die Thränen fliessen unaufhaltsam;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Geheime Wollust schwelgt im Schmerz,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und Weinen ist ein süsser Balsam.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This in practice rather than in theory is what we observe in +Lenau,—his melancholy satisfaction in nursing his grief,—and +we have promise of a poem of genuine Weltschmerz. +Even through the second and third stanzas this feeling is not +destroyed, although the terms "Schelm" and "Tölpel" gently +arouse our suspicion:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Des Tages Lärm verhallt, es steigt<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die Nacht herab mit langen Flöhren.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In ihrem Schosse wird kein Schelm,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Kein Tölpel deine Ruhe stören.<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_67" id="Page_67" title="67"></a></span></div></div> + +<p>But the very next stanza brings the transition from the sublime +to the ridiculous:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Hier bist du sicher vor Musik,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Vor des Pianofortes Folter,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und vor der grossen Oper Pracht<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und schrecklichem Bravourgepolter.<br /></span> +</div> + +<hr class="stanza" /> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">O Grab, du bist das Paradies<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Für pöbelscheue, zarte Ohren—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Der Tod ist gut, doch besser wär's,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die Mutter hätt' uns nie geboren.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is scarcely necessary to point out that the specific cause +which the poet confides to us of his "wounds, tears and pains" +is ridiculously unimportant as compared with the conclusion +which he draws in the last two lines.</p> + +<p>Evidently then, he does not wish us to take him seriously, +nor could we, if he did. Thus in their very attitude toward +the ills and vexations of life, there appears a most essential +difference between Lenau and Heine. Auerbach aptly remarks: +"Spott und Satire verkleinern, Zorn und Hass vergrössern +das Object."<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> And Lenau knew no satire; where +Heine scoffed and ridiculed, he hated and scorned, with a +hatred that only contributed to his own undoing. With Heine +the satire's the thing, whether of himself or of others, and to +this he willingly sacrifices the lofty sentiments of which he is +capable. Indeed he frequently introduces these for no other +purpose than to make the laugh or grimace all the more striking. +And with reference to his love affair with Amalie, while +the question as to the reality and depth of his feelings may be +left entirely out of discussion, this much may be safely asserted, +that in comparatively few poems do those feelings find expression +in the form of Weltschmerz. Now there is something +essentially vague about Weltschmerz; it is an atmosphere, a +"Stimmung" more or less indefinable, rather than the statement +in lyric form of certain definite grievances with their particular +and definite causes. And that is exactly what we find +in Lenau, even in his love-songs. His love-sorrow is blended +with his many other heart-aches, with his disappointments and<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_68" id="Page_68" title="68"></a></span> +regrets, with his yearning for death. He sings of his pain +rather than of its immediate causes, and the result is an atmosphere +of Weltschmerz.</p> + +<p>Turning to Heine's later poems, especially to the "Romanzero," +we find that atmosphere much more perceptible. But +even here the poet is for the most part specific, and his method +concrete. So for instance in "Der Dichter Firdusi"<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a> in which +he tells a story to illustrate his belief that merit is appreciated +and rewarded only after the death of the one who should have +reaped the reward. So also in "Weltlauf,"<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> the first stanza of +which suggests a poetic rendering of Matth. 13:12, "For whosoever +hath, to him shall be given and he shall have more +abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken +away even that he hath,"—to which the poet adds a stanza of +caustic ironical comment:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Wenn du aber gar nichts hast,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ach, so lasse dich begraben—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Denn ein Recht zum Leben, Lump,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Haben nur, die etwas haben.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And again, the poem "Lumpentum"<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> presents an ironical +eulogy of flattery. His failure to realize the hopes of his youth +is made the subject of "Verlorne Wünsche"<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> which maintains +throughout a strain of seriousness quite unusual for Heine, +and concludes:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">Goldne Wünsche! Seifenblasen!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Sie zerrinnen wie mein Leben—<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Ach ich liege jetzt am Boden,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Kann mich nimmermehr erheben.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i3">Und Ade! sie sind zerronnen,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Goldne Wünsche, süsses Hoffen!<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Ach, zu tötlich war der Faustschlag,<br /></span> +<span class="i3">Der mich just ins Herz getroffen.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A number of these lyrics from the Romanzero show very +strikingly Heine's objective treatment of his poems of complaint. +Such selections as "Sie erlischt,"<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> in which he com<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_69" id="Page_69" title="69"></a></span>pares +his soul to the last flicker of a lamp in the darkened +theater, or "Frau Sorge,"<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> which gives us the personification of +care, represented as a nurse watching by his bedside, bring his +objective method into marked contrast with Hölderlin's subjective +Weltschmerz. The same may be said of his autobiography +in miniature, "Rückschau,"<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> which catalogues the +poet's experiences, pleasant and adverse, with evident sincerity +though of course with a liberal admixture of witty irony. +Needless to say there is no real Weltschmerz discoverable in +such a pot pourri as the following:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Die Glieder sind mir rheumatisch gelähmt,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und meine Seele ist tief beschämt.<br /></span> +</div> + +<hr class="stanza" /> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ich ward getränkt mit Bitternissen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und grausam von den Wanzen gebissen, etc.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It would scarcely be profitable to attempt to estimate the +causes and development of this self-irony, which plays so important +a part in Heine's poetry. Its possibility lay no doubt +in his native mother-wit, with its genial perception of the incongruous, +combined, it must be admitted, with a relatively +low order of self-respect. Its first incentive he may have +found in his unrequited love for Amalie. Had it been like +that of Hölderlin for Diotima, or Lenau for Sophie, reciprocated +though unsatisfied, we could not easily imagine the +ironical tone which pervades most of his love-songs. And so +he uses it as a veil for his chagrin, preferring to laugh and +have the world laugh with him, rather than to weep alone. +But the incident in Heine's life which probably more than +any other experience fostered this habit of making himself +the butt of his witty irony was his outward renunciation +of Judaism. Little need be said concerning this, since the +details are so well known. He himself confesses that the step +was taken from the lowest motives, for which he justly hated +and despised himself. To Moser he writes (1825): "Ich +weiss nicht, was ich sagen soll, Cohen versichert mich, Gans +predige das Christentum und suche die Kinder Israels zu be<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_70" id="Page_70" title="70"></a></span>kehren. +Thut er dieses aus Ueberzeugung, so ist er ein Narr; +thut er es aus Gleissnerei, so ist er ein Lump. Ich werde zwar +nicht aufhören, Gans zu lieben; dennoch gestehe ich, weit +lieber wär's mir gewesen, wenn ich statt obiger Nachricht +erfahren hätte, Gans habe silberne Löffel gestohlen.... Es +wäre mir sehr leid, wenn mein eigenes Getauftsein Dir in +einem günstigen Lichte erscheinen könnte. Ich versichere +Dich, wenn die Gesetze das Stehlen silberner Löffel erlaubt +hätten, so würde ich mich nicht getauft haben."<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> But in addition +to the loss of self-respect came his disappointment and +chagrin at the non-success of his move, since he realized that +it was not even bringing him the material gain for which he +had hoped. Instead, he felt himself an object of contempt +among Christians and Jews alike. "Ich bin jetzt bei Christ +und Jude verhasst. Ich bereue sehr, dass ich mich getauft +hab'; ich sehe gar nicht ein, dass es mir seitdem besser gegangen +sei; im Gegenteil, ich habe seitdem nichts als Unglück."<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> +He is so unhappy in consequence of this step that he earnestly +desires to leave Germany. "Es ist aber ganz bestimmt, dass es +mich sehnlichst drängt, dem deutschen Vaterlande Valet zu +sagen. Minder die Lust des Wanderns als die Qual persönlicher +Verhältnisse (z. B. der nie abzuwaschende Jude) treibt +mich von hinnen."<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a></p> + +<p>In his tragedy "Almansor," written during the years 1820 and +1821,<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> his deep-rooted antipathy to Christianity finds strong expression +through Almansor, although the countervailing arguments +are eloquently stated by the heroine. Prophetic of the +poet's own later experience is the representation of the hero, +who is beguiled by his love for Zuleima into vowing allegiance +to the Christian faith, only to find that the sacrifice has failed +to win for him the object for which it was made. In the character +of Almansor, more than anywhere else, Heine's "Liebesschmerz" +and "Judenschmerz" have combined to produce in +him an inner dissonance which expresses itself in lyric lines of +real Weltschmerz:<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_71" id="Page_71" title="71"></a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ich bin recht müd<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und krank, und kranker noch als krank, denn ach,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die allerschlimmste Krankheit ist das Leben;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und heilen kann sie nur der Tod . . . . .<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But here too, as in "Ratcliff," such passages are exceptional. +In the main these tragedies are nothing more than vehicles for +the poet's stormy protest, much of it after the Storm and +Stress pattern;<a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> and mere protest, however acrimonious, cannot +be called Weltschmerz.</p> + +<p>Certain it is that during these early years numerous disappointments +other than those of love contributed to produce in +the poet a gloomy state of mind. A reflection of the unhappiness +which he had experienced during his residence in Hamburg +is found in many passages in his correspondence which +express his repugnance for the city and its people. To Immanuel +Wohlwill (1823): "Es freut mich, dass es Dir in den +Armen der aimablen Hammonia zu behagen beginnt; mir ist +diese Schöne zuwider. Mich täuscht nicht der goldgestickte +Rock, ich weiss, sie trägt ein schmutziges Hemd auf dem +gelben Leibe, und mit den schmelzenden Liebesseufzern 'Rindfleisch[3] +Banko!' sinkt sie an die Brust des Meistbietenden.... +Vielleicht thue ich aber der guten Stadt Hamburg unrecht; die +Stimmung, die mich beherrschte, als ich dort einige Zeit lebte, +war nicht dazu geeignet, mich zu einem unbefangenen Beurteiler +zu machen; mein <i>inneres</i> Leben war brütendes Versinken +in den düsteren, nur von phantastischen Lichtern durchblitzten +Schacht der Traumwelt, mein <i>äusseres</i> Leben war +toll, wüst, cynisch, abstossend; mit einem Worte, ich machte es +zum schneidenden Gegensatz meines inneren Lebens, damit +mich dieses nicht durch sein Uebergewicht zerstöre."<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> To +Moser (1823): "Hamburg? sollte ich dort noch so viele Freuden +finden können, als ich schon Schmerzen dort empfand? +Dieses ist freilich unmöglich—"<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> "Hamburg!!! mein Elysium +und Tartarus zu gleicher Zeit! Ort, den ich detestiere und am +meisten liebe, wo mich die abscheulichsten Gefühle martern und<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_72" id="Page_72" title="72"></a></span> +we ich mich dennoch hinwünsche."<a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> Another letter to Moser +is dated: "Verdammtes Hamburg, den 14. Dezember, 1825."<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> +The following year he writes, in a letter to Immermann: "Ich +verliess Göttingen, suchte in Hamburg ein Unterkommen, fand +aber nichts als Feinde, Verklatschung und Aerger."<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a> And to +Varnhagen von Ense (1828): "Nach Hamburg werde ich nie +in diesem Leben zurückkehren; es sind mir Dinge von der äussersten +Bitterkeit dort passiert, sie wären auch nicht zu ertragen +gewesen, ohne den Umstand, dass nur ich sie weiss."<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> To his +mother's insistent pleading he replies (1833): "Aber ich will, +wenn Du es durchaus verlangst, diesen Sommer auf acht Tage +nach Hamburg kommen, nach dem schändlichen Neste, wo ich +meinen Feinden den Triumph gönnen soll, mich wiederzusehen +und mit Beleidigungen überhäufen zu können."<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a></p> + +<p>His several endeavors to establish himself on a firm material +footing in life had failed,—he had sought for a place in a +Berlin high school, then entertained the idea of practising law +in Hamburg, then aspired to a professorship in Munich, but +without success. But more than by all these reverses, more +even than by the circumstances and consequences of his Hebrew +parentage, was the poet wrought up by the family strife over the +payment of his pension, which followed upon the death of his +uncle in December, 1844, and which lasted for several years. +From the very beginning he had had much intermittent annoyance +through his dealings with his sporadically generous uncle +Salomon Heine. As early as 1823 Heine writes to Moser: +"Auch weiss ich, dass mein Oheim, der sich hier so gemein +zeigt, zu andern Zeiten die Generosität selbst ist; aber es ist +doch in mir der Vorsatz aufgekommen, alles anzuwenden, um +mich so bald als möglich von der Güte meines Oheims loszureissen. +Jetzt habe ich ihn freilich noch nötig, und wie knickerig +auch die Unterstützung ist, die er mir zufliessen lässt, so kann +ich dieselbe nicht entbehren."<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> And again in the same year: +"Es ist fatal, dass bei mir der ganze Mensch durch das Budget<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_73" id="Page_73" title="73"></a></span> +regiert wird. Auf meine Grundsätze hat Geldmangel oder +Ueberfluss nicht den mindesten Einfluss, aber desto mehr auf +meine Handlungen. Ja, grosser Moser, der H. Heine ist sehr +klein."<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> And when, after his uncle's demise, the heirs of the +latter threatened to cut off the poet's pension, he writes to +Campe<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> and to Detmold,<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> in a frenzy of wrath and excitement, +and shows what he is really capable of under pressure of circumstances. +Perhaps it is only fair to suppose that his long +years of suffering, both from his physical condition and from +the unscrupulous attacks of his enemies, had had a corroding +effect upon his moral sensibilities. In his request to Campe +to act as mediator in the disagreeable affair he says: "Sie können +alle Schuld des Missverständnisses auf mich schieben, die +Grossmut der Familie hervorstreichen, kurz, mich sacrificiren." +And all this to be submitted to the public in print! "Ich gestehe +Ihnen heute offen, ich habe gar keine Eitelkeit in der Weise +andrer Menschen, mir liegt am Ende gar nichts an der Meinung +des Publikums; mir ist nur eins wichtig, die Befriedigung +meines inneren Willens, die Selbstachtung meiner Seele." But +how he was able to preserve his self-respect, and at the same +time be willing to employ any and all means to attain his end, +perhaps no one less unscrupulous than he could comprehend. +He intimates that he has decided upon threats and public +intimidation as being probably more effective than a servile +attitude, which, he allows us to infer, he would be quite willing +to take if advisable. "Das Beste muss hier die Presse thun zur +Intimidation, und die ersten Kotwürfe auf Karl Heine und +namentlich auf Adolf Halle werden schon wirken. Die Leute +sind an Dreck nicht gewöhnt, während ich ganze Mistkarren +vertragen kann, ja diese, wie auf Blumenbeeten, nur mein +Gedeihen zeitigen."<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a></p> + +<p>It is quite evident that this long drawn out quarrel aroused +all that was mean and vindictive, all that was immoral in the +man, and that the nervous excitement thereby induced had a +most baneful effect upon his entire nature, physical as well as<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_74" id="Page_74" title="74"></a></span> +mental. In a number of poems he has given expression to his +anger and has masterfully cursed his adversaries, for example, +"Es gab den Dolch in deine Hand,"<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a> "Sie küssten mich mit +ihren falschen Lippen,"<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> and several following ones. But here, +too, his fancy is altogether too busy with the suitable characterization +of his enemies and the invention of adequate tortures +for them, to leave room for even a suggestion of the Weltschmerz +which we might expect to result from such painful +emotions.</p> + +<p>It is scarcely necessary to theorize as to what would have been +the attitude and conduct of a sensitive Hölderlin or a proud-spirited +Lenau in a similar position. Lenau is too proud to +protest, preferring to suffer. Heine is too vain to appear as a +sufferer, so he meets adversity, not in a spirit of admirable courage, +but in a spirit of bravado. In giving lyric utterance to his +resentment, Heine is conscious that the world is looking on, +and so he indulges, even in the expression of his Weltschmerz, +in a vain ostentation which stands in marked contrast to Lenau's +dignified pride. He is quite right when he says in a letter to +his friend Moser: "Ich bin nicht gross genug, um Erniedrigung +zu tragen."<a name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a></p> + +<p>As an illustration of the vain display which he makes of his +sadness, his poem "Der Traurige" may be quoted in part:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Allen thut es weh in Herzen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die den bleichen Knaben sehn,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Dem die Leiden, dem die Schmerzen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Auf's Gesicht geschrieben stehn.<a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>A similar impression is made by the concluding numbers of +the Intermezzo, "Die alten, bösen Lieder."<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> And here again +the comparison,—even if merely as to size,—of a coffin with +the "Heidelberger Fass" is most incongruous, to say the least, +and tends very effectually to destroy the serious sentiment +which the poem, with less definite exaggerations, might have<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_75" id="Page_75" title="75"></a></span> +conveyed. Similarly overdone is his poetic preface to the +"Rabbi" sent to his friend Moser:<a name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Brich aus in lauten Klagen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Du düstres Märtyrerlied,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Das ich so lang getragen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Im flammenstillen Gemüt!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Es dringt in alle Ohren,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Und durch die Ohren ins Herz;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ich habe gewaltig beschworen<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Den tausendjährigen Schmerz.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Es weinen dir Grossen und Kleinen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sogar die kalten Herrn,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Die Frauen und Blumen weinen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Es weinen am Himmel die Stern.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is not necessary, even if it were to the point, to adduce +further evidence of Heine's vanity as expressed in his prose +writings, or in poems such as the much-quoted</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Nennt man die besten Namen,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">So wird auch der meine genannt.<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It cannot be denied that this element of vanity, of showiness, +only serves to emphasize our impression of the unreality of +much of Heine's Weltschmerz.</p> + +<p>With the reference to this element of ostentation in Heine's +Weltschmerz there is suggested at once the question of the +Byronic pose, and of Byron's influence in general upon the +German poet. On the general relationship between the two +poets much has been written,<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> so that we may confine ourselves +here to the consideration of certain points of resemblance in +their Weltschmerz.</p> + +<p>Julian Schmidt names Byron as the constellation which ruled +the heavens during the period from the Napoleonic wars to the +"Völkerfrühling," 1848, as the meteor upon which at that time +the eyes of all Europe were fixed. Certainly the English poet +could not have wished for a more auspicious introduction and<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_76" id="Page_76" title="76"></a></span> +endorsation in Germany, if he had needed such, than that +which was given him by Goethe himself, whose subsequent +tribute in his Euphorion in the second part of "Faust" is one +of Byron's most splendid memorials. The enthusiasm which +Lord Byron aroused in Germany is attested by Goethe: "Im +Jahre 1816, also einige Jahre nach dem Erscheinen des ersten +Gesanges des 'Childe Harold,' trat englische Poesie und +Literatur vor allen andern in den Vordergrund. Lord Byrons +Gedichte, je mehr man sich mit den Eigenheiten dieses ausserordentlichen +Geistes bekannt machte, gewannen immer grössere +Teilnahme, so dass Männer und Frauen, Mägdlein und Junggesellen +fast aller Deutschheit und Nationalität zu vergessen +schienen."<a name="FNanchor_249_249" id="FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a></p> + +<p>It is important to note that this first period of unrestrained +Byron enthusiasm coincides with the formative and impressionable +years of Heine's youth. In his first book of poems, +published in 1821, he included translations from Byron, in +reviewing which Immermann pointed out<a name="FNanchor_250_250" id="FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> that while Heine's +poems showed a superficial resemblance to those of Byron, the +temperament of the former was far removed from the sinister +scorn of the English lord, that it was in fact much more +cheerful and enamored of life.<a name="FNanchor_251_251" id="FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> There is plenty of evidence, +however, to show that it was exceedingly gratifying to the +young Heine to have his name associated with that of Byron; +and although he had no enthusiasm for Byron's philhellenism, +he was pleased to write, June 25, 1824, on hearing of the +Englishman's death: "Der Todesfall Byrons hat mich +übrigens sehr bewegt. Es war der einzige Mensch, mit dem +ich mich verwandt fühlte, und wir mögen uns wohl in +manchen Dingen geglichen haben; scherze nur darüber, soviel +Du willst. Ich las ihn selten seit einigen Jahren; man geht +lieber um mit Menschen, deren Charakter von dem unsrigen +verschieden ist. Ich bin aber mit Byron immer behaglich umgegangen, +wie mit einem völlig gleichen Spiesskameraden. +Mit Shakespeare kann ich gar nicht behaglich umgehen, ich<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_77" id="Page_77" title="77"></a></span> +fühle nur zu sehr, dass ich nicht seinesgleichen bin, er ist der +allgewaltige Minister, und ich bin ein blosser Hofrat, und es +ist mir, als ob er mich jeden Augenblick absetzen könnte."<a name="FNanchor_252_252" id="FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> +Significant is the allusion in this same letter to a proposition +which the writer seems to have made to his friend in a +previous one: " ... ich darf Dir Dein Versprechen in Hinsicht +des 'Morgenblattes' durchaus nicht erlassen. Robert +besorgt gern den Aufsatz. Byron ist jetzt tot, und ein Wort +über ihn ist jetzt passend. Vergiss es nicht; Du thust mir +einen sehr grossen Gefallen."<a name="FNanchor_253_253" id="FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> We shall probably not be far +astray in assuming that the "Gefallen" was to have been the +advertising of Heine as the natural successor of Byron in +European literature. Three months later he once more urges +the request: "Auch fände ich es noch immer angemessen, ja +jetzt mehr als je, dass Du Dich über Byron und Komp. vernehmen +liessest."<a name="FNanchor_254_254" id="FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a></p> + +<p>But it was not long before Heine, with an increasing sense +of literary independence, reinforced no doubt by the reaction +of public opinion against Byron, and influenced also by his +friend Immermann's judgment in particular,<a name="FNanchor_255_255" id="FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> was no longer +willing to be considered a disciple of the English master. +Several unmistakable references betoken this change of heart, +for example, the following from his "Nordsee" III (1826): +"Wahrlich in diesem Augenblicke fühle ich sehr lebhaft, dass +ich kein Nachbeter, oder, besser gesagt, Nachfrevler, Byrons +bin, mein Blut ist nicht so spleenisch schwarz, meine Bitterkeit +kömmt nur aus den Galläpfeln meiner Dinte, und wenn Gift in +mir ist, so ist es doch nur Gegengift, Gegengift wider jene +Schlangen, die im Schutte der alten Dome und Burgen so bedrohlich +lauern."<a name="FNanchor_256_256" id="FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> Byron, instead of being regarded as "kindred +spirit" and "cousin," is now characterized as a ruthless de<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_78" id="Page_78" title="78"></a></span>stroyer +of venerable forms, injuring the most sacred flowers of +life with his melodious poison, or as a mad harlequin who +thrusts the steel into his heart, in order that he may teasingly +bespatter ladies and gentlemen with the black spurting blood. +In remarkable contrast with his former views, he now writes: +"Von allen grossen Schriftstellern ist Byron just derjenige, +dessen Lektüre mich am unleidigsten berührt."</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most interesting passage in this connection, +because so thoroughly characteristic of the Byronic pose in +Heine, occurs in the "Bäder von Lucca": "Lieber Leser, +gehörst du vielleicht zu jenen frommen Vögeln, die da einstimmen +in das Lied von Byronischer Zerrissenheit, das mir +schon seit zehn Jahren in allen Weisen vorgepfiffen und vorgezwitschert +worden ...? Ach, teurer Leser, wenn du +über jene Zerrissenheit klagen willst, so beklage lieber, dass die +Welt selbst mitten entzwei gerissen ist. Denn da das Herz des +Dichters der Mittelpunkt der Welt ist, so musste es wohl in +jetziger Zeit jämmerlich zerrissen werden. Wer von seinem +Herzen rühmt, es sei ganz geblieben, der gesteht nur, dass er +ein prosaisches, weitabgelegenes Winkelherz hat. Durch das +meinige ging aber der grosse Weltriss, und eben deswegen weiss +ich, dass die grossen Götter mich vor vielen andern hoch +begnadigt und des Dichtermärtyrtums würdig geachtet +haben."<a name="FNanchor_257_257" id="FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> Here while vociferously disclaiming all kinship or +sympathy with Byron, he pays him the flattering compliment +of imitation. Probably nowhere in Byron could we find a +more pompous display of egoism under the guise of Weltschmerz.</p> + +<p>Byron's Weltschmerz, like Heine's, had its first provocation +in a purely personal experience. "To a Lady"<a name="FNanchor_258_258" id="FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> and "Remembrance"<a name="FNanchor_259_259" id="FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> +both give expression in passionate terms to the poet's +disappointed love for Mary Chaworth, the parallel in Heine's +case being his infatuation for his cousin Amalie. The necessity +for defending himself against a public opinion actively hos<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_79" id="Page_79" title="79"></a></span>tile +to his earliest poems,<a name="FNanchor_260_260" id="FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> largely diverted Byron from this +first painful theme, so that from this time on until he left +England, he is almost incessantly engaged in a bitter warfare +against the injustice of critics and of society. To this second +period Heine's development also shows a general resemblance. +Thus far both poets exhibit a purely egoistic type of Weltschmerz. +But with his separation from his wife in 1816, and +his final departure from England, that of Byron enters upon a +third period and becomes cosmic. Ostracized by English society, +his relations with it finally severed, he disdains to defend +himself further against its criticism, and espouses the cause of +unhappy humanity. No longer his own personal woes, but +rather those of the nations of the earth are nearest his heart:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">What are our woes and sufferance? . . .<br /></span> +<span class="i2">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ye!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Whose agonies are evils of a day—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A world is at our feet as fragile as our clay.<a name="FNanchor_261_261" id="FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And in contemplating the ruins of the Palatine Hill:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Upon such a shrine<br /></span> +<span class="i2">What are our petty griefs? Let me not number mine.<a name="FNanchor_262_262" id="FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Here we have the essential difference between these two types +of Weltschmerz. Heine does not, like Byron, make this transition +from the personal to the universal stage. Instead of +becoming cosmic in his Weltschmerz, he remains for ever +egoistic.</p> + +<p>Numerous quotations might be adduced from the writings +of both poets, which would seem to indicate that Heine had +borrowed many of his ideas and even some forms of expression +from Byron. Except in the case of the most literal correspondence, +this is generally a very unsafe deduction. Such +passages as a rule prove nothing more than a similarity, possibly +quite independent, in the trend of their pessimistic<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_80" id="Page_80" title="80"></a></span> +thought. Compare for example Byron's lines in the poem +"And wilt thou weep when I am low?"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Oh lady! blessed be that tear—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It falls for one who cannot weep;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Such precious drops are doubly dear<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To those whose eyes no tear may steep,<a name="FNanchor_263_263" id="FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>with Heine's stanza:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Seit ich sie verloren hab',<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Schafft' ich auch das Weinen ab;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Fast vor Weh das Herz mir bricht,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Aber weinen kann ich nicht.<a name="FNanchor_264_264" id="FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Or again, "Childe Harold," IV, 136:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">From mighty wrongs to petty perfidy<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Have I not seen what human things could do?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From the loud roar of foaming calumny<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To the small whisper of the as paltry few—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And subtler venom of the reptile crew,<a name="FNanchor_265_265" id="FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>with the first lines of Heine's ninth sonnet:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ich möchte weinen, doch ich kann es nicht;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ich möcht' mich rüstig in die Höhe heben,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Doch kann ich's nicht; am Boden muss ich kleben,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Umkrächzt, umzischt von eklem Wurmgezücht,<a name="FNanchor_266_266" id="FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>a thought which in one of his letters (1823) he paraphrases +thus: "Der Gedanke an Dich, liebe Schwester, muss mich zuweilen +aufrecht halten, wenn die grosse Masse mit ihrem +dummen Hass und ihrer ekelhaften Liebe mich niederdrückt."<a name="FNanchor_267_267" id="FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> +There can be no doubt that Heine for a time studied diligently +to imitate this fashionable model, pose, irony and all. +So diligently perhaps, that he himself was sometimes unable +to distinglish between imitation and reality. So at least it +would appear from No. 44 of "Die Heimkehr:"</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2">Ach Gott! im Scherz und unbewusst<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sprach ich, was ich gefühlet:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ich hab mit dem Tod in der eignen Brust<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Den sterbenden Fechter gespielet.<a name="FNanchor_268_268" id="FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a><br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_81" id="Page_81" title="81"></a></span></div></div> + +<p>In summing up our impressions of the two poets we shall +scarcely escape the feeling that while Byron is pleased to display +his troubles and his heart-aches before the curious gaze +of the world, they are at least in the main real troubles and sincere +heart-aches, whereas Heine, on the other hand, does a +large business in Weltschmerz on a very small capital.</p> + +<p>Nor is Heine the man more convincing as to his sincerity +than Heine the poet. No more striking instance of this fact +could perhaps be found than his letter to Laube on hearing +the news of Immermann's death.<a name="FNanchor_269_269" id="FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> "Gestern Abend erfuhr +ich durch das <i>Journal des Debats</i> ganz zufällig den Tod von +Immermann. Ich habe die ganze Nacht durch geweint. +Welch ein Unglück!... Welch einen grossen Dichter haben +wir Deutschen verloren, ohne ihn jemals recht gekannt zu +haben! Wir, ich meine Deutschland, die alte Rabenmutter! +Und nicht nur ein grosser Dichter war er, sondern auch brav +und ehrlich, und deshalb liebte ich ihn. Ich liege ganz +darnieder vor Kummer." But scarcely has he turned the page +with a short intervening paragraph, when he continues: "Ich +bin, sonderbar genug, sehr guter Laune," and concludes the +letter with some small talk. Now if he was sincere, as we +may assume he was, in the asseveration of his grief at the death +of his friend, then either that grief must have been anything +but profound, or we have the clearest sort of evidence of the +poet's incapacity for serious feeling of more than momentary +duration. It is safe to assert that Heine never set himself a +high artistic task, and remained true to his purpose until the +task was accomplished. In other words, Heine betrays a lack +of will-energy along artistic lines, which in the case of Hölderlin +and Lenau was more evident in their attitude toward the +practical things of life.</p> + +<p>But the fact that Heine never created a monumental literary +work of enduring worth is not attributable solely to a +fickleness of artistic purpose or lack of will-energy. We find +its explanation rather in the poet's own statement: "Die +Poesie ist am Ende doch nur eine schöne Nebensache."<a name="FNanchor_270_270" id="FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> and to<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_82" id="Page_82" title="82"></a></span> +this principle, consciously or unconsciously, Heine steadily +adhered. Certain it is that he took a much lower view of his +art than did Hölderlin or Lenau. Hence we find him ever +ready to degrade his muse by making it the vehicle for immoral +thoughts and abominable calumnies.<a name="FNanchor_271_271" id="FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a></p> + +<p>The question of Heine's patriotism has always been a much-debated +one, and must doubtless remain so. But whatever +opinion we may hold in regard to his real attitude and +feelings toward the land of his birth, this we shall have to admit, +that there are exceedingly few traces of Weltschmerz +arising from this source. Genuine feeling is expressed in the +two-stanza poem "Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland"<a name="FNanchor_272_272" id="FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> and +also in "Lebensfahrt,"<a name="FNanchor_273_273" id="FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> although this latter poem illustrates a +characteristic of so many of his writings, namely that he himself +is their central figure. It is the sublime egoism which +characterizes Heine and all his works. No wonder, then, that +one of his few "Freiheitslieder" refers to his own personal liberty.<a name="FNanchor_274_274" id="FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a> +For the failings of his countrymen he is ever ready +with scathing satire,<a name="FNanchor_275_275" id="FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> he grieves over his separation from them +only when he thinks of his mother;<a name="FNanchor_276_276" id="FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> and in regard to the future +of Germany he is for the most part sceptical.<a name="FNanchor_277_277" id="FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> In a word, +Heine's lyric utterances in regard to his fatherland are of so +mixed a character, that altogether aside from the question of +the sincerity of his feeling toward the land of his birth, certainly +none but the blindest partisan would be able to discover +more than a negligible quantity of Weltschmerz directly attributable +to this influence.</p> + +<p>Heine's conscience is at best a doubtful quantity. Where +Byron with a sincere sense and acknowledgment of his guilt +writes:<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_83" id="Page_83" title="83"></a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i4">"My injuries came down on those who loved me—<br /></span> +<span class="i4">On those whom I best loved: . . . . . .<br /></span> +<span class="i4">But my embrace was fatal."<a name="FNanchor_278_278" id="FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Heine sees it in quite another light: "War ich doch selber jetzt +das lebende Gesetz der Moral und der Quell alles Rechtes und +aller Befugnis; die anrüchigsten Magdalenen wurden purifiziert +durch die läuternde und sühnende Macht meiner Liebesflammen,"<a name="FNanchor_279_279" id="FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> +a moral aberration which he attributes to an imperfect +interpretation of the difficult philosophy of Hegel. If +further evidence were necessary to show the perversity of +Heine's moral sense, the following paragraph from a letter to +Varnhagen would suffice, in its way perhaps as remarkable a +contribution to the theory of ethics as has ever been penned: +"In Deutschland ist man noch nicht so weit, zu begreifen, dass +ein Mann, der das Edelste durch Wort und That befördern +will, sich oft einige kleine Lumpigkeiten, sei es aus Spass oder +aus Vorteil, zu schulden kommen lassen darf, wenn er nur durch +diese Lumpigkeiten (d. h. Handlungen, die im Grunde ignobel +sind,) der grossen Idee seines Lebens nichts schadet, ja dass +diese Lumpigkeiten oft sogar lobenswert sind, wenn sie uns in +den Stand setzen, der grossen Idee unsres Lebens desto würdiger +zu dienen."<a name="FNanchor_280_280" id="FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> Scarcely less remarkable is the poet's confession +to his friend Moser that he has a rubber soul: "Ich kann Dir +das nicht oft genug wiederholen, damit Du mich nicht misst +nach dem Massstabe Deiner eigenen grossen Seele. Die +meinige ist Gummi elastic, zieht sich oft ins Unendliche +und verschrumpft oft ins Winzige. Aber eine Seele habe ich +doch. I am positive, I have a soul, so gut wie Sterne. +Das genüge Dir. Liebe mich um der wunderlichen Sorte +Gefühls willen, die sich bei mir ausspricht in Thorheit und +Weisheit, in Güte und Schlechtigkeit. Liebe mich, weil es +Dir nun mal so einfällt, nicht, weil Du mich der Liebe wert +hältst.... Ich hatte einen Polen zum Freund, für den ich +mich bis zu Tod besoffen hätte, oder, besser gesagt, für den ich +mich hätte totschlagen lassen, und für den ich mich noch +totschlagen liesse, und der Kerl taugte für keinen Pfennig,<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_84" id="Page_84" title="84"></a></span> +und war venerisch, und hatte die schlechtesten Grundsätze—aber +er hatte einen Kehllaut, mit welchem er auf so wunderliche +Weise das Wort 'Was?' sprechen konnte, dass ich in +diesem Augenblick weinen und lachen muss, wenn ich daran +denke."<a name="FNanchor_281_281" id="FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a></p> + +<p>Taking him all in all then, Heine is not a serious personality, +a fact which we need to keep constantly in mind in judging +almost any and every side of his nature.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Heine's Weltschmerz, like his whole +personality, is of so complex and contradictory a nature, that +it would be a hopeless undertaking to attempt to weigh each +contributing factor and estimate exactly the amount of its +influence. All the elements which have been briefly noted in +the foregoing pages, and probably many minor ones which +have not been mentioned, combined to produce in him that +"Zerrissenheit" which finds such frequent expression in his +writings. But it must be remembered that this "Zerrissenheit" +does not always express itself as Weltschmerz. In +Heine it often appears simply as pugnacity; and where wit, +satire, self-irony or even base calumny succeeds in covering up +all traces of the poet's pathos we are no longer justified on +sentimental or sympathetic grounds in taking it for granted. +In looking for pathos in Heine's verse we shall not have to +look in vain, it is true, but we shall find much less than his +popular reputation as a poet of Weltschmerz would lead us +to expect; and we frequently gain the impression that his disposition +and his personal experiences are after all largely the +excuse for rather than the occasion of his Weltschmerz.</p> + +<p>Plümacher maintains: "Der Weltschmerz ist entweder die +absolute Passivität, und die Klage seine einzige Aeusserung, +oder aber er verpufft seine Kräfte in rein subjectivistischen, +eudämonischen Anstrengungen,"<a name="FNanchor_282_282" id="FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a>—a characterization which +certainly holds good in the case of Lenau and Hölderlin respectively. +Hölderlin, although in a visionary, idealistic way, +remains, en in his Weltschmerz, altruistic and constructive. +Lenau is passive, while Heine is solely egoistic and destructive.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> "Studien und Wandertage," Frauenfeld, Huber, 1884.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> Vol. II, p. 265.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> "Französische Maler. Gemälde-Ausstellung in Paris, 1831." Heines Sämmtliche +Werke, mit Einleitung von E. Elster. Leipzig, Bibliogr. Inst., 1890. (Hereafter +quoted as "Werke.") Vol. IV, p. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> "Selina, oder über die Unsterblichkeit," II, p. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> "Heinrich Heines Krankheit und Leidensgeschichte." Eine kritische Studie, +von S. Rahmer, Dr. Med., Berlin, 1901.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> "Das Liebesleben Hölderlin's, Lenaus, Heines." Berlin, 1901.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> Rahmer, op. cit. p. 45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> Rahmer, p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> Werke, Vol. III, p. 194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> Karpeles ed. Werke (2. Aufl.) VIII, p. 441.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 378.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 520.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> Karpeles ed. Werke, IX, p. 371.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 374.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 459 ff.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 513.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 475.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 72, Nos. 18 and 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 123, No. 62.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> Lenaus Werke, Vol. I, p. 257 ff.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. II, p. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 197.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 408.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 468.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> Karpeles ed. Werke, Vol. II, p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> A few other examples of this same coloring in Heine's lyrics are to be found +in the "Neuer Frühling," Nos. 40, 41 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 89, No. 55, "O Gott, wie hässlich bitter ist das Sterben!" +etc.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> Engel: "Heine's Memoiren," p. 133.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. II, p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> "Nicolaus Lenau. Erinnerung und Betrachtung." Wien, 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 367f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 415.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 42 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 428.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 416.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 473.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> Cf. Heine's letter to Moser, Jan. 9, 1826, in Karpeles' Autob. p. 191.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 491.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> Cf. Werke, Einleitung, Vol. II, p. 241.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 293.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> Cf. Almansor's Speech, Werke, Vol. II, p. 288 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 363.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 384.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 391.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 472.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 503.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 540.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, IX, p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, VIII, p. 392.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> Karpeles ed. VIII, p. 396.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, IX, p. 308 ff.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 316.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> Letter to Detmold, Jan. 9, 1845, Werke (Karpeles ed.), Vol. IX, p. 310.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. II, p. 105.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> Cf. Karpeles' Autob. p. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 92.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> Werke, Vol. II, p. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> One of the most exhaustive monographs on the subject is that of Felix Melchior +(Cf. bibliography, <i>infra</i> p. 90), to whom I am indebted for several of the +parallels suggested.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_249_249" id="Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> Weimar Ausg. I Abt. Bd. 36, p. 128.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_250_250" id="Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> In the <i>Rheinisch-westfälischer Anzeiger</i>, May 31, 1822, No. 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_251_251" id="Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> Cf. Strodtmann, "H. Heines Leben und Werke," 3. ed., Hamburg, 1884. +Vol. I, p. 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_252_252" id="Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 434.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_253_253" id="Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 433.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_254_254" id="Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 441.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_255_255" id="Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> In discussing the first volume of Heine's "Reisebilder," Immermann had said: +"Man hat Heinen beim Beginn seiner dichterischen Laufbahn mit Byron vergleichen +wollen. Diese Vergleichung scheint nicht zu passen. Der Brite bringt mit ungeheuren +Mitteln nur massige poetische Effekte hervor, während Heine eine Anlage +zeigt, sich künstlerisch zu begrenzen und den Stoff gänzlich in die Form zu absorbieren." +(<i>Jahrbücher f. wissenschaftliche Kritik</i>, 1827, No. 97, p. 767.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_256_256" id="Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> Werke, III, p. 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_257_257" id="Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> Werke, Vol. Ill, p. 304.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_258_258" id="Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> Byron's Works, Coleridge ed., London and New York, 1898. Vol. I, p. 189 ff.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_259_259" id="Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 211.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_260_260" id="Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> Cf. the poems "To a Knot of Ungenerous Critics," "English Bards and +Scotch Reviewers," and others.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_261_261" id="Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> Coleridge ed., Vol. II, p. 388 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_262_262" id="Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 406.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_263_263" id="Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> Coleridge ed., Vol. I, p. 266 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_264_264" id="Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 78.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_265_265" id="Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> Coleridge ed., Vol. II, p. 429.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_266_266" id="Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_267_267" id="Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 411.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_268_268" id="Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> Werke, I, p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_269_269" id="Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> Werke, Karpeles ed. Vol. IX, p. 162 f.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_270_270" id="Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> Letter to Immermann, Werke (Karpeles ed.), Vol. VIII, p. 354.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_271_271" id="Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> Cf. his vulgar prognostication of Germany's future, Kaput XXVI of the +"Wintermärchen," Werke, Vol. II, p. 488 ff.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_272_272" id="Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> Werke, Vol. I, p. 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_273_273" id="Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 308.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_274_274" id="Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 301, "Adam der erste."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_275_275" id="Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 316, "Zur Beruhigung."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_276_276" id="Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, Vol. I, p. 320, "Nachtgedanken."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_277_277" id="Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> Cf. <i>supra</i>, note 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_278_278" id="Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> "Manfred," Coleridge ed., IV, p. 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_279_279" id="Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> Werke VI, p. 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_280_280" id="Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 541.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_281_281" id="Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 399.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_282_282" id="Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> Plümacher: "Der Pessimismus." Heidelberg, 1888, p. 103.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_85" id="Page_85" title="85"></a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3><b>Bibliography</b></h3> + + +<h4><i>General</i></h4> + + +<p>Breitinger, H. Neues über den alten Weltschmerz. "Studien +und Wandertage." Frauenfeld, Huber, 1884, p. 246-62.</p> + +<p>Caro, E. Le Pessimisme au 19. Siècle; Leopardi, Schopenhauer, +Hartmann. 4th. ed. Paris, 1889.</p> + +<p>Deutsches Litteraturblatt, Halle a. S. 1879, Nr. 1. Der Pessimismus +in der Litteratur.</p> + +<p>"Europa," 1869, Nr. 16. Der Weltschmerz in der Poesie. +von Golther, Ludwig. Der Moderne Pessimismus. Leipzig, +1878.</p> + +<p>Hartmann, Ed. Zur Begründung und Geschichte des Pessimismus. +Leipzig, 1892.</p> + +<p>Heyse, Paul. Leopardi, der Dichter des Pessimismus. +Deutsche Rundschau, Band 14, Art. 15.</p> + +<p>Huber, Johannes. Der Pessimismus. München, 1876.</p> + +<p>Lenzi, Annita. Il problema del dolore in alcune figure della +letteratura. Roma, Bertero.</p> + +<p>Lombroso, C. Der geniale Mensch. Hamburg, 1900.</p> + +<p>Nisbet. Pessimism and its Antidote. Macmillan's Magazine, +London, Aug. 1877.</p> + +<p>Pfleiderer, E. Der Moderne Pessimismus. "Deutsche Zeit- und +Streitfragen," Berlin, 1875.</p> + +<p>Plümacher, O. Der Pessimismus in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. +2d. ed. Heidelberg, 1888.</p> + +<p>Revue des deux Mondes, Dec. 1877, p. 481-514. L'Ecole pessimiste +en Allemagne; son influence et son avenir.</p> + +<p>Sully, James. Pessimism. A History and a Criticism. London, +1877.</p> + +<p>Westminster Review, Vol. 138, Oct. 1892. Pessimism and +Poetry.<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_86" id="Page_86" title="86"></a></span></p> + +<p>Weygoldt, G. P. Kritik des philosophischen Pessimismus der +neusten Zeit. Leiden, 1875.</p> + + +<h4><i>Hölderlin</i></h4> + + +<p>Hölderlins Sämmtliche Werke, herausgegeben von C. T. +Schwab. Stuttgart, 1846.</p> + +<p>Hölderlins gesammelte Dichtungen. Neu durchgesehene und +vermehrte Ausgabe, mit biographischer Einleitung herausgegeben +von B. Litzmann. Stuttgart, Cotta.</p> + +<p>Arnold, R. F. Der deutsche Philhellenismus. Euphorion, +1896, II Ergänzungsheft, p. 71 ff.</p> + +<p>Brandes, G. Die Hauptströmungen der Litteratur des 19. +Jahrhunderts. Leipzig, 1894. Vol. 2, p. 48-53.</p> + +<p>Challemel-Lacour. La Poesie paienne en Allemagne au XIX. +Siècle. Revue des deux Mondes, June, 1867.</p> + +<p>Haym, R. Die Romantische Schule. Berlin, 1870, p. 289-324</p> + +<p>Jung, Alexander. Friedrich Hölderlin und seine Werke. +Cotta, 1848.</p> + +<p>Klein-Hattingen, Oskar. Das Liebesleben Hölderlins, Lenaus, +Heines. Berlin, 1901.</p> + +<p>Köstlin, K. Dichtungen von Friedrich Hölderlin, mit biographischer +Einleitung. Tübingen, 1884.</p> + +<p>Litzmann, Carl C. T. Friedrich Hölderlins Leben, in Briefen +von und an Hölderlin. Berlin, 1890. +(Reviewed by O. F. Walzel, Zeitschrift f. d. Alt. Anz. 17, p. +314-320.)</p> + +<p>Müller, David. Friedrich Hölderlin, eine Studie. Preuss. +Jahrbücher, 1866, 17, p. 548-68.</p> + +<p>Müller-Rastatt. Friedrich Hölderlins Leben und Dichten, +Bremen, 1894. +(Reviewed by Hermann Fischer, Anz. f. d. Alt. 22, p. 212-18.)</p> + +<p>Rosenkranz, K. Aus Hegels Leben. I. Hegel und Hölderlin. +Prutz, Literarhistor. Taschenbuch, 1843, Bd. I, p. 89-200.</p> + +<p>Scherer, Wilh. Vorträge und Aufsätze zur Geschichte des +geistigen Lebens in Deutschland und Oesterreich. Berlin, +1874. Hölderlin, p. 346-355.</p> + +<p>Teuffel, W. S. Studien und Charakteristiken zur griechischen<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_87" id="Page_87" title="87"></a></span> +u. römischen sowie zur deutschen Litteraturgeschichte. +Leipzig, 1871. Hölderlin, p. 473-502.</p> + +<p>Waiblinger, Wilh. Friedrich Hölderlin's Leben, Dichtung und +Wahnsinn. In Waiblinger's Werken, 3, p. 219-61.</p> + +<p>Wenzel, G. Hölderlin und Keats als geistesverwandte Dichter. +Programm. Magdeburg, 1896.</p> + +<p>Wilbrandt, Adolf. Hölderlin. In "Geisteshelden. Eine +Sammlung von Biographien," herausgegeben von Dr. Anton +Bettelheim. Berlin, 1896. 2 und 3 Band, p. 1-46.</p> + +<p>(Originally published as "Hölderlin, der Dichter des Pantheismus," +in Riehls Historisches Taschenbuch, 5. Folge, 1. +Jahrgang. Leipzig, 1871, p. 373-413.)</p> + + +<h4><i>Lenau</i></h4> + +<p>Nicolaus Lenau's Sämmtliche Werke, herausgegeben von G. +Emil Barthel. 2. Aufl. Leipzig (Ohne Jahr).</p> + +<p>Lenau's Sämmtliche Werke, in 4 Bänden, Stuttgart, Cotta +(Ohne Jahr).</p> + +<p>Lenau's Werke, herausgegeben von Max Koch. Kürschners +Nationallitt. 154 und 155.</p> + +<p>Auerbach. Nicolaus Lenau. Erinnerung und Betrachtung. +Wien, 1876.</p> + +<p>Barewicz, Witold. Rezension von Zdziechowski, Der deutsche +Byronismus. Euphorion, 1894, p. 417-18.</p> + +<p>Berdrow, Otto. Frauenbilder aus der neueren deutschen +Litteraturgeschichte. +Stuttgart (ohne Jahr). Lenau's Mutter, +p. 223-235; Sophie Löwenthal, p. 236-259; Marie Behrends, +p. 260-80.</p> + +<p>Castle, Ed. Nicolaus Lenau. Zur Jahrhundertfeier seiner +Geburt. Leipzig, 1902.</p> + +<p>Castle, Ed. Heimaterinnerungen bei Lenau. Grillparzer Jahrb. Wien, +1900, p. 80-95.</p> + +<p>Castle, Ed. Nicolaus Lenaus Savonarola. Euphorien, 1896, Vol. 3, +p. 74-92; 441-64; 1897, Vol. 4, p. 66-91.</p> + +<p>Ernst, Ad. Wilh. Litterarische Charakterbilder. Hamburg, +1895. Lenau, p. 253-74.</p> + +<p>Ernst, Ad. Lenaus Frauengestalten. Stuttgart, 1902.</p> + +<p>Faggi, A. Lenau und Leopardi. Palermo, 1898.<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_88" id="Page_88" title="88"></a></span></p> + +<p>Farinelli, A. Ueber Leopardis und Lenaus Pessimismus. Verhandlungen +des 8. Allgem. d. Neuphilologentages, 1898. +(Reviewed in Neuphil. Centralblatt, Sept. 1898).</p> + +<p>Fischer, Kuno. Der Philosoph des Pessimismus. Kleine +Schriften, Heidelberg, 1897.</p> + +<p>Frankl, L. A. Zur Biographie Nicolaus Lenaus. 2. Aufl. +Wien, Pest, Leipzig, Hartleben, 1885.</p> + +<p>Frankl, L. A. Lenau und Sophie Löwenthal. Cotta, 1891. +(Reviewed by Minor, Anz. f. d. Alt. 18, p. 276-291.)</p> + +<p>Friedrichs, Paul. Nicolaus Lenau. Nordd. Allg. Ztg. 1902, +Nr. 188.</p> + +<p>Gesky, Theodor. Lenau als Naturdichter. Leipzig, 1902.</p> + +<p>Hohenhausen, F. Nicolaus Lenau und Emilie Reinbeck. +Westermanns Ill. Monatsh. Mai, 1873.</p> + +<p>Kerner, Theobald. Das Kernerhaus und seine Gäste. +Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1894.</p> + +<p>Klein-Hattingen, Oscar. See under Hölderlin.</p> + +<p>Marchand, Alfred. Les Poètes lyriques de l'Autriche. Paris, +Fischbacher, 1889.</p> + +<p>Martensen, U. Aus meinem Leben. Berlin, 1891.</p> + +<p>Mayer, Karl. Nicolaus Lenaus Briefe an einen Freund. +Stuttgart, 1853.</p> + +<p>Müller-Frauenstein. Von Heinrich von Kleist his zur Gräfin +M. Ebner-Eschenbach. Hannover, 1891. Lenau, p. +123-33.</p> + +<p>Röttinger, Heinrich. Lenaus Bertha. Ein Beitrag zur Lebensgeschichte +des Dichters. Euphor. 1899, p. 752-61.</p> + +<p>Sadger, J. Nicolaus Lenau. Ein pathologisches Lebensbild. +Neue Freie Presse, Nr. 111166-7. Sept. 25, 26, 1895. +(Reviewed by Castle, Euphor. 1899, p. 792-95.)</p> + +<p>Roustan, L. Lenau et son Temps, Paris, 1898. +(Reviewed by Castle, Euphor. 1899, p. 785-97, in which review +he quotes at length the opinion of Dr. Med. Karl Weiler.)</p> + +<p>Saly-Stern, J. La vie d'un Poète. Essai sur Lenau. Paris, +1902.</p> + +<p>Scherr, J. Ein Dichter des Weltleids. Hammerschläge und +Historien, Zürich, 1872.<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_89" id="Page_89" title="89"></a></span></p> + +<p>Schlossar, Dr. A. Nicolaus Lenau's Briefe an Emilie v. Reinbeck, +nebst Aufzeichnungen. Stuttgart, 1896.</p> + +<p>Schurz, Anton X. Lenaus Leben, grossentheils aus des Dichters +eignen Briefen. 2 vols. Cotta, 1855.</p> + +<p>Sintenis, Franz. Nicolaus Lenau. Vortrag. 1892.</p> + +<p>Von Klenze, Camillo. The Treatment of Nature in the Works +of Lenau. Chicago Univ. Press, 1902.</p> + +<p>Wechsler, Ed. Nicolaus Lenau. Eine litterarische Studie. +Westermanns Ill. Monatsh. 68, p. 676-92.</p> + +<p>Weisser, Paul. Lenau und Marie Behrends. Deutsche +Rundschau, 1889, p. 420 ff.</p> + +<p>Witt, A. Lenau's Leben und Charakter. Marburg, 1893.</p> + + +<h4><i>Heine</i></h4> + +<p>Heinrich Heines Sämmtliche Werke. Hamburg, Hoffmann +und Campe, 1876.</p> + +<p>Heinrich Heines Gesammelte Werke. Kritische Gesammtausgabe, +herausgegeben von Gustav Karpeles. Berlin, 1887.</p> + +<p>Heinrich Heines Sämmtliche Werke. Kritisch durchgesehene +und erläuterte Ausgabe, herausgegeben von Ernst Elster. +Leipzig, Bibliogr. Inst. 1890.</p> + +<p>Briefe von Heinrich Heine an seinen Freund Moses Moser. +Leipzig, 1862.</p> + +<p>Arnold, Matthew. Essays in Criticism. 3d. ed. London, 1875. +Heinrich Heine, p. 181-224.</p> + +<p>Betz, Dr. Louis P. Heine in Frankreich. Eine litterarhistorische +Untersuchung. Zürich, 1895. +Betz, Dr. Heinrich Heine und Alfred de Musset. Eine biographisch-litterarische +Parallele. Zürich, 1897. +(Reviewed by Walzel, Euphor. 1898, p. 788 ff.)</p> + +<p>Bölsche, Wilhelm. Heinrich Heine. Versuch einer ästhetisch-kritischen +Analyse seiner Werke und seiner Weltanschauung. +Leipzig, 1888.</p> + +<p>Ducros, Louis. Henri Heine et son Temps. Paris, 1886.</p> + +<p>Eliot, George. Essays and Leaves from a Note-book. London, +1884. Heine, p. 79-141.<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_90" id="Page_90" title="90"></a></span></p> + +<p>Elster, Ernest. Zu Heines Biographie. Vierteljahrschrift für +Litteraturgeschichte, 1891, Vol. 4, p. 465-512.</p> + +<p>Engel, E. Heine's Memoiren und Gedichte. Prosa und +Briefe. Hamburg, 1884.</p> + +<p>Gautier, Théophile. Portraits et Souvenirs Littéraires. Paris, +1875. Henri Heine, p. 105-128.</p> + +<p>Goetze, R. Heines Buch der Lieder und sein Verhältnis zum +Volkslied. Dissertation. Halle, 1895.</p> + +<p>Gottschall, Rudolf. Porträts und Studien. Leipzig, 1870. +Heinrich Heine nach neuen Quellen, Bd. I. p. 185-264.</p> + +<p>Houghton, Lord. Monographs, personal and social. London, +1873. The last days of Heinrich Heine, p. 293-339.</p> + +<p>Hüffer, H. Aus dem Leben Heinrich Heines. Berlin, 1878.</p> + +<p>Hüffer, H. H. Heine und Ernst C. A. Keller. Deutsche Rundschau, +Nov. and Dec., 1895.</p> + +<p>Kalischer, Dr. Alfred C. Heinrich Heines Verhältnis zur +Religion. Dresden, 1890.</p> + +<p>Karpeles, Gustav. Heinrich Heine und das Judentum. Breslau, +1868.</p> + +<p>Karpeles, Gustav. Heinrich Heine und seine Zeitgenossen. Berlin, 1888.</p> + +<p>Karpeles, Gustav. Heine's Autobiographie, nach seinen Werken, Briefen und +Gesprächen. Berlin, 1888.</p> + +<p>Karpeles, Gustav. H. Heine. Aus seinem Leben und aus seiner Zeit. Leipzig, +1899.</p> + +<p>Kaufmann, Max. Heine's Charakter und die Moderne Seele. +Zürich, 1902.</p> + +<p>Keiter, H. H. Heine. Sein Leben, sein Charakter, seine +Werke. Köln, 1891.</p> + +<p>Kohn-Abrest, F. Les, Coulisses d'un Livre. A propos des +Memoires de Henri Heine, Poète. Paris, 1884.</p> + +<p>Legras, Jules. Henri Heine, Poète. Paris, 1897. +(Reviewed by Walzel, Euphor. 1898, Vol. 5, p. 149.)</p> + +<p>Magnus, Lady. Jewish Portraits. London, 1888. p. 45-81. +(Originally in Macmillan's Magazine for 1883.)</p> + +<p>Meiszner, Alfred. Heinrich Heine. Erinnerungen. Hamburg, +1856.</p> + +<p>Melchior, Felix. Heinrich Heines Verhältnis zu Lord Byron. +Litterarische Forschungen, XXVII Heft. Berlin, 1903.<span class='pagenum'><a class="page" name="Page_91" id="Page_91" title="91"></a></span></p> + +<p>Nietzki, M. Heine als Dichter und Mensch. Berlin, 1895. +(Reviewed by Fürst, Euphor. 1898, Vol. 5, p. 342 f.)</p> + +<p>Nollen. Heine und Wilhelm Müller. Mod. Lang. Notes, +April, 1902.</p> + +<p>Proelss, Robert. Heinrich Heine. Sein Lebensgang und seine +Schriften. Stuttgart, 1886.</p> + +<p>Rahmer, S. Heinrich Heines Krankheit und Leidensgeschichte. +Eine kritische Studie. Berlin, 1902.</p> + +<p>Delia Rocca. Skizzen über H. Heine. Wien, Pest, Leipzig, +Hartleben, 1882.</p> + +<p>Sandvoss, Franz. Was dünket Euch um Heine? Ein Bekenntnis. +Leipzig, 1888.</p> + +<p>Schmidt, Julian. Bilder aus dem geistigen Leben unsrer Zeit. +Leipzig, 1870-71. Heine, Bd. 2, p. 283-350.</p> + +<p>Schmidt-Weissenfels. Ueber Heinrich Heine. Berlin, 1857.</p> + +<p>Selden, Camille. Les derniers Jours de H. Heine. Paris, +1884.</p> + +<p>Sharp, William. Life of Heinrich Heine. London, 1888.</p> + +<p>Sintenis, F. H. Heine; ein Vortrag. Dorpat, 1877.</p> + +<p>Stigand. The Life, Works and Opinions of Heinrich Heine. +London, 1875.</p> + +<p>Strodtmann, Adolf. Heinrich Heine's Wirken und Streben, +Dargestellt an seinen Werken. Hamburg, 1857.</p> + +<p>Strodtmann, Adolf. Immortellen Heinrich Heine's. Berlin, 1871.</p> + +<p>Strodtmann, Adolf. H. Heine's Leben und Werke. III Aufl. Berlin, 1884.</p> + +<p>Stylo, A. Heine und die Romantik. Programm. Krakau, +1900.</p> + +<p>Weill, Alexandre: Souvenirs Intimes de Henri Heine. Paris, +1883.</p> + +<div class="transnotes"><h3>TRANSCRIBER' S NOTES:</h3> + +<div class="transnote"><p><a name="Footnote_TN1_283" id="Footnote_TN1_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_TN1_283"><span class="label">[TN1]</span></a> Correction of the original, which has 'Menchen' here.</p></div> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WELTSCHMERZ *** + +***** This file should be named 17364-h.htm or 17364-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/6/17364/ + +Produced by David Starner, Ralph Janke and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/17364.txt b/17364.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..043bff3 --- /dev/null +++ b/17364.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4335 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry, by +Wilhelm Alfred Braun + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry + +Author: Wilhelm Alfred Braun + +Release Date: December 21, 2005 [EBook #17364] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WELTSCHMERZ *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Ralph Janke and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +TYPES OF WELTSCHMERZ IN GERMAN POETRY + +BY + +WILHELM ALFRED BRAUN, Ph.D. + +SOMETIME FELLOW IN GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES, COLUMBIA +UNIVERSITY + +AMS PRESS, INC. NEW YORK 1966 + + + + +Copyright 1905, Columbia University Press, New York + +Reprinted with the permission of the Original Publisher, 1966 + +AMS PRESS, INC. New York, N.Y. 10003 1966 + +Manufactured in the United States of America + + + + +NOTE + + +The author of this essay has attempted to make, as he himself phrases +it, "a modest contribution to the natural history of Weltschmerz." What +goes by that name is no doubt somewhat elusive; one can not easily +delimit and characterize it with scientific accuracy. Nevertheless the +word corresponds to a fairly definite range of psychical reactions which +are of great interest in modern poetry, especially German poetry. The +phenomenon is worth studying in detail. In undertaking a study of it Mr. +Braun thought, and I readily concurred in the opinion, that he would do +best not to essay an exhaustive history, but to select certain +conspicuously interesting types and proceed by the method of close +analysis, characterization and comparison. I consider his work a +valuable contribution to literary scholarship. + +CALVIN THOMAS. + +COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, June, 1905 + + + + +PREFACE + + +The work which is presented in the following pages is intended to be a +modest contribution to the natural history of Weltschmerz. + +The writer has endeavored first of all to define carefully the +distinction between pessimism and Weltschmerz; then to classify the +latter, both as to its origin and its forms of expression, and to +indicate briefly its relation to mental pathology and to contemporary +social and political conditions. The three poets selected for +discussion, were chosen because they represent distinct types, under +which probably all other poets of Weltschmerz may be classified, or to +which they will at least be found analogous; and to the extent to which +such is the case, the treatise may be regarded as exhaustive. In the +case of each author treated, the development of the peculiar phase of +Weltschmerz characteristic of him has been traced, and analyzed with +reference to its various modes of expression. Hoelderlin is the idealist, +Lenau exhibits the profoundly pathetic side of Weltschmerz, while Heine +is its satirist. They have been considered in this order, because they +represent three progressive stages of Weltschmerz viewed as a +psychological process: Hoelderlin naive, Lenau self-conscious, Heine +endeavoring to conceal his melancholy beneath the disguise of +self-irony. + +It is a pleasure to tender my grateful acknowledgments to my former +Professors, Calvin Thomas and William H. Carpenter of Columbia +University, and Camillo von Klenze and Starr Willard Cutting of the +University of Chicago, under whose stimulating direction and +never-failing assistance my graduate studies were carried on. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Chapter I--Introduction 1 + +Chapter II--Hoelderlin 9 + +Chapter III--Lenau 35 + +Chapter IV--Heine 59 + +Chapter V--Bibliography 85 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +=Introduction= + + +The purpose of the following study is to examine closely certain German +authors of modern times, whose lives and writings exemplify in an +unusually striking degree that peculiar phase of lyric feeling which has +characterized German literature, often in a more or less epidemic form, +since the days of "Werther," and to which, at an early period in the +nineteenth century, was assigned the significant name "Weltschmerz." + +With this side of the poet under investigation, there must of necessity +be an enquiry, not only into his writings, his expressed feelings, but +also his physical and mental constitution on the one hand, and into his +theory of existence in general on the other. Psychology and philosophy +then are the two adjacent fields into which it may become necessary to +pursue the subject in hand, and for this reason it is only fair to call +attention to the difficulties which surround the student of literature +in discussing philosophical ideas or psychological phenomena. Intrepid +indeed would it be for him to attempt a final judgment in these bearings +of his subject, where wise men have differed and doctors have disagreed. + +Although sometimes loosely used as synonyms, it is necessary to note +that there is a well-defined distinction between Weltschmerz and +pessimism. Weltschmerz may be defined as the poetic expression of an +abnormal sensitiveness of the feelings to the moral and physical evils +and misery of existence--a condition which may or may not be based upon +a reasoned conviction that the sum of human misery is greater than the +sum of human happiness. It is usually characterized also by a certain +lack of will-energy, a sort of sentimental yielding to these painful +emotions. It is therefore entirely a matter of "Gemuet." Pessimism, on +the other hand, purports to be a theory of existence, the result of +deliberate philosophic argument and investigation, by which its votaries +have reached the dispassionate conclusion that there is no real good or +pleasure in the world that is not clearly outweighed by evil or pain, +and that therefore self-destruction, or at least final annihilation is +the consummation devoutly to be wished. + +James Sully, in his elaborate treatise on Pessimism,[1] divides it, +however, into reasoned and unreasoned Pessimism, including Weltschmerz +under the latter head. This is entirely compatible with the definition +of Weltschmerz which has been attempted above. But it is interesting to +note the attitude of the pessimistic school of philosophy toward this +unreasoned pessimism. It emphatically disclaims any interest in or +connection with it, and describes all those who are afflicted with the +malady as execrable fellows--to quote Hartmann--: "Klageweiber +maennlichen und weiblichen Geschlechts, welche am meisten zur +Discreditierung des Pessimismus beigetragen haben, die sich in ewigem +Lamento ergehen, und entweder unaufhoerlich in Thraenen schwimmen, oder +bitter wie Wermut und Essig, sich selbst und andern das Dasein noch mehr +vergaellen; eine jaemmerliche Situation des Stimmungspessimismus, der sie +nicht leben und nicht sterben laesst."[2] And yet Hartmann himself does +not hesitate to admit that this very condition of individual +Weltschmerz, or "Zerrissenheit," is a necessary and inevitable stage in +the progress of the mind toward that clarified universal Weltschmerz +which is based upon theoretical insight, namely pessimism in its most +logical sense. This being granted, we shall not be far astray in +assuming that it is also the stage to which the philosophic pessimist +will sometimes revert, when a strong sense of his own individuality +asserts itself. + +If we attempt a classification of Weltschmerz with regard to its +essence, or, better perhaps, with regard to its origin, we shall find +that the various types may be classed under one of two heads: either as +cosmic or as egoistic. The representatives of cosmic Weltschmerz are +those poets whose first concern is not their personal fate, their own +unhappiness, it may be, but who see first and foremost the sad fate of +humanity and regard their own misfortunes merely as a part of the common +destiny. The representatives of the second type are those introspective +natures who are first and chiefly aware of their own misery and finally +come to regard it as representative of universal evil. The former +proceed from the general to the particular, the latter from the +particular to the general. But that these types must necessarily be +entirely distinct in all cases, as Marchand[3] asserts, seems open to +serious doubt. It is inconceivable that a poet into whose personal +experience no shadows have fallen should take the woes of humanity very +deeply to heart; nor again could we imagine that one who has brooded +over the unhappy condition of mankind in general should never give +expression to a note of personal sorrow. It is in the complexity of +motives in one and the same subject that the difficulty lies in making +rigid and sharp distinctions. In some cases Weltschmerz may arise from +honest conviction or genuine despair, in others it may be something +entirely artificial, merely a cloak to cover personal defects. Sometimes +it may even be due to a desire to pose as a martyr, and sometimes +nothing more than an attempt to ape the prevailing fashion. To these +types Wilhelm Scherer adds "Muessiggaenger, welche sich die Zeit mit uebler +Laune vertreiben, missvergnuegte Lyriker, deren Gedichte nicht mehr +gelesen werden, und Spatzenkoepfe, welche den Pessimismus fuer besonderen +Tiefsinn halten und um jeden Preis tiefsinnig erscheinen wollen."[4] + +But it is with Weltschmerz in its outward manifestations as it finds +expression in the poet's writings, that we shall be chiefly concerned in +the following pages. And here the subdivisions, if we attempt to +classify, must be almost as numerous as the representatives themselves. +In Hoelderlin we have the ardent Hellenic idealist; Lenau gives +expression to all the pathos of Weltschmerz, Heine is its satirist, the +misanthrope, while in Raabe we even have a pessimistic humorist. + +This brief list needs scarcely be supplemented by other names of poets +of melancholy, such as Reinhold Lenz, Heinrich von Kleist, Robert +Southey, Byron, Leopardi, in order to command our attention by reason of +the tragic fate which ended the lives of nearly all of these men, the +most frequent and the most terrible being that of insanity. It is of +course a matter of common knowledge that chronic melancholy or the +persistent brooding over personal misfortune is an almost inevitable +preliminary to mental derangement. And when this melancholy takes root +in the finely organized mind of genius, it is only to be expected that +the result will be even more disastrous than in the case of the ordinary +mind. Lombroso holds the opinion that if men of genius are not all more +or less insane, that is, if the "spheres of influence" of genius and +insanity do not actually overlap, they are at least contiguous at many +points, so that the transition from the former to the latter is +extremely easy and even natural. But genius in itself is not an abnormal +mental condition. It does not even consist of an extraordinary memory, +vivid imagination, quickness of judgment, or of a combination of all of +these. Kant defines genius as the talent of invention. Originality and +productiveness are the fundamental elements of genius. And it is an +almost instinctive force which urges the author on in his creative work. +In the main his activity is due less to free will than to this inner +compulsion. + + "Ich halte diesen Drang vergebens auf, + Der Tag und Nacht in meinem Busen wechselt. + Wenn ich nicht sinnen oder dichten soll, + So ist das Leben mir kein Leben mehr," + +says Goethe's Tasso.[5] If this impulse of genius is embodied in a +strong physical organism, as for example in the case of Shakespeare and +Goethe, there need be no detriment to physical health; otherwise, and +especially if there is an inherited tendency to disease, there is almost +sure to be a physical collapse. Specialists in the subject have pointed +out that violent passions are even more potent in producing mental +disease than mere intellectual over-exertion. And these are certainly +characteristic in a very high degree of the mind of genius. It has often +been remarked that it is the _corona spinosa_ of genius to feel all pain +more intensely than do other men. Schopenhauer says "der, in welchem der +Genius lebt, leidet am meisten." It is only going a step further then, +when Hamerling writes to his friend Moeser: "Schliesslich ist es doch nur +der Kranke, der sich das Leid der ganzen Welt zu Herzen nimmt." + +Radestock, in his study "Genie und Wahnsinn," mentions and elaborates +among others the following points of resemblance between the mind of +genius and the insane mind: an abnormal activity of the imagination, +very rapid succession of ideas, extreme concentration of thought upon a +single subject or idea, and lastly, what would seem the cardinal point, +a weakness of will-energy, the lack of that force which alone can serve +to bring under control all these other unruly elements and give balance +to what must otherwise be an extremely one-sided mechanism. Here again +the exception may be taken to prove the rule. It is not too much, I +think, to assert that Goethe could never have become so uniquely great, +not even through the splendid versatility of his genius, but for that +incomparable self-control, which he made the watchword of his life. And +in the case of the poet of Weltschmerz the presence or absence of this +quality may even decide whether he shall rise superior to his beclouded +condition or perish in the gloom. The conclusion at which Radestock +arrives is that genius, as the expression of the most intense mental +activity, occupies the middle ground, as it were, between the normal +healthy state on the one hand, and the abnormal, pathological state on +the other, and has without doubt many points of contact with mental +disease; and that although the elements which genius has in common with +insanity may not be strong enough in themselves to induce the transition +from the former to the latter state, yet when other aggravating causes +are added, such as physical disease, violent emotions or passions, +overwork, the pressure or distress of outward circumstances, the highly +gifted individual is much more liable to cross the line of demarkation +between the two mental states than is the average mind, which is more +remote from that line. If this can be asserted of genius in general, it +must be even more particularly and widely applicable in reference to a +combination of genius and Weltschmerz. We shall find pathetic examples +in the first two types selected for examination. + +Having thus introduced the subject in its most general bearings and +aspects, it remains for us to review briefly its historical background. + +Weltschmerz is essentially a symptom of a period of conflict, of +transition. The powerful reaction which marks the eighteenth century--a +reaction against all traditional intellectual authority, and a struggle +for the emancipation of the individual, of research, of inspiration and +of genius--reached its high-water mark in Germany in the seventies. But +with the unrestrained outbursts of the champions of Storm and Stress the +problem was by no means solved; there remained the basic conflict +between the idea of personal liberty and the strait-jacket of +Frederician absolutism, the conflict between the dynastic and the +national idea of the state. Should the individual yield a blind, +unreasoned submission to the state as to a divinely instituted arbitrary +authority, good or bad, or was the state to be regarded as the conscious +and voluntary cooeperation of its subjects for the general good? It was, +moreover, a time not only of open and active revolt, as represented by +the spirit of Klinger, but also of great emotional stirrings, and +sentimental yearnings of such passive natures as Hoelty. Rousseau's plea +for a simplified and more natural life had exerted a mighty influence. +And what has a most important bearing upon the relation between these +intellectual currents and Weltschmerz--these minds were lacking in the +discipline implied in our modern scientific training. Scientific +exactness of thinking had not become an integral part of education. +Hence the difference between the pessimism of Ibsen and the romantic +Weltschmerz of these uncritical minds. + +In accounting for the tremendous effect produced by his "Werther," +Goethe compares his work to the bit of fuse which explodes the mine, and +says that the shock of the explosion was so great because the young +generation of the day had already undermined itself, and its members +now burst forth individually with their exaggerated demands, unsatisfied +passions and imaginary sufferings.[6] And in estimating the influences +which had prepared the way for this mental disposition, Goethe +emphasizes the influence of English literature. Young's "Night +Thoughts," Gray's "Elegy," Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," even "Hamlet" +and his monologues haunted all minds. "Everyone knew the principal +passages by heart, and everyone believed he had a right to be just as +melancholy as the Prince of Denmark, even though he had seen no ghost +and had no royal father to avenge." Finally Ossian had provided an +eminently suitable setting,--under the darkly lowering sky the endless +gray heath, peopled with the shadowy forms of departed heroes and +withered maidens. To quote the substance of Goethe's criticism:[7] Amid +such influences and surroundings, occupied with fads and studies of this +sort, lacking all incentive from without to any important activity and +confronted by the sole prospect of having to drag out a humdrum +existence, men began to reflect with a sort of sullen exultation upon +the possibility of departing this life at will, and to find in this +thought a scant amelioration of the ills and tedium of the times. This +disposition was so general that "Werther" itself exerted a powerful +influence, because it everywhere struck a responsive chord and publicly +and tangibly exhibited the true inwardness of a morbid youthful +illusion.[8] + +Nor did the dawning nineteenth century bring relief. No other period of +Prussian history, says Heinrich von Treitschke,[9] is wrapped in so deep +a gloom as the first decade of the reign of Frederick William III. It +was a time rich in hidden intellectual forces, and yet it bore the stamp +of that uninspired Philistinism which is so abundantly evidenced by the +barren commonplace character of its architecture and art. Genius there +was, indeed, but never were its opportunities for public usefulness more +limited. It was as though the greatness of the days of the second +Frederick lay like a paralyzing weight upon this generation. And this +oppressing sense of impotence was followed, after the Napoleonic Wars, +by the bitterness of disappointment, all the more keenly felt by reason +of this first reawakening of the national consciousness. Great had been +the expectations, enormous the sacrifice; exceedingly small was the gain +to the individual.[10] And the resultant dissonance was the same as that +to which Alfred de Musset gave expression in the words: "The malady of +the present century is due to two causes; the people who have passed +through 1793 and 1814 bear in their hearts two wounds. All that was is +no more; all that will be is not yet. Do not hope to find elsewhere the +secret of our ills."[11] + +This then in briefest outline is the transition from the century of +individualism and autocracy to the nineteenth century of democracy. +Small wonder that the struggle claimed its victims in those individuals +who, unable to find a firm basis of conviction and principle, vacillated +constantly between instinctive adherence to old traditions, and +unreasoned inclination to the new order of things. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: "Pessimism, a History and a Criticism," London, 1877.] + +[Footnote 2: Ed. von Hartmann: "Zur Geschichte und Begruendung des +Pessimismus," Leipzig, Hermann Haacke, p. 187.] + +[Footnote 3: "Les Poetes Lyriques de l'Autriche," Paris, 1886, p. 293.] + +[Footnote 4: "Vortraege und Aufsaetze zur Geschichte des geistigen Lebens +in Deutschland und Oesterreich," Berlin, 1874, p. 413.] + +[Footnote 5: Act 5, Sc. 2.] + +[Footnote 6: "Goethes Werke," Weimar ed. Vol. 28, p. 227 f.] + +[Footnote 7: _Ibid._, p. 216 f.] + +[Footnote 8: In view of Goethe's own words, then, the caution of a +recent critic (Felix Melchior in _Litt. Forsch._ XXVII Heft, Berlin, +1903) against applying the term Weltschmerz to "Werther," would seem to +miss the mark entirely. Werther is a type, just as truly as is Faust, +though in a smaller way, and the malady which he typifies has its +ultimate origin in the development of public life,--the very condition +which this critic insists upon as a mark of Weltschmerz in the proper +application of the term.] + +[Footnote 9: "Historische und politische Aufsaetze," Leipzig, 1897. Vol. +4.] + +[Footnote 10: As early as 1797 Hoelderlin's Hyperion laments: "Mein +Geschaeft auf Erden ist aus. Ich bin voll Willens an die Arbeit gegangen, +habe geblutet darueber, und die Welt um keinen Pfennig reicher gemacht." +("Hoelderlin's gesammelte Dichtungen, herausgegeben von B. Litzmann," +Stuttgart, Cotta, undated. Vol. II, p. 68.) Several decades later Heine +writes: "Ich kann mich ueber die Siege meiner liebsten Ueberzeugungen +nicht recht freuen, da sie mir gar zu viel gekostet haben. Dasselbe mag +bei manchem ehrlichen Manne der Fall sein, und es traegt viel bei zu der +grossen duesteren Verstimmung der Gegenwart." (Brief vom 21 April, 1851, +an Gustav Kolb; Werke, Karpeles ed. Vol. IX, p. 378.)] + +[Footnote 11: "Confession d'un enfant du siecle." Oeuvres compl. Paris, +1888 (Charpentier). Vol. VIII, p. 24.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +=Hoelderlin= + + +A case such as that of Hoelderlin, subject as he was from the time of his +boyhood to melancholy, and ending in hopeless insanity, at once suggests +the question of heredity. Little or nothing is known concerning his +remote ancestors. His great-grandfather had been administrator of a +convent at Grossbottwar, and died of dropsy of the chest at the age of +forty-seven. His grandfather had held a similar position as +"Klosterhofmeister und geistlicher Verwalter" at Lauffen, to which his +son, the poet's father, succeeded. An apoplectic stroke ended his life +at the early age of thirty-six. In regard to Hoelderlin's maternal +ancestors, our information is even more scant, though we know that both +his grandmother and his mother lived to a ripe old age. From the poet's +references to them we judge them to have been entirely normal types of +intelligent, lovable women, gifted with a great deal of good practical +sense. The only striking thing is the premature death of Hoelderlin's +great-grandfather and father. But in view of the nature of their +stations in life, in which they may fairly be supposed to have led more +than ordinarily sober and well-ordered lives, there seems to be no +ground whatever for assuming that Hoelderlin's Weltschmerz owed its +inception in any degree to hereditary tendencies, notwithstanding +Hermann Fischer's opinion to the contrary.[12] There is no sufficient +reason to assume "erbliche Belastung," and there are other sufficient +causes without merely guessing at such a possibility. + +But while there are no sufficient historical grounds for the supposition +that he brought the germ of his subsequent mental disease with him in +his birth, we cannot fail to observe, even in the child, certain +natural traits, which, being allowed to develop unchecked, must of +necessity hasten and intensify the gloom which hung over his life. To +his deep thoughtfulness was added an abnormal sensitiveness to all +external influences. Like the delicate anemone, he recoiled and withdrew +within himself when touched by the rougher material things of life.[13] +He himself poetically describes his absentmindedness when a boy, and +calls himself "ein Traeumer"; and a dreamer he remained all his life. It +seems to have been this which first brought him into discord with the +world: + + Oft sollt' ich stracks in meine Schule wandern, + Doch ehe sich der Traeumer es versah, + So hatt' er in den Garten sich verirrt, + Und sass behaglich unter den Oliven, + Und baute Flotten, schifft' ins hohe Meer. + + * * * * * + + Dies kostete mich tausend kleine Leiden, + Verzeihlich war es immer, wenn mich oft + Die Kluegeren, mit herzlichem Gelaechter + Aus meiner seligen Ekstase schreckten, + Doch unaussprechlich wehe that es mir.[14] + +If ever a boy needed a strong fatherly hand to guide him, to teach him +self-reliance and practical sense, it was this dreamy, tender-spirited +child.[15] The love and sympathy which his mother bestowed upon him was +not calculated to fit him for the rugged experiences of life, and while +probably natural and pardonable, it was nevertheless extremely +unfortunate that the boy was unconsciously encouraged to be and to +remain a "Muttersoehnchen." But even with his peculiar trend of +disposition, the result might not have been an unhappy one, had the +course of his life not brought him more than an ordinary share of +misfortune. This overtook him early in life, for when but two years of +age his father died. His widowed mother now lived for a few years in +complete retirement with her two children--the poet's sister Henrietta +having been born just a few weeks after his father's demise. But it was +not long before death again entered the household and robbed it of +Hoelderlin's aunt, his deceased father's sister, who was herself a widow +and the faithful companion of the poet's mother. When the latter found +herself again alone with her two little ones, whose care was weighing +heavily upon her, she consented to become the wife of her late husband's +friend, Kammerrat Gock, and accompanied him to his home in the little +town of Nuertingen on the Neckar. But this re-established marital +happiness was to be of brief duration, for in 1779 her second husband +died, and the mother was now left with four little children to care and +provide for. + +The frequency with which death visited the family during his childhood +and youth, familiarized him at an early age with scenes of sorrow and +grief. No doubt he was too young when his father died to comprehend the +calamity that had come upon the household, but it was not many months +before he knew the meaning of his mother's tears, not only for his +father, but also for his sister, who died in her infancy. Referring to +his father's death, he writes in one of his early poems, "Einst und +Jetzt":[16] + + Einst schlugst du mir so ruhig, empoertes Herz! + + * * * * * + + Einst in des Vaters Schoosse, des liebenden + Geliebten Vaters,--aber der Wuerger kam, + Wir weinten, flehten, doch der Wuerger + Schnellte den Pfeil, und es sank die Stuetze. + +At his tenderest and most impressionable age, the boy was thus made +sadly aware of the fleetingness of human life and the pains of +bereavement. We cannot wonder then at finding these impressions +reflected in his most juvenile poetic attempts. His poem "Das +menschliche Leben," written at the age of fifteen, begins: + + Menschen, Menschen! was ist euer Leben, + Eure Welt, die thraenenvolle Welt! + Dieser Schauplatz, kann er Freude geben + Wo sich Trauern nicht dazu gesellt?[17] + +But a time of still greater unhappiness was in store for him when he +left his home at the age of fourteen to enter the convent school at +Denkendorf, where he began his preparation for a theological course. A +more direct antithesis to all that his body and soul yearned for and +needed for their proper development could scarcely have been devised +than that which existed in the chilling atmosphere and rigorous +discipline of the monastery. He had not even an incentive to endure +hardships for the sake of what lay beyond, for it was merely in passive +submission to his mother's wish that he had decided to enter holy +orders. And now, clad in a sombre monkish gown, deprived of all freedom +of thought or movement and forced into companionship with twenty-five or +thirty fellows of his own age, who nearly all misunderstood him, +Hoelderlin felt himself wretched indeed. "Waer' ich doch ewig ferne von +diesen Mauern des Elends!" he writes in a poem at Maulbronn in 1787.[18] +There was for him but one way of escape. It was to isolate himself as +much as possible from the world of harsh reality about him, to be alone, +and there in his solitude to construct for himself an ideal world of +fancy, a poetic dreamland. This mental habit not only remained with him +as he grew into manhood, it may be said to have been through life one of +his most distinguishing characteristics. It would be impossible to make +room here for all the passages in his poems and letters of this period, +which reflect his love of solitude and his habit of retreating into a +world of his own imagining. His letters to his friend Nast almost +invariably contain some expression of his heart-ache. "Bilfinger ist +wohl mein Freund, aber es geht ihm zu gluecklich, als dass er sich nach +mir umsehen moechte. Du wirst mich schon verstehen--er ist immer lustig, +ich haenge immer den Kopf."[19] Another letter begins: "Wieder eine +Stunde wegphantasiert!--dass es doch so schlechte Menschen giebt, unter +meinen Cameraden so elende Kerls--wann mich die Freundschaft nicht +zuweilen wieder gut machte, so haett' ich mich manchmal schon lieber an +jeden andern Ort gewuenscht, als unter Menschengesellschaft.--Wann ich +nur auch einmal etwas recht Lustiges schreiben koennte! Nur Gedult! 's +wird kommen--hoff' ich, oder--oder hab' ich dann nicht genug getragen? +Erfuhr ich nicht schon als Bube, was den Mann seufzen machen wuerde? und +als Juengling, geht's da besser?--Du lieber Gott! bin ich's denn allein? +jeder andre gluecklicher als ich? Und was hab' ich dann gethan?"[20] +There is a world of pathos in this helpless cry of pain, with its +suggestion of retributive fate. A poem of 1788, "Die Stille," written at +Maulbronn, epitomizes almost everything that we have thus far noted as +to Hoelderlin's nature. He goes back in fancy to the days of his +childhood, describing his lonely rambles, from which he would return in +the moonlight, unmindful of his lateness for the evening meal, at which +he would hastily eat of that which the others had left: + + Schlich mich, wenn ich satt gegessen, + Weg von meinem lustigen Geschwisterpaar. + + O! in meines kleinen Stuebchens Stille + War mir dann so ueber alles wohl, + Wie im Tempel war mir's in der Naechte Huelle, + Wann so einsam von dem Turm die Glocke scholl. + + Als ich weggerissen von den Meinen + Aus dem lieben elterlichen Haus + Unter Fremden irrte, we ich nimmer weinen + Durfte, in das bunte Weltgewirr hinaus, + + O wie pflegtest du den armen Jungen, + Teure, so mit Mutterzaertlichkeit, + Wann er sich im Weltgewirre mued gerungen, + In der lieben, wehmutsvollen Einsamkeit.[21] + +This love of solitude is carried to the extreme in his contemplation of +a hermit's life. In a letter to Nast he says: "Heute ging ich so vor +mich hin, da fiel mir ein, ich wolle nach vollendeten Universitaets +Jahren Einsiedler werden--und der Gedanke gefiel mir so wohl, eine +ganze Stunde, glaub' ich, war ich in meiner Fantasie Einsiedler."[22] +And although he never became a hermit, this is the final disposition +which he makes of himself in his "Hyperion." + +These habits of thought and feeling, formed in boyhood, could lead to +only one result. He became less and less qualified to comprehend and to +grapple with the practical problems and difficulties of life, and +entered young manhood and the struggle for existence at a tremendous +disadvantage. + +Another trait of his character which served to intensify his subsequent +disappointments, was the strong ambition which early filled his soul. He +aspired to high achievements in his chosen field of art. In a letter to +Louise Nast, written probably about the beginning of 1790, he makes the +confession: "Der unueberwindliche Truebsinn in mir ist wohl nicht ganz, +doch meist--unbefriedigter Ehrgeiz."[23] The mere lad of seventeen had +scarcely learned to admire Klopstock, when he speaks of his own +"kaempfendes Streben nach Klopstocksgroesse," and exclaims: "Hinan den +herrlichen Ehrenpfad! Hinan! im gluehenden kuehnen Traum, sie zu +erreichen!"[24] It is remarkable to note how this fancy of a dream-life +becomes fixed in Hoelderlin's mind and reappears in almost every poem. +Closely allied to this idea is that of a "glueckliche Trunkenheit," and +expressions like "wie ein Goettertraum das Alter schwand," +"liebetrunken," "Wie ein Traum entfliehen Ewigkeiten," "siegestrunken," +"suesse, kuehne Trunkenheit," "trunken daemmert die Seele mir," can be +found on almost every page of his shorter poems. Hyperion expresses +himself on one occasion in the words: "O ein Gott ist der Mensch, wenn +er traeumt, ein Bettler, wenn er nachdenkt, und wenn die Begeisterung hin +ist, steht er da, wie ein missrathener Sohn, den der Vater aus dem Hause +stiess, und betrachtet die aermlichen Pfennige, die ihm das Mitleid auf +den Weg gab,"[25] which further illustrates the extravagant idealism by +which he allowed himself to be carried away, and the etherial and +thoroughly unpractical trend of his mind. The flights of fancy of which +Hoelderlin is capable are well illustrated by another passage in +"Hyperion." Referring to Hyperion's conversation with Alabanda, he says: +"Ich war hingerissen von unendlichen Hoffnungen, Goetterkraefte trugen wie +ein Woelkchen mich fort."[26] These facts have a direct bearing upon +Hoelderlin's Weltschmerz, inasmuch as it was just this unequal and +unsuccessful struggle of the idealist with the stern realities of life +that brought about the catastrophe which wrought his ruin. + +And just as his ideals are vague and abstract, so too are the +expressions of his Weltschmerz. It needs no concrete idea to arouse his +enthusiasm to its highest pitch. Thus Hyperion exclaims: "Der Gott in +uns, dem die Unendlichkeit zur Bahn sich oeffnet, soll stehen und harren, +bis der Wurm ihm aus dem Wege geht? Nein! nein! man fraegt nicht, ob ihr +wollt! ihr wollt ja nie--ihr Knechte und Barbaren! Euch will man auch +nicht bessern, denn es ist umsonst! Man will nur dafuer sorgen, dass ihr +dem Siegeslauf der Menschheit aus dem Wege geht!"[27] It is in the form +of lofty generalities such as these, and seldom with reference to +practical details, that Hoelderlin's longings find expression. + +Entirely consistent with this idealism is the nature of his love, +ardent, but etherial, "uebersinnlich." This is reflected also in his +lyrics, which are statuesque and beautiful, but lacking in passion and +sensuous charm. Hoelderlin's earliest love-affair, that with Louise Nast, +is important for his Weltschmerz only in its bearing upon the +development of his general character. This influence was a twofold one: +in the first place his sweetheart was herself inclined to a sort of +visionary mysticism, and therefore had an unwholesome influence upon the +youth, who had already been carried too far in that direction. She too +was a lover of solitude and wrote her letters to him in the stillness of +the night, when all others were asleep. There can be no doubt that she +had at least some share in determining his mental activity, especially +his reading. In one of his earliest letters to her he writes: "Weil Du +den Don Carlos liest, will ich ihn auch lesen."[28] It was during this +time too that that he became so ardent an admirer of Schubart and +Ossian. "Da leg' ich meinen Ossian weg und komme zu Dir," he writes in +1788 to his friend Nast. "Ich habe meine Seele geweidet an den Helden +des Barden, habe mit ihm getrauert, wann er trauert ueber sterbende +Maedchen."[29] There is not a sensuous note in all Hoelderlin's poems or +letters to Louise. Typical are the lines which he addresses to her on +his departure from Maulbronn: + + Lass sie drohen, die Stuerme, die Leiden, + Lass trennen--der Trennung Jahre + Sie trennen uns nicht! + Sie trennen uns nicht! + Denn mein bist du! Und ueber das Grab hinaus + Soll sie dauren, die unzertrennbare Liebe. + + O! wenn's einst da ist + Das grosse selige Jenseits, + Wo die Krone dem leidenden Pilger, + Die Palme dem Sieger blinkt, + Dann Freundin--lohnet auch Freundschaft-- + Auch Freundschaft der Ewige.[30] + +The second bearing which his relations to Louise have upon his +Weltschmerz lies in the fact that his love ended in disappointment. This +is true not only of this particular episode, not only of all his +love-affairs, but it may even be said that disappointment was the fate +to which he found himself doomed in all his aspirations. And in the +persistency with which this evil angel pursued his footsteps through +life may be found one of the chief causes of the early collapse of his +faculties. What David Mueller[31] and Hermann Fischer[32] have said in +their essays in regard to this point--that Hoelderlin did not become +insane because his life was a succession of unsatisfactory situations +and painful disappointments, but because he had not the strength to work +himself out of these situations into more favorable ones--states only +half the case. True, a stronger mental organization might have overcome +these or even greater difficulties; Schiller, Herder, Fichte are +examples; but not all of Hoelderlin's failures and disappointments were +the result of his weakness, and so while it is right to state that a +stronger and more robust nature would have conquered in the fight, it is +also fair to say that Hoelderlin would have had a good chance of winning, +had fortune been more kind. For this reason these external influences +must be reckoned with as an important cause of his Weltschmerz and +subsequently of his insanity. + +This suggests an interesting point of comparison--if I may be permitted +to anticipate somewhat--with Lenau, the second type selected. Hoelderlin +earnestly pursued happiness and contentment, but it eluded him at every +step. Lenau on the contrary reached a point in his Weltschmerz where he +refused to see anything in life but pain, wilfully thrusting from him +even such happiness as came within his reach. + +We may postpone any detailed reference to Hoelderlin's relations with +Susette Gontard, which were vastly more important in their influence +upon the poet's character and Weltschmerz, until we come to the +discussion of his "Hyperion," of which Susette, under the pseudonym of +Diotima, forms one of the central figures. + +To speak of all the disappointments which fell to Hoelderlin's lot would +practically require the writing of his biography from the time of his +graduation from Tuebingen to his return from Bordeaux, almost the entire +period of his sane manhood. Unsuccessful in his first position as a +tutor, and unable, after having abandoned this, to provide even a meagre +living for himself with his pen, his migration to Frankfort to the house +of the merchant Gontard at last gave him a hope of better things, but a +hope which soon proved vain. Following close upon these disappointments +was his failure to carry out a project which he had long cherished, of +establishing a literary journal; then came his dismissal from a +situation which he had just entered upon in Switzerland. On his return +he wrote to Schiller for help and advice, and his failure to receive a +reply grieved him deeply. We can only surmise that it was a cruel +disappointment, finally, which caused his sudden departure from +Bordeaux, and brought him back a mental wreck to his mother's home. Even +as early as 1788 Hoelderlin complains bitterly in the poem "Der Lorbeer," +in which he eulogizes the poets Klopstock and Young and expresses his +own ambition to aspire to their greatness: + + Schon so manche Fruechte schoener Keime + Logen grausam mir ins Angesicht.[33] + +As the years passed, this feeling of disappointment and disillusion +became more and more intense and bitter. A stanza from one of his more +mature poems (1795) "An die Natur," will serve to illustrate the +sentiment which pervades almost all his writings: + + Tot ist nun, die mich erzog und stillte, + Tot ist nun die jugendliche Welt, + Diese Brust, die einst ein Himmel fuellte, + Tot und duerftig wie ein Stoppelfeld; + Ach es singt der Fruehling meinen Sorgen + Noch, wie einst, ein freundlich troestend Lied, + Aber hin ist meines Lebens Morgen, + Meines Herzens Fruehling ist verblueht.[34] + +In close causal connection with Hoelderlin's Weltschmerz is his belief +that his life is ruled by an inexorable fate whose plaything he is. +"Wenn hinfort mich das Schicksal ergreift, und von einem Abgrund in den +andern mich wirft, und alle Kraefte in mir ertraenkt und alle Gedanken," +Hyperion exclaims.[35] He goes even further, and conceives the idea of a +sacrifice to Fate. Thus he makes Alabanda say near the close of +"Hyperion:" "Ach! weil kein Glueck ist ohne Opfer, nimm als Opfer mich, o +Schicksal an, und lass die Liebenden in ihrer Freude."[36] Wilhelm +Scherer calls attention to Gervinus' remark that new intellectual +tendencies which call for unaccustomed and unusual mental effort often +prove disastrous to single individuals, and says: "Hoelderlin war also +ein Opfer der Erneuerung des deutschen Lebens--seltsam, wie der Gedanke +des Opfers als ein hoher und herrlicher ihn in allen seinen Gedichten +viel beschaeftigt hat."[37] But the poet does not apply this fatalism +only to himself, to the individual; he widens its influence to humanity +in general. "Wir sprechen von unserm Herzen, unsern Planen, als waeren +sie unser," says Hyperion, "und es ist doch eine fremde Gewalt, die uns +herumwirft und ins Grab legt, wie es ihr gefaellt, und von der wir nicht +wissen, von wannen sie kommt, noch wohin sie geht:"[38] Perhaps nowhere +better than in Hyperion's "Schicksalslied" does he give poetic +expression to this thought. Omitting the first stanza it reads thus: + + Schicksallos wie der schlafende + Saeugling atmen die Himmlischen; + Keusch bewahrt + In bescheidener Knospe, + Bluehet ewig + Ihnen der Geist, + Und die seligen Augen + Blicken in stiller + Ewiger Klarheit. + + Doch uns ist gegeben, + Auf keiner Staette zu ruhn, + Es schwinden, es fallen + Die leidenden Menschen + Blindlings von einer + Stunde zur andern, + Wie Wasser von Klippe + Zu Klippe geworfen, + Jahrlang ins Ungewisse hinab.[39] + +The fundamental difference between Hoelderlin's "Anschauung" and Goethe's +is at once apparent when we recall the "Lied der Parzen" from +"Iphigenie." Hoelderlin does not bring the blessed Genii into any +relation with mortals, but merely contrasts their free and blissful +existence, emphasizing their immunity from Fate, to which suffering +humanity is subject. But this humanity is represented by Hoelderlin +characteristically as helpless, passive--"schwinden," "fallen," +"blindlings von einer Stunde zur andern." Whereas the opening lines of +Goethe's "Parzen" strike the keynote of _conflict_ between the gods and +men: + + Es fuerchte die Goetter + Das Menschengeschlecht! + Sie halten die Herrschaft + In ewigen Haenden + Und koennen sie brauchen + Wie's ihnen gefaellt. + Der fuerchte sie doppelt, + Den je sie erheben! + +And those who come to grief at the hands of the gods, are not weak +passive creatures, but heaven-scaling Titans. This points to the +antipodal difference between the characters of these two poets, and +explains in part why Goethe did not succumb to the sickly sentimentalism +of which he rid himself in "Werther." The difference between yielding +and striving resulted in the difference between an acute case of +Weltschmerz in the one and a healthy physical and intellectual manhood +in the other. + +Thus far it has been almost entirely the personal aspect of Hoelderlin's +Weltschmerz and its causes that has come under our notice. And since he +was a lyric poet, it is perhaps natural that the sorrows which concerned +him personally should find most frequent expression in his verse. But +notwithstanding the fact that this personal element is very prominent in +Hoelderlin's writings, Scherer's judgment is correct when he states: "Die +Grundstimmung war eine tiefe Verbitterung gegen die Versunkenheit des +Vaterlands."[40] The reason is not far to seek, especially when we +consider the impossible demands of the poet's extravagant idealism. The +conditions in Germany which had called forth the terrible arraignment of +petty despotism, crushing militarism, and political rottenness +generally, in the works of Lenz, Klinger and Schubart, had not abated. +Schubart was one of Hoelderlin's earliest favorites, so that the latter +was doubtless in this way imbued with sentiments which could only grow +stronger under the influence of his more mature observations and +experiences. Even in his eighteenth year, in a poem "An die Demut,"[41] +he gives expression in strong terms to his patriotic feelings, in which +his disgust with his faint-hearted, servile compatriots and his defiance +of "Fuerstenlaune" and "Despotenblut" are plainly evident. So too in +"Maennerjubel," 1788: + + Es glimmt in uns ein Funke der Goettlichen! + Und diesen Funken soll aus der Maennerbrust + Der Hoelle Macht uns nicht entreissen! + Hoert es, Despotengerichte, hoert es![42] + +Perhaps nowhere outside of his own Wuerttemberg could he have been more +unfavorably situated in this respect. Under Karl Eugen (1744-1793) the +country sank into a deplorable condition. Regardless of the rights of +individuals and communities alike, he sought in the early part of his +reign to replenish his depleted purse by the most shameless measures, in +order that he might surround himself with luxury and indulge his +autocratic proclivities. Among his most reprehensible violations of +constitutional rights, were his bartering of privileges and offices and +the selling of troops. These things Hoelderlin attacks in one of his +youthful poems "Die Ehrsucht" (1788): + + Um wie Koenige zu prahlen, schaenden + Kleine Wuetriche ihr armes Land; + Und um feile Ordensbaender wenden + Raete sich das Ruder aus der Hand.[43] + +Another act of gross injustice which this petty tyrant perpetrated, and +which Hoelderlin must have felt very painfully, was the incarceration of +the poet's countryman Schubart from 1777 to 1787 in the Hohenasperg. But +not only from within came tyrannous oppression. Following upon the +coalition against France after the Revolution, Wuerttemberg became the +scene of bloody conflicts and the ravages of war. Under the regime of +Friedrich Eugen (1795-97) the French gained such a foothold in +Wuerttemberg that the country had to pay a contribution of four million +gulden to get rid of them. These were the conditions under which +Hoelderlin grew up into young manhood. But deeper than in the mere +existence of these conditions themselves lay the cause of the poet's +most abject humiliation and grief. It was the stoic indifference, the +servile submission with which he charged his compatriots, that called +forth his bitterest invectives upon their insensible heads. His own +words will serve best to show the intensity of his feelings. In 1788 he +writes, in the poem "Am Tage der Freundschaftsfeier:" + + Da sah er (der Schwaermer) all die Schande + Der weichlichen Teutonssoehne, + Und fluchte dem verderblichen Ausland + Und fluchte den verdorbenen Affen des Auslands, + Und weinte blutige Thraenen, + Dass er vielleicht noch lange + Verweilen muesse unter diesem Geschlecht.[44] + +Ten years later he treats the Germans to the following ignominious +comparison: + + Spottet ja nicht des Kinds, wenn es mit Peitsch' und Sporn + Auf dem Rosse von Holz, mutig und gross sich duenkt. + Denn, ihr Deutschen, auch ihr seid + Thatenarm und gedankenvoll.[45] + +With his friend Sinclair, who was sent as a delegate, he attended the +congress at Rastatt in November, 1798, and here he made observations +which no doubt resulted in the bitter characterization of his nation in +the closing letters of Hyperion. This convention, whose chief object was +the compensation of those German princes who had been dispossessed by +the cessions to France on the left bank of the Rhine, afforded a +spectacle so humiliating that it would have bowed down in shame a spirit +even less proud and sensitive than Hoelderlin's. The French emissaries +conducted themselves like lords of Germany, while the German princes +vied with each other in acts of servility and submission to the arrogant +Frenchmen. And it was the apathy of the average German, as Hoelderlin +conceived it, toward these and other national indignities, that caused +him to put such bitter words of contumely into the mouth of Hyperion: +"Barbaren von Alters her, durch Fleiss und Wissenschaft und selbst durch +Religion barbarischer geworden, tief unfaehig jedes goettlichen +Gefuehls--beleidigend fuer jede gut geartete Seele, dumpf und harmonielos, +wie die Scherben eines weggeworfenen Gefaesses--das, mein Bellarmin! +waren meine Troester."[46] In another letter Hyperion explains their +incapacity for finer feeling and appreciation when he writes: "Neide die +Leidensfreien nicht, die Goetzen von Holz, denen nichts mangelt, weil +ihre Seele so arm ist, die nichts fragen nach Regen und Sonnenschein, +weil sie nichts haben, was der Pflege beduerfte. Ja, ja, es ist recht +sehr leicht, gluecklich, ruhig zu sein mit seichtem Herzen und +eingeschraenktem Geiste."[47] Their work he characterizes as +"Stuemperarbeit," and their virtues as brilliant evils and nothing more. +There is nothing sacred, he claims, that has not been desecrated by this +nation. But it is chiefly his own experience which he recites, when, in +speaking of the sad plight of German poets, of those who still love the +beautiful, he says: "Es ist auch herzzerreissend, wenn man eure Dichter, +eure Kuenstler sieht--die Guten, sie leben in der Welt, wie Fremdlinge im +eigenen Hause."[48] Still more extravagantly does the poet caricature +his own people when he writes: "Wenn doch einmal diesen Gottverlassnen +einer sagte, dass bei ihnen nur so unvollkommen alles ist, weil sie +nichts Reines unverdorben, nichts Heiliges unbetastet lassen mit den +plumpen Haenden--dass bei ihnen eigentlich das Leben schaal und +sorgenschwer ist, weil sie den Genius verschmaehen--und darum fuerchten +sie auch den Tod so sehr, und leiden um des Austernlebens willen alle +Schmach, weil Hoehres sie nicht kennen, als ihr Machwerk, das sie sich +gestoppelt."[49] + +But we should get an extremely unjust and one-sided idea of Hoelderlin's +attitude toward his country from these quotations alone. The point which +they illustrate is his growing estrangement from his own people, which +in the very nature of the case must have had an important bearing upon +his Weltschmerz. But his feelings in regard to Germany and the Germans +were not all contempt. In many of his poems there is the true patriotic +ring. It is true, we can nowhere find any clear political program, +neither could we expect one from a poet who was so absorbed in his own +feelings, and whose ideals soared so high above the sphere of practical +politics. In this too Hoelderlin was the product of previous influences. +With all their clamor for political upheavals, the "Stuermer und Draenger" +never arrived at any serious or practical plan of action. +Notwithstanding all this, the word Vaterland was always an inspiration +to Hoelderlin, and it is especially gratifying to note that the calumny +which he heaps upon the devoted heads of the Germans is not his last +word on the subject. Nor did he ever lose sight of his lofty ideal of +liberty for his degraded fatherland or cease to hope for its +realization. In this strain he concludes the "Hymne an die Freiheit" +(1790) with a splendid outburst of patriotic enthusiasm: + + Dann am suessen, heisserrung'nen Ziele, + Wenn der Ernte grosser Tag beginnt, + Wenn veroedet die Tyrannenstuehle, + Die Tyrannenknechte Moder sind, + Wenn im Heldenbunde meiner Brueder + Deutsches Blut und deutsche Liebe glueht, + Dann, O Himmelstochter! sing ich wieder, + Singe sterbend dir das letzte Lied.[50] + +What a remarkable change is noticeable in the tone which the poet +assumes toward his country in the lines "Gesang des Deutschen," written +in 1799, probably after the completion of his "Hyperion": + + O heilig Herz der Voelker, O Vaterland! + Allduldend gleich der schweigenden Muttererd' + Und allverkannt, wenn schon aus deiner + Tiefe die Fremden ihr Bestes haben. + + Du Land des hohen, ernsteren Genius! + Du Land der Liebe! bin ich der Deine schon, + Oft zuernt' ich weinend, dass du immer + Bloede die eigene Seele leugnest.[51] + +How much the reproach has been softened, and with what tender regard he +strives to mollify his former bitterness! To this change in his +feelings, his sojourn in strange places and the attendant +discouragements and disappointments seem to have contributed not a +little, for in the poem "Rueckkehr in die Heimat," written in 1800, the +contempt of "Hyperion" has been replaced by compassion. He sees himself +and his country linked together in the sacred companionship of +suffering, consequently it can no longer be the object of his scorn. + + Wie lange ist's, O wie lange! des Kindes Ruh' + Ist hin, und hin ist Jugend, und Lieb' und Glueck, + Doch du, mein Vaterland! du heilig + Duldendes! siehe, du bist geblieben.[52] + +But the fact remains, nevertheless, that Hoelderlin from his early youth +felt himself a stranger in his own land and among his own people. Some +of the causes of this circumstance have already been discussed. The fact +itself is important because it establishes the connection between his +Weltschmerz and his most noteworthy characteristic as a poet, namely, +his Hellenism. No other German poet has allowed himself to be so +completely dominated by the Greek idea as did Hoelderlin. And in his case +it may properly be called a symptom of his Weltschmerz, for it marks his +flight from the world of stern reality into an imaginary world of Greek +ideals. An imaginary Greek world, because in spite of his Hellenic +enthusiasm he entertained some of the most un-Hellenic ideas and +feelings. + +That the poet should take refuge in Greek antiquity is not surprising, +when we consider the conditions which prevailed at that time in the +field of learning. It was not many decades since the study of Latin and +Roman institutions had been forced to yield preeminence of position in +Germany to the study of Greek. Furthermore, his own Suabia had come to +be recognized as a leader in the study of Greek antiquity, and in his +contemporaries Schiller, Hegel, Schelling, who were all countrymen and +acquaintances of his, he found worthy competitors in this branch of +learning. His fondness for the language and literature of Greece goes +back to his early school days, especially at Denkendorf and Maulbronn. +On leaving the latter school, he had the reputation among his +fellow-students of being an excellent Hellenist, according to the report +of Schwab, his biographer. It was while there that Hoelderlin as a boy +of seventeen first made use of the Alcaic measure in which he +subsequently wrote so many of his poems. + +A full discussion of the technic of Hoelderlin's poems would have so +remote a connection with the main topic under consideration that its +introduction here would be entirely out of place. It will suffice, +therefore, merely to indicate along broad lines the extent to which the +Greek idea took and held possession of the poet. + +Out of his 168 shorter poems, 126, exactly three-fourths, are written in +the unrhymed Greek measures.[53] Those forms which are native are +confined almost entirely to his juvenile and youthful compositions, and +after 1797 he only once employs the rhymed stanza, namely, in the poem +"An Landauer."[54] As a boy of sixteen, he wrote verses in the Alcaic +and Asclepiadeian measures,[55] and soon acquired a considerable mastery +over them. At seventeen he composed in the latter form his poem "An +meine Freundinnen:" + + In der Stille der Nacht denket an euch mein Lied, + Wo mein ewiger Gram jeglichen Stundenschlag, + Welcher naeher mich bringt dem + Trauten Grabe, mit Dank begruesst.[56] + +While not exhibiting the finish of expression and musical qualities of +his more mature Alcaic lyrics, still it is not bad poetry for a boy of +seventeen, and the reader feels what the boy was not slow to learn, that +the stately movement of the Greek stanzas lends an added dignity to the +expression of sorrow, which was to constitute so large a part of his +poetic activity. As already stated, the Alcaic measure was of all the +Greek verse-forms Hoelderlin's favorite, and the one most frequently and +successfully employed by him. He is very fond of introducing Germanic +alliteration into these unrhymed stanzas, as the following example will +illustrate: + + Und wo sind Dichter, denen der Gott es gab, + Wie unsern Alten, freundlich und fromm zu sein, + Wo Weise, wie die unsern sind, die + Kalten und Kuehnen, die unbestechbarn?[57] + +The Asclepiadeian stanza he employs much less frequently, the Sapphic +only once, and that with indifferent success. It was the ode, dithyramb +and hymn, the serious lyric, which Hoelderlin selected as the models for +his poetic fashion. In this purpose he was not alone, for his friend +Neuffer writes to him in 1793, with an enthusiasm which in the intensity +of expression common at the time, seems almost like an inspiration: "Die +hoehere Ode und der Hymnus, zwei in unsern Tagen, und vielleicht in allen +Zeitaltern am meisten vernachlaessigte Musen! in ihre Arme wollen wir uns +werfen, von ihren Kuessen beseelt uns aufraffen. Welche Aussichten! Dein +Hymnus an die Kuehnheit mag Dir zum Motto dienen! Mir gehe die Hoffnung +voran."[58] + +But it was in the form much more than in the contents of his poems, that +Hoelderlin carried out the Greek idea. Most of his lyrics are occasional +poems, or have abstract subjects, as for example, "An die Stille," "An +die Ehre," "An den Genius der Kuehnheit," and so on. Only here and there +does he take a classic subject or introduce classic references. The +truth of the matter is, that with all his fervid enthusiasm for Hellenic +ideals, and with all his Greek cult, Hoelderlin was not the genuine +Hellenist he thought himself to be. This is due to the fact that his +turning to Greece was in its final analysis attributable rather to +selfish than to altruistic motives. He wanted to get away from the +deplorable realities about him, the things which hurt his tender soul, +and so he constructed for himself this idealized world of ancient and +modern Greece, and peopled it with his own creations. + +In Hoelderlin's "Hyperion," we have the first poetic work in German which +takes modern Greece as its locality and a modern Hellene as its hero. +Hoelderlin calls it "ein Roman," but it would be rather inaccurately +described by the usual translation of that term. It is not only the +poetic climax of his Hellenism, but also the most complete expression of +his Weltschmerz in its various phases. It must naturally be both, for +the poet and the hero are one. He speaks of it as "mein Werkchen, in dem +ich lebe und webe."[59] Its subject is the emancipation of Greece. What +little action is narrated may be very briefly indicated. Russia is at +war with Turkey and calls upon Hellas to liberate itself. The hero and +his friend Alabanda are at the head of a band of volunteers, fighting +the Turks. After several minor successes Hyperion lays siege to the +Spartan fortress of Misitra. But at its capitulation, he is undeceived +concerning the Hellenic patriots; they ravage and plunder so fiercely +that he turns from them with repugnance and both he and Alabanda abandon +the cause of liberty which they had championed. To his bride Hyperion +had promised a redeemed Greece--a lament is all that he can bring her. +She dies, Hyperion comes to Germany where his aesthetic Greek soul is +severely jarred by the sordidness, apathy and insensibility of these +"barbarians." Returning to the Isthmus, he becomes a hermit and writes +his letters to Bellarmin, no less "thatenarm und gedankenvoll" himself +than his unfortunate countrymen whom he so characterizes.[60] + +"Hyperion," though written in prose, is scarcely anything more than a +long drawn out lyric poem, so thoroughly is action subordinated to +reflection, and so beautiful and rhythmic is the dignified flow of its +periods. But having said that the locality is Greece and its hero is +supposed to be a modern Greek, that in its scenic descriptions Hoelderlin +produces some wonderfully natural effects, and that the language shows +the imitation of Greek turns of expression--Homeric epithets and +similes--having said this, we have mentioned practically all the Greek +characteristics of the composition. And there is much in it that is +entirely un-Hellenic. To begin with, the form in which "Hyperion" is +cast, that of letters, written not even during the progress of the +events narrated, but after they are all a thing of the past, is not at +all a Greek idea. Moreover Weltschmerz, which constitutes the +"Grundstimmung" of all Hoelderlin's writings, and which is most plainly +and persistently expressed in "Hyperion," is not Hellenic. Not that we +should have to look in vain for pessimistic utterances from the +classical poets of Greece--for does not Sophocles make the deliberate +statement: "Not to be born is the most reasonable, but having seen the +light, the next best thing is to go to the place whence we came as soon +as possible."[61] Nevertheless, this sort of sentiment cannot be +regarded as representing the spirit of the ancient Greeks, which was +distinctly optimistic. They were happy in their worship of beauty in art +and in nature, and above all, happy in their creativeness. The question +suggests itself here, whether a poet can ever be a genuine pessimist, +since he has within him the everlasting impulse to create. And to create +is to hope. Hyperion himself says: "Es lebte nichts, wenn es nicht +hoffte."[62] But we have already distinguished between pessimism as a +system of philosophy, and Weltschmerz as a poetic mood.[63] It is +certainly un-Hellenic that Hoelderlin allows Hyperion with his alleged +Greek nature to sink into contemplative inactivity. In the poem "Der +Lorbeer," 1789, he exclaims: + + Soll ewiges Trauern mich umwittern, + Ewig mich toeten die bange Sehnsucht?[64] + +which gives expression to the fact that in his Weltschmerz there was a +very large admixture of "Sehnsucht," an entirely un-Hellenic feeling. +Nor is there to be found in his entire make-up the slightest trace of +Greek irony, which would have enabled him to overcome much of the +bitterness of his life, and which might indeed have averted its final +catastrophe. + +Undeniably Grecian is Hoelderlin's idea that the beautiful is also the +good. Long years he sought for this combined ideal. In Diotima, the muse +of his "Hyperion," whose prototype was Susette Gontard, he has found +it--and now he feels that he is in a new world. To his friend Neuffer, +from whom he has no secrets, he writes: "Ich konnte wohl sonst glauben, +ich wisse, was schoen und gut sei, aber seit ich's sehe, moecht' ich +lachen ueber all mein Wissen. Lieblichkeit und Hoheit, und Ruh und +Leben, und Geist und Gemuet und Gestalt ist Ein seeliges Eins in diesem +Wesen."[65] And six or eight months later: "Mein Schoenheitsinn ist nun +vor Stoerung sicher. Er orientiert sich ewig an diesem Madonnenkopfe.... +Sie ist schoen wie Engel! Ein zartes, geistiges, himmlisch reizendes +Gesicht! Ach ich koennte ein Jahrtausend lang mich und alles vergessen +bei ihr--Majestaet und Zaertlichkeit, und Froehlichkeit und Ernst--und +Leben und Geist, alles ist in und an ihr zu einem goettlichen Ganzen +vereint."[66] It would be difficult to conceive of a more complete and +sublime eulogy of any object of affection than the words just quoted, +and yet they do not conceal their author's etherial quality of thought, +his "Uebersinnlichkeit." Even his boyish love-affairs seem to have been +largely of this character, and were in all likelihood due to the +necessity which he felt of bestowing his affection somewhere, rather +than to irresistible forces proceeding from the objects of his regard. + +Lack of self-restraint, so often characteristic of the poet of +Weltschmerz, was not Hoelderlin's greatest fault. And yet if his intense +devotion to Susette remained undebased by sensual desires, as we know it +did, this was not solely due to the practice of heroic self-restraint, +but must be attributed in part to the fact that that side of his nature +was entirely subordinate to his higher ideals; and these were always a +stronger passion with Hoelderlin than his love. So that Diotima's +judgment of Hyperion is correct when she says: "O es ist so ganz +natuerlich, dass Du nimmer lieben willst, weil Deine groessern Wuensche +verschmachten."[67] This consideration at once compels a comparison with +Lenau, which must be deferred, however, until the succeeding chapter. +Undoubtedly this year and a half at Frankfurt was the happiest period of +his whole life. It brought him a serenity of mind which he had never +before known. Ardent was the response called forth by his devotion, but +its influence was wholesome--it was soothing to his sensitive nerves. +And because it was altogether more a sublime than an earthly passion, he +indulged himself in it with a conscience void of offence. Doubtless he +correctly describes the influence of his relations with Diotima upon his +life when he writes: "Ich sage Dir, lieber Neuffer! ich bin auf dem +Wege, ein recht guter Knabe zu werden.... mein Herz ist voll Lust, und +wenn das heilige Schicksal mir mein gluecklich Leben erhaelt, so hoff' ich +kuenftig mehr zu thun als bisher."[68] But the happy life was not to +continue long. Rudely the cup was dashed from his lips, and the poet's +pain intensified by one more disappointment--the bitterest of all he had +experienced. It filled him with thoughts of revenge, which he was +powerless to execute. There can be no question that if his love for +Susette had been of a less etherial order, less a thing of the soul, he +would have felt much less bitterly her husband's violent interference. +But returning to the poem "Hyperion," for as such we may regard it, we +find in it the most complete expression of the attitude which the poet, +in his Weltschmerz, assumed toward nature. Nature is his constant +companion, mother, comforter in sorrow, in his brighter moments his +deity. This nature-worship, which speedily develops into a more or less +consistent pantheism, Hoelderlin expresses in Hyperion's second letter, +in the following creed: "Eines zu sein mit allem, was lebt, in seliger +Selbstvergessenheit wiederzukehren ins All der Natur, das ist der Gipfel +der Gedanken und Freuden, das ist die heilige Bergeshoehe, der Ort der +ewigen Ruhe."[69] And so nature is to Hoelderlin always intensely real +and personal. The sea is youthful, full of exuberant joy; the +mountain-tops are hopeful and serene; with shouts of joy the stream +hurls itself like a giant down into the forests. Here and there his +personification of nature becomes even more striking: "O das Morgenlicht +und ich, wir gingen uns entgegen, wie versoehnte Freunde."[70] Still more +intense is this feeling of personal intimacy, when he exclaims: "O +selige Natur! ich weiss nicht, wie mir geschiehet, wenn ich mein Auge +erhebe von deiner Schoene, aber alle Lust des Himmels ist in den Thraenen, +die ich weine vor dir, der Geliebte vor der Geliebten."[71] It is +important for purposes of comparison, to note that notwithstanding his +intense Weltschmerz, in his treatment of nature Hoelderlin does not +select only its gloomy or terrible aspects. Light and shade alternate in +his descriptions, and only here and there is the background entirely +unrelieved. The thunderstorm is to him a dispenser of divine energies +among forest and field, even the seasons of decline and decay are not +left without sunshine: "auf der stummen entblaetterten Landschaft, wo der +Himmel schoener als je, mit Wolken und Sonnenschein um die herbstlich +schlafenden Baeume spielte."[72] One passage in "Hyperion" bears so +striking a resemblance, however, to Lenau's characteristic +nature-pictures, that it shall be given in full--although even here, +when the gloom of his sorrow and disappointment was steadily deepening, +he does not fail to derive comfort from the warm sunshine, a thought for +which we should probably look in vain, had Lenau painted the picture: +"Ich sass mit Alabanda auf einem Huegel der Gegend, in lieblich waermender +Sonn', und um uns spielte der Wind mit abgefallenem Laube. Das Land war +stumm; nur hie und da ertoente im Wald ein stuerzender Baum, vom Landmann +gefaellt, und neben uns murmelte der vergaengliche Regenbach hinab ins +ruhige Meer."[73] + +In spite of his deep and persistent Weltschmerz, Hoelderlin rarely gives +expression to a longing for death. This forms so prominent a feature in +the thought of other types of Weltschmerz, for instance of Lenau and of +Leopardi, that its absence here cannot fail to be noticed. It is true +that in his dramatic poem "Der Tod des Empedokles," which symbolizes the +closing of his account with the world, Hoelderlin causes his hero to +return voluntarily to nature by plunging into the fiery crater of Mount +Etna. But Empedokles does this to atone for past sin, not merely to rid +himself of the pain of living; and thus, even as a poetic idea, it +impresses us very differently from the continual yearning for death +which pervades the writings of the two poets just mentioned. Leopardi +declared that it were best never to see the light, but denounced suicide +as a cowardly act of selfishness; and yet at the approach of an +epidemic of cholera, he clung so tenaciously to life that he urged a +hurried departure from Naples, regardless of the hardships of such a +journey in his feeble condition, and took refuge in a little villa near +Vesuvius. Hoelderlin's Weltschmerz was absolutely sincere. + +Numerous passages might be quoted to show that Hoelderlin's mind was +intensely introspective. This is true also of Lenau, even to a greater +extent, and may be taken as generally characteristic of poets of this +type. The fact that this introspection is an inevitable symptom in many +mental derangements, hypochondria, melancholia and others, indicates a +not very remote relation of Weltschmerz to insanity. In Hoelderlin's +poems there are not a few premonitions of the sad fate which awaited +him. One illustration from the poem "An die Hoffnung," 1801, may +suffice: + + Wo bist du? wenig lebt' ich, doch atmet kalt + Mein Abend schon. Und stille, den Schatten gleich, + Bin ich schon hier; und schon gesanglos + Schlummert das schau'rende Herz im Busen.[74] + +It is impossible to read these lines without feeling something of the +cold chill of the heart that Hoelderlin felt was already upon him, and +which he expresses in a manner so intensely realistic and yet so +beautiful. + +Having thus attempted a review of the growth of Hoelderlin's Weltschmerz +and of its chief characteristics, it merely remains to conclude the +chapter with a brief resume. We have then in Friedrich Hoelderlin a youth +peculiarly predisposed to feel himself isolated from and repelled by the +world, growing up without a strong fatherly hand to guide, giving +himself over more and more to solitude and so becoming continually less +able to cope with untoward circumstances and conditions. Growing into +manhood, he was unfortunate in all his love-affairs and as though doomed +to unceasing disappointments. Early in life he devoted himself to the +study of antiquity, making Greece his hobby, and thus creating for +himself an ideal world which existed only in his imagination, and taking +refuge in it from the buffetings of the world about him. He was a man +of a deeply philosophical trend of mind, and while not often speaking of +it, felt very keenly the humiliating condition of Germany, although his +patriotic enthusiasm found its artistic expression not with reference to +Germany but to Greece. As a poet, finally, his intimacy with nature was +such that nature-worship and pantheism became his religion. + +In reviewing the whole range of Hoelderlin's writings, we cannot avoid +the conclusion, that in him we have a type of Weltschmerz in the +broadest sense of the term; we might almost term it Byronism, with the +sensual element eliminated. He shows the hypersensitiveness of Werther, +fanatical enthusiasm for a vague ideal of liberty, vehement opposition +to existing social and political conditions; there is, in fact, a +breadth in his Weltschmerz, which makes the sorrows of Werther seem very +highly specialized in comparison. Bearing in mind the distinction made +between the two classes, we must designate Hoelderlin's Weltschmerz as +cosmic rather than egoistic; the egoistic element is there, but it is +outweighed by the cosmic and finds its poetic expression not so +frequently nor so intensely with reference to the poet himself, as with +reference to mankind at large. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 12: _Anz. f. d. Alt._, vol. 22, p. 212-218.] + +[Footnote 13: In a letter to his mother he writes: "Freilich ist's mir +auch angeboren, dass ich alles schwerer zu Herzen nehme." ("Friedrich +Hoelderlins Leben, in Briefen von und an Hoelderlin, von Carl C.T. +Litzmann," Berlin, 1890, p. 27. Hereafter quoted as "Briefe.").] + +[Footnote 14: "Hoelderlins gesammelte Dichtungen, herausgegeben von B. +Litzmann," Stuttgart, Cotta (hereafter quoted as "Werke"). Vol. II, p. +9.] + +[Footnote 15: It is a reminiscence of Hoelderlin's boyhood which finds +expression in the words of Hyperion: "Ich war aufgewachsen, wie eine +Rebe ohne Stab, und die wilden Ranken breiteten richtungslos ueber dem +Boden sich aus." Werke, Vol. II, p. 72.] + +[Footnote 16: Werke, Vol. I, p. 86.] + +[Footnote 17: Werke, Vol. I, p. 36.] + +[Footnote 18: "Auf einer Heide geschrieben," Werke, Vol. I, p. 44.] + +[Footnote 19: Briefe, p. 27.] + +[Footnote 20: Briefe, p. 29.] + +[Footnote 21: Werke, Vol. I, p. 53 f.] + +[Footnote 22: Briefe, p. 36.] + +[Footnote 23: Briefe, p. 120.] + +[Footnote 24: "Mein Vorsatz," Werke, Vol. I, p. 44.] + +[Footnote 25: Werke, Vol. II, p. 69.] + +[Footnote 26: Werke, Vol. II, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 27: Werke, Vol. II, p. 86.] + +[Footnote 28: Briefe, p. 49.] + +[Footnote 29: Briefe, p. 50.] + +[Footnote 30: Werke, Vol. I, p. 74.] + +[Footnote 31: "Friedrich Hoelderlin, Eine Studie," _Preuss. Jahrb._, +1866, p. 548-568.] + +[Footnote 32: _Anz. f. d. Altertum_, Vol. 22, p. 212-218.] + +[Footnote 33: Werke, Vol. I, p. 75.] + +[Footnote 34: Werke, Vol. I, p. 146.] + +[Footnote 35: Werke, Vol. II, p. 107.] + +[Footnote 36: Werke, Vol. II, p. 188.] + +[Footnote 37: "Vortraege und Aufsaetze," 1874, Fried. Hoelderlin, p. 354.] + +[Footnote 38: Werke, Vol. II, p. 96.] + +[Footnote 39: Werke, Vol. II, p. 189.] + +[Footnote 40: Cf. op. cit., p. 352.] + +[Footnote 41: Werke, Vol. I, p. 51.] + +[Footnote 42: Werke, Vol. I, p. 50.] + +[Footnote 43: Werke, Vol. I, p. 49.] + +[Footnote 44: Werke, Vol. I, p. 66.] + +[Footnote 45: Werke, Vol. I, p. 165.] + +[Footnote 46: Werke, Vol. II, p. 198.] + +[Footnote 47: Werke, Vol. II, p. 97.] + +[Footnote 48: Werke, Vol. II, p. 200.] + +[Footnote 49: Werke, Vol. II, p. 200 f.] + +[Footnote 50: Werke, Vol. I, p. 105.] + +[Footnote 51: Werke, Vol. I, p. 196.] + +[Footnote 52: Werke, Vol. I, p. 214.] + +[Footnote 53: Werke, Vol. I.] + +[Footnote 54: Werke, Vol. I, p. 234.] + +[Footnote 55: "An die Nachtigall," "An meinen Bilfinger," Werke, Vol. I, +p. 42f.] + +[Footnote 56: Werke, Vol. I, p. 43.] + +[Footnote 57: Werke, Vol. I, p. 197.] + +[Footnote 58: Briefe, p. 160.] + +[Footnote 59: Briefe, p. 162.] + +[Footnote 60: Cf. _supra_, p. 22.] + +[Footnote 61: "Oedipus Coloneus," 1225 seq.] + +[Footnote 62: Werke, Vol. II, p. 81.] + +[Footnote 63: Cf. Introduction, p. 1 f.] + +[Footnote 64: Werke, Vol. I, p. 89.] + +[Footnote 65: Briefe, p. 382 f.] + +[Footnote 66: Briefe, p. 403-405.] + +[Footnote 67: Werke, Vol. II, p. 175.] + +[Footnote 68: Briefe, p. 404.] + +[Footnote 69: Werke, Vol. II, p. 68.] + +[Footnote 70: Werke, Vol. II, p. 100.] + +[Footnote 71: Werke, Vol. II, p. 68.] + +[Footnote 72: Werke, Vol. II, p. 85.] + +[Footnote 73: Werke, Vol. II, p. 181.] + +[Footnote 74: Werke, Vol. I, p. 253.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +=Lenau= + + +If Hoelderlin's Weltschmerz has been fittingly characterized as +idealistic, Lenau's on the other hand may appropriately be termed the +naturalistic type. He is par excellence the "Pathetiker" of Weltschmerz. + +Without presuming even to attempt a final solution of a problem of +pathology concerning which specialists have failed to agree, there seems +to be sufficient circumstantial as well as direct evidence to warrant +the assumption that Lenau's case presents an instance of hereditary +taint. Notwithstanding the fact that Dr. Karl Weiler[75] discredits the +idea of "erbliche Belastung" and calls heredity "den vielgerittenen +Verlegenheitsgaul," the conclusion forces itself upon us that if the +theory has any scientific value whatsoever, no more plausible instance +of it could be found than the one under consideration. The poet's +great-grandfather and grandfather had been officers in the Austrian +army, the latter with some considerable distinction. Of his five +children, only Franz, the poet's father, survived. The complete lack of +anything like a systematic education, and the nomadic life of the army +did not fail to produce the most disastrous results in the wild and +dissolute character of the young man. Even before the birth of the poet, +his father had broken his marriage vows and his wife's heart by his +abominable dissipations and drunkenness. Lenau was but five years old +when his father, not yet thirty-five, died of a disease which he is +believed to have contracted as a result of these sensual and senseless +excesses. To the poet he bequeathed something of his own pathological +sensuality, instability of thought and action, lack of will-energy, and +the tears of a heartbroken mother, a sufficient guarantee, surely, of a +poet of melancholy. Even though we cannot avoid the reflection that the +loss of such a father was a blessing in disguise, the fact remains that +Lenau during his childhood and youth needed paternal guidance and +training even more than did Hoelderlin. He became the idol of his mother, +who in her blind devotion did not hesitate to show him the utmost +partiality in all things. This important fact alone must account to a +large extent for that presumptuous pride, which led him to expect +perhaps more than his just share from life and from the world. + +Lenau's aimlessness and instability were so extreme that they may +properly be counted a pathological trait. It is best illustrated by his +university career. In 1819 he went to Vienna to commence his studies. +Beginning with Philosophy, he soon transferred his interests to Law, +first Hungarian, then German; finding the study of Law entirely unsuited +to his tastes, he now declared his intention of pursuing once more a +philosophical course, with a view to an eventual professorship. But this +plan was frustrated by his grandmother, the upshot of it all being that +Lenau allowed himself to be persuaded to take up the study of +agriculture at Altenburg. But a few months sufficed to bring him back to +Vienna. Here his legal studies, which he had resumed and almost +completed, were interrupted by a severe affection of the throat which +developed into laryngitis and from which he never quite recovered. This +too, according to Dr. Sadger,[76] marks the neurasthenic, and often +constitutes a hereditary taint. Lenau thereupon shifted once more and +entered upon a medical course, this time not absolutely without +predilection. He did himself no small credit in his medical +examinations, but the death of his grandmother, just before his intended +graduation, provided a sufficient excuse for him to discontinue the +work, which was never again resumed or brought to a conclusion. But not +only in matters of such relative importance did Lenau exhibit this +vacillation. There was a spirit of restlessness in him which made it +impossible for him to remain long in the same place. Of this condition +no one was more fully aware than he himself. In one of his letters he +writes: "Gestern hat jemand berechnet, wieviel Poststunden ich in zwei +Monaten gefahren bin, und es ergab sich die kolossale Summe von 644, die +ich im Eilwagen unter bestaendiger Gemuetsbewegung gefahren bin."[77] That +this habit of almost incessant travel tended to aggravate his nervous +condition is a fair supposition, notwithstanding the fact that Dr. Karl +Weiler[78] skeptically asks "what about commercial travellers?" Lenau +himself complains frequently of the distressing effect of such journeys: +"Ein heftiger Kopfschmerz und grosse Muedigkeit waren die Folgen der von +Linz an unausgesetzten Reise im Eilwagen bei schlechtem Wetter und +abmuedenden Gedanken an meine Zukunft."[79] Many similar Statements might +be quoted from his letters to show that it was not merely the ordinary +process of traveling, though that at best must have been trying enough, +but the breathless haste of his journeys, combined with mental anxiety, +which usually characterized them, that made them so detrimental to his +health. + +It is as interesting as it is significant to note in this connection the +fact that while on a journey to Munich, just a short time before the +light of his intellect failed, Lenau wrote the following lines, the last +but one of all his poems: + + 's ist eitel nichts, wohin mein Aug' ich hefte! + Das Leben ist ein vielbesagtes Wandern, + Ein wuestes Jagen ist's von dem zum andern, + Und unterwegs verlieren wir die Kraefte. + + Doch traegt uns eine Macht von Stund zu Stund, + Wie's Krueglein, das am Brunnenstein zersprang, + Und dessen Inhalt sickert auf den Grund, + So weit es ging, den ganzen Weg entlang,-- + Nun ist es leer. Wer mag daraus noch trinken? + Und zu den andern Scherben muss es sinken.[80] + +Hoelderlin also uses the striking figure contained in the last line, not +however as here to picture the worthlessness of human life in general, +but to stigmatize the Germans, whom Hyperion describes as "dumpf und +harmonielos, wie die Scherben eines weggeworfenen Gefaesses."[81] + +That Lenau was a neurasthenic seems to be the consensus of opinion, at +least of those medical authorities who have given their views of the +case to the public.[82] This fact also has an important bearing upon our +discussion, since it will help to show a materially different origin for +Lenau's Weltschmerz and Hoelderlin's. + +Much more frequent than in the case of the latter are the ominous +forebodings of impending disaster which characterize Lenau's poems and +correspondence. In a letter to his friend Karl Mayer he writes: "Mich +regiert eine Art Gravitation nach dem Ungluecke. Schwab hat einmal von +einem Wahnsinnigen sehr geistreich gesprochen.... Ein Analogon von +solchem Daemon (des Wahnsinns) glaub' ich auch in mir zu +beherbergen."[83] He is continually engaged in a gruesome +self-diagnosis: "Dann ist mir zuweilen, als hielte der Teufel seine Jagd +in dem Nervenwalde meines Unterleibes: ich hoere ein deutliches +Hundegebell daselbst und ein dumpfes Halloh des Schwarzen. Ohne Scherz; +es ist oft zum Verzweifeln."[84] This process of self-diagnosis may be +due in part to his medical studies, but much more, we think, to his +morbid imagination, which led him, on more than one occasion, to play +the madman in so realistic a manner that strangers were frightened out +of their wits and even his friends became alarmed, lest it might be +earnest and not jest which they were witnessing. + +Lenau was not without a certain sense of humor, grim humor though it +was, and here and there in his letters there is an admixture of levity +with the all-pervading melancholy. An example may be quoted from a +letter to Kerner in Weinsberg, dated 1832: "Heute bin ich wieder bei +Reinbecks auf ein grosses Spargelessen. Spargel wie Kirchthuerme werden +da gefressen. Ich allein verschlinge 50-60 solcher Kirchthuerme und +komme mir dabei vor, wie eine Parodie unserer politisch-prosaischen, +durchaus unheiligen Zeit, die auch schon das Maul aufsperrt, um alles +Heilige, und namentlich die guten glaeubigen Kirchthuerme wie +Spargelstangen zu verschlingen." The letter concludes with the +signature: "Ich umarme Dich, bis Dir die Rippen krachen. Dein +Niembsch."[85] Not infrequently this humor was at his own expense, +especially when describing an unpleasant condition or situation, as for +example in a letter to Sophie Loewenthal in the year 1844: "Jetzt lebe +ich hier in Saus und Braus,--d. h. es saust und braust mir der Kopf von +einem leidigen Schnupfen."[86] Again, on finding himself on one occasion +very unwell and uncomfortable in Stuttgart, he writes as follows: +"Bestaendiges Unwohlsein, Kopfschmerz, Schlaflosigkeit, Mattigkeit, +schlechte Verdauung, Rhabarber, Druckfehler, und Aerger ueber den traegen +Fortschlich meiner Geschaefte, das waren die Freuden meiner letzten +Woche. Emilie will es nicht gelten lassen, dass die Stuttgarter Luft +nichts als die Ausduenstung des Teufels sei.--Ich schnappe nach Luft, wie +ein Spatz unter der Luftpumpe.--In vielen der hiesigen Strassen riecht +es am Ende auch lenzhaft, naemlich pestilenzhaft, und die guten +Stuttgarter merken das gar nicht; 'suess duftet die Heimat.'"[87] In his +fondness for bringing together the incongruous, for introducing the +element of surprise, and in the fact that his humor is almost always of +the impatient, disgruntled, cynical type, Lenau reminds us not a little +of Heine in his "Reisebilder" and some other prose works. Hoelderlin, on +the other hand, may be said to have been utterly devoid of humor. + +Lack of self-control, perhaps the most characteristic trait among men of +genius, was even more pronounced in Lenau than in Hoelderlin. This shows +itself in the extreme irregularity of his habits of life. For instance, +it was his custom to work long past the midnight hour, and then take his +rest until nearly noon. He could never get his coffee quite strong +enough to suit him, although it was prepared almost in the form of a +concentrated tincture and he drank large quantities of it. He smoked to +excess, and the strongest cigars at that; in short, he seems to have +been entirely without regard for his physical condition. Or was it +perverseness which prompted him to prefer close confinement in his room +to the long walks which he ought to have taken for his health? Even his +recreation, which consisted chiefly in playing the violin, brought him +no nervous relaxation, for it is said that he would often play himself +into a state of extreme nervous excitement. + +All these considerations corroborate the opinion of those who knew him +best, that his Weltschmerz, and eventually his insanity, had its origin +in a pathological condition. Indeed this was the poet's own view of the +case. In a letter to his brother-in-law, Anton Schurz, dated 1834, he +says: "Aber, lieber Bruder, die Hypochondrie schlaegt bei mir immer +tiefere Wurzel. Es hilft alles nichts. Der gewisse innere Riss wird +immer tiefer und weiter. Es hilft alles nichts. Ich weiss, es liegt im +Koerper; aber--aber--"[88] In its origin then, Lenau's Weltschmerz +differs altogether from that of Hoelderlin, who exhibits no such symptoms +of neurasthenia. + +Lenau's nervous condition was seriously aggravated at an early date by +the outcome of his unfortunate relations with the object of his first +love, Bertha, who became his mistress when he was still a mere boy. His +grief on finding her faithless was doubtless as genuine as his conduct +with her had been reprehensible, for he cherished for many long years +the memory of his painful disappointment. The general statement, "Lenau +war stets verlobt, fand aber stets in sich selbst einen Widerstand und +unerklaerliche Angst, wenn die Verbindung endgiltig gemacht werden +sollte,"[89] is inaccurate and misleading, inasmuch as it fails to take +into proper account the causes, mediate and immediate, of his hesitation +to marry. Lenau was only once "verlobt," and it was the stroke of facial +paralysis[90] which announced the beginning of the end, rather than any +"unerklaerliche Angst," that convinced him of the inexpediency of that +important step. + +Beyond a doubt his long drawn out and abject devotion to the wife of his +friend Max Loewenthal proved the most important single factor in his +life. It was during the year 1834, after his return from America, that +Lenau made the acquaintance of the Loewenthal family in Vienna.[91] +Sophie, who was the sister of his old comrade Fritz Kleyle, so attracted +the poet that he remained in the city for a number of weeks instead of +going at once to Stuttgart, as he had planned and promised. What at +first seemed an ideal friendship, increased in intensity until it +became, at least on Lenau's part, the very glow of passion. We have +already alluded to the poet's premature erotic instinct, an impulse +which he doubtless inherited from his sensual parents. In his numerous +letters and notes to Sophie, he has left us a remarkable record of the +intensity of his passion. Not even excepting Goethe's letters to Frau +von Stein, there are no love-letters in the German language to equal +these in literary or artistic merit; and never has any other German poet +addressed himself with more ardent devotion to a woman. A characteristic +difference between Hoelderlin and Lenau here becomes evident: the former, +even in his relations with Diotima, supersensual; the latter the very +incarnation of sensuality. Lenau was fully conscious of the tremendous +struggle with overpowering passion, and once confessed to his clerical +friend Martensen that only through the unassailable chastity of his +lady-love had his conscience remained void of offence. Almost any of his +innumerable protestations of love taken at random would seem like the +most extravagant attempt to give utterance to the inexpressible: "Gottes +starke Hand drueckt mich so fest an Dich, dass ich seufzen muss und +ringen mit erdrueckender Wonne, und meine Seele keinen Atem mehr hat, +wenn sie nicht Deine Liebe saugen kann. Ach Sophie! ach, liebe, liebe, +liebe Sophie!"[92] "Ich bete Dich an, Du bist mein Liebstes und +Hoechstes."[93] "Am sechsten Juni reis' ich ab, nichts darf mich halten. +Mir brennt Leib und Seele nach Dir. Du! O Sophie! Haett' ich Dich da! Das +Verlangen schmerzt, O Gott!"[94] Instead of experiencing the soothing +influences of a Diotima, Lenau's fate was to be engaged for ten long +years in a hot conflict between principle and passion, a conflict which +kept his naturally oversensitive nerves continually on the rack. He +himself expresses the detrimental effect of this situation: "So treibt +mich die Liebe von einer Raserei zur andern, von der zuegellosesten +Freude zu verzweifeltem Unmut. Warum? Weil ich am Ziel der hoechsten, so +heiss ersehnten Wonne immer wieder umkehren muss, weil die Sehnsucht nie +gestillt wird, wird sie irr und wild und verkehrt sich in +Verzweiflung,--das ist die Geschichte meines Herzens."[95] It would seem +from the tone of many of his letters that there was much deliberate and +successful effort on the part of Sophie to keep Lenau's feelings toward +her always in a state of the highest nervous tension. So cleverly did +she manage this that even her caprices put him only the more hopelessly +at her mercy. One day he writes: "Mit grosser Ungeduld erwartete ich +gestern die Post, und sie brachte mir auch einen Brief von Dir, aber +einen, der mich kraenkt."[96] For a day or two he is rebellious and +writes: "Ich bin verstimmt, missmutig. Warum stoerst Du mein Herz in +seinen schoenen Gedanken von innigem Zusammenleben auch in der +Ferne?"[97] But only a few days later he is again at her feet: "Ich habe +Dir heute wieder geschrieben, um Dich auch zum Schreiben zu treiben. Ich +sehne mich nach Deinen Briefen. Du bist nicht sehr eifrig, Du bist es +wohl nie gewesen. Und kommt endlich einmal ein Brief, so hat er meist +seinen Haken--O liebe Sophie! wie lieb' ich Dich!"[98] Her attitude on +several occasions leaves room for no other inference than that she was +extremely jealous of his affections. When in 1839 a mutual regard sprang +up between Lenau and the singer Karoline Unger, a regard which held out +to him the hope of a fuller and happier existence, we may surmise the +nature of Sophie's interference from the following reply to her: "Sie +haben mir mit Ihren paar Zeilen das Herz zerschmettert,--Karoline liebt +mich und will mein werden. Sie sieht's als ihre Sendung an, mein Leben +zu versoehnen und zu begluecken.--Es ist an Ihnen Menschlichkeit zu ueben +an meinem zerrissenen Herzen.--Verstosse ich sie, so mache ich sie elend +und mich zugleich.--Entziehen Sie mir Ihr Herz, so geben Sie mir den +Tod; sind Sie ungluecklich, so will ich sterben. Der Knoten ist +geschuerzt. Ich wollte, ich waere schon tot!"[99] Not only was this +proposed match broken off, but when some five years later Lenau made the +acquaintance of and became engaged to a charming young girl, Marie +Behrends, and all the poet's friends rejoiced with him at the prospect +of a happy marriage, a "Musterehe," as he fondly called it, Sophie wrote +him the cruel words: "Eines von uns muss wahnsinnig werden."[100] Only a +few months were needed to decide which of them it should be. + +The foregoing illustrations are ample to show what sort of influence +Sophie exerted over the poet's entire nature, and therefore upon his +Weltschmerz. Whereas in their hopeless loves, Hoelderlin and to an even +greater extent Goethe, struggled through to the point of renunciation, +Lenau constantly retrogrades, and allows his baser sensual instincts +more and more to control him. He promises to subdue his wild outbursts a +little,[101] and when he fails he tries to explain,[102] to +apologize.[103] If with Hoelderlin love was to a predominating degree a +thing of the soul, it was with Lenau in an equal measure a matter of +nerves, and as such, under these conditions, it could not but contribute +largely to his physical, mental and moral disruption. With Hoelderlin it +was the rude interruption from without of his quiet and happy +intercourse with Susette, which embittered his soul. With Lenau it was +the feverish, tumultuous nature of the love itself, that deepened his +melancholy. + +The charge of affectation in their Weltschmerz would be an entirely +baseless one, both in the case of Hoelderlin and Lenau. But this +difference is readily discovered in the impressions made upon us by +their writings, namely that Hoelderlin's Weltschmerz is absolutely naive +and unconscious, while that of Lenau is at all times self-conscious and +self-centered. Mention has already been made, in speaking of Lenau's +pathological traits,[104] of his confirmed habit of self-diagnosis. This +he applied not only to his physical condition but to his mental +experiences as well. No one knew so well as he how deeply the roots of +melancholy had penetrated his being. "Ich bin ein Melancholiker" he once +wrote to Sophie, "der Kompass meiner Seele zittert immer wieder zurueck +nach dem Schmerze des Lebens."[105] Innumerable illustrations of this +fact might be found in his lyrics, all of which would repeat with +variations the theme of the stanza: + + Du geleitest mich durch's Leben + Sinnende Melancholie! + Mag mein Stern sich strebend heben, + Mag er sinken,--weichest nie![106] + +The definite purpose with which the poet seeks out and strives to keep +intact his painful impressions is frankly stated in one of his diary +memoranda, as follows: "So gibt es eine Hoehe des Kummers, auf welcher +angelangt wir einer einzelnen Empfindung nicht nachspringen, sondern sie +laufen lassen, weil wir den Blick fuer das schmerzliche Ganze nicht +verlieren, sondern eine gewisse kummervolle Sammlung behalten wollen, +die bei aller scheinbaren Aussenheiterkeit recht gut fortbestehen +kann."[107] Hoelderlin, as we have noted,[108] not infrequently pictures +himself as a sacrifice to the cause of liberty and fatherland, to the +new era that is to come: + + Umsonst zu sterben, lieb' ich nicht; doch + Lieb' ich zu fallen am Opferhuegel + Fuer's Vaterland, zu bluten des Herzens Blut, + Fuer's Vaterland....[109] + +Lenau, on the other hand, is anxious to sacrifice himself to his muse. +"Kuenstlerische Ausbildung ist mein hoechster Lebenszweck; alle Kraefte +meines Geistes, meines Gemuetes betracht' ich als Mittel dazu. Erinnerst +Du Dich des Gedichtes von Chamisso,[110] wo der Maler einen Juengling ans +Kreuz nagelt, um ein Bild vom Todesschmerze zu haben? Ich will mich +selber ans Kreuz schlagen, wenn's nur ein gutes Gedicht gibt."[111] And +again: "Vielleicht ist die Eigenschaft meiner Poesie, dass sie ein +Selbstopfer ist, das Beste daran."[112] The specific instances just +cited, together with the inevitable impressions gathered from the +reading of his lyrics, make it impossible to avoid the conclusion that +we are dealing here with a _virtuoso_ of Weltschmerz; that Lenau was not +only conscious at all times of the depth of his sorrow, but that he was +also fully aware of its picturesqueness and its poetic possibilities. It +is true that this self-consciousness brings him dangerously near the +bounds of insincerity, but it must also be granted that he never +oversteps those bounds. + +Regarded as a psychological process, Lenau's Weltschmerz therefore +stands midway between that of Hoelderlin and Heine. It is more +self-centred than Hoelderlin's and while the poet is able to diagnose the +disease which holds him firmly in its grasp, he lacks those means by +which he might free himself from it. Heine goes still further, for +having become conscious of his melancholy, he mercilessly applies the +lash of self-irony, and in it finds the antidote for his Weltschmerz. + +Fichte, says Erich Schmidt, calls egoism the spirit of the eighteenth +century, by which he means the revelling, the complete absorption, in +the personal. This will naturally find its favorite occupation in +sentimental self-contemplation, which becomes a sort of fashionable +epidemic. It is this fashion which Goethe wished to depict in "Werther," +and therefore Werther's hopeless love is not wholly responsible for his +suicide. "Werther untergraebt sein Dasein durch Selbstbetrachtung," is +Goethe's own explanation of the case.[113] And it is in this light only +that Werther's malady deserves in any comprehensive sense the term +Weltschmerz. Here, then, Lenau and Werther stand on common ground. Other +traits common to most poets of Weltschmerz might here be enumerated as +characteristic of both, such as extreme fickleness of purpose, +supersensitiveness, lack of definite vocation, and the like; all of +which goes to show that while for artistic purposes Goethe required a +dramatic cause, or rather occasion, for Werther's suicide, he +nevertheless fully understood all the symptoms of the prevailing disease +with which his sentimental hero was afflicted. + +While the personal elements in Lenau's Weltschmerz are much more intense +in their expression than with Hoelderlin, its altruistic side is +proportionately weaker. So far as we may judge from his lyrics, very +little of Lenau's Weltschmerz was inspired by patriotic considerations. +There is opposition, it is true, to the existing order, but that +opposition is directed almost solely against that which annoyed and +inconvenienced him personally, for example, against the stupid as well +as rigorous Austrian censorship. Against this bugbear he never ceases to +storm in verse and letters, and to it must be attributed in a large +measure his literary alienation from the land of his adoption. That we +must look to his lyrics rather than to his longer epic writings, in +order to discover the poet's deepest interests, is nowhere more clearly +evidenced than in the following reference to his "Savonarola," in a +letter to Emilie Reinbeck during the progress of the work: "Savonarola +wirkte zumeist als Prediger, darum muss ich in meinem Gedicht ihn +vielfach predigen und dogmatisieren lassen, welches in vierfuessigen +doppeltgereimten Iamben sehr schwierig ist. Doch es freut mich, Dinge +poetisch durchzusetzen, an deren poetischer Darstellbarkeit wohl die +meisten Menschen verzweifeln. Auch gereicht es mir zu besonderem +Vergnuegen, mit diesem Gedicht gegen den herrschenden Geschmack unseres +Tages in Opposition zu treten."[114] The inference lies very near at +hand that his opposition to the prevailing taste was after all a +secondary consideration, and that the poet's first concern was to win +glory by accomplishing something which others would abandon as an +impossibility. While recognizing the fact that Lenau's "Faust" and "Don +Juan" are largely autobiographical, it is, I think, obvious that an +entirely adequate impression of his Weltschmerz may be gained from his +letters and lyrics alone, in which the poet's sincerest feelings need +not be subordinated for a moment to artistic purposes or demands. And +nowhere, either in lyrics or letters, do we find such spontaneous +outbursts of patriotic sentiment as greet us in Hoelderlin's poems: + + Glueckselig Suevien, meine Mutter![115] + +This could not be otherwise; for was he (Lenau) not an Hungarian by +birth, an Austrian by adoption, and in his professional affiliations a +German? Had his interests not been divided between Vienna and Stuttgart, +and had he not been possessed with an apparently uncontrollable +restlessness which drove him from place to place, his patriotic +enthusiasm would naturally have turned to Austria, and the poetic +expression of his home sentiments would not have been confined, perhaps, +to the one occasion when he had put the broad Atlantic between himself +and his kin. That his brother-in-law Schurz should wish to represent him +as a dyed-in-the-wool Austrian is only natural.[116] However this may +be, the poet does not hesitate to state in a letter to Emilie Reinbeck: +"Ein Hund in Schwaben hat mehr Achtung fuer mich als ein Polizeipraesident +in Oesterreich."[117] And although he professes to have become hardened +to the pestering interference of the authorities, as a matter of fact it +was a constant source of unhappiness to him. "So aber war mein Leben +seit meinem letzten Briefe ein bestaendiger Aerger. Die verfluchten +Vexationen der hiesigen Censurbehoerde haben selbst jetzt noch immer kein +Ende finden koennen."[118] Speaking of his hatred for the censorship law, +he says: "Und doch gebuehrt mein Hass noch immer viel weniger dem Gesetze +selbst, als denjenigen legalisierten Bestien, die das Gesetz auf eine so +niedertraechtige Art handhaben;--und unsre Censoren stellen im Gegensatze +der pflanzen- und fleischfressenden Tiere die Klasse der +geistfressenden Tiere dar, eine abscheuliche, monstroese Klasse!"[119] +Roustan expresses the opinion that with Lenau patriotism occupied a +secondary place.[120] He had too many "native lands" to become attached +to any one of them. + +There is something of a counterpart to Hoelderlin's Hellenism and +championship of Greek liberty in Lenau's espousal of the Polish cause. +But here again the personal element is strongly in evidence. A chance +acquaintance, which afterward became an intimate friendship, with Polish +fugitives, seems to have been the immediate occasion of his Polenlieder, +so that his enthusiasm for Polish liberty must be regarded as incidental +rather than spontaneous. Needless to say that with a Greek cult such as +Hoelderlin's Lenau had no patience whatever. "Dass die Poesie den +profanen Schmutz wieder abwaschen muesse, den ihr Goethe durch 50 Jahre +mit klassischer Hand gruendlich einzureiben bemueht war; dass die +Freiheitsgedanken, wie sie jetzt gesungen werden, nichts seien als +konventioneller Troedel,--davon haben nur wenige eine Ahnung."[121] + +All these considerations tend to convince us that Lenau's Weltschmerz is +after all of a much narrower and more personal type than Hoelderlin's. +Again and again he runs through the gamut of his own painful emotions +and experiences, diagnosing and dissecting each one, and always with the +same gloomy result. Consequently his Weltschmerz loses in breadth what +through the depth of the poet's introspection it gains in intensity. + +One of the most striking and, unless classed among his numerous other +pathological traits, one of the most puzzling of Lenau's characteristics +is the perverseness of his nature. His intimate friends were wont to +explain it, or rather to leave it unexplained by calling it his +"Husarenlaune" when the poet would give vent to an apparently unprovoked +and unreasonable burst of anger, and on seeing the consternation of +those present, would just as suddenly throw himself into a fit of +laughter quite as inexplicable as his rage. He takes delight in things +which in the ordinarily constructed mind would produce just the reverse +feeling. Speaking once of a particularly ill-favored person of his +acquaintance he says: "Eine so gewaltige Haesslichkeit bleibt ewig neu +und kann sich nie abnuetzen. Es ist was Frisches darin, ich sehe sie +gerne."[122] And in not a few of his poems we see a certain predilection +for the gruesome, the horrible. So in the remarkable figure employed in +"Faust:" + + Die Traeume, ungelehr'ge Bestien, schleichen + Noch immer nach des Wahns verscharrten Leichen.[123] + +This perverseness of disposition is in a large measure accounted for by +the fact that Lenau was eternally at war with himself. Speaking in the +most general way, Hoelderlin's Weltschmerz had its origin in his conflict +with the outer world, Lenau's on the other hand must be attributed +mainly to the unceasing conflict or "Zwiespalt" within his breast. In +his childhood a devout Roman Catholic, he shows in his "Faust" (1833-36) +a mind filled with scepticism and pantheistic ideas; "Savonarola" (1837) +marks his return to and glorification of the Christian faith; while in +the "Albigenser" (1838-42) the poet again champions complete +emancipation of thought and belief. Only a few months elapsed between +the writing of the two poems "Wanderung im Gebirge" (1830), in which the +most orthodox faith in a personal God is expressed, and "Die Zweifler" +(1831). The only consistent feature of his poems is their profound +melancholy. But Lenau's inner struggle of soul did not consist merely in +his vacillating between religious faith and doubt; it was the conflict +of instinct with reason. This is evident in his relations with Sophie +Loewenthal. He knows that their love is an unequal one[124] and chides +her for her coldness,[125] warning her not to humiliate him, not even in +jest;[126] he knows too that his alternating moods of exaltation and +dejection resulting from the intensity of his unsatisfied love are +destroying him.[127] "Oefter hat sich der Gedanke bei mir angemeldet: +Entschlage dich dieser Abhaengigkeit und gestatte diesem Weibe keinen so +maechtigen Einfluss auf deine Stimmungen. Kein Mensch auf Erden soll dich +so beherrschen. Doch bald stiess ich diesen Gedanken wieder zurueck als +einen Verraeter an meiner Liebe, und ich bot mein reizbares Herz wieder +gerne dar Deinen zaertlichen Misshandlungen.--O geliebtes Herz! +missbrauche Deine Gewalt nicht! Ich bitte Dich, liebe Sophie!"[128] And +yet, in spite of it all, he is unable to free himself from the thrall of +passion: "Wie wird doch all mein Trotz und Stolz so gar zu nichte, wenn +die Furcht in mir erwacht, dass Du mich weniger liebest";[129] and all +this from the same pen that once wrote: "das Wort Gnade hat ein Schuft +erfunden."[130] + +But just as helpless as this defiant pride proved before his +all-consuming love for Sophie, so strongly did it assert itself in all +his other relations with men and things. A hasty word from one of his +best friends could so deeply offend his spirit that, according to his +own admission, all subsequent apologies were futile.[131] For Lenau, +then, such an attitude of hero worship as that assumed by Hoelderlin +towards Schiller, would have been an utter impossibility. We have +already seen the extent to which he was over-awed (?) by Goethe's views +when they were at variance with their own.[132] On another occasion he +writes: "Was Goethe ueber Ruysdael faselt, kannte ich bereits."[133] +Toward his critics his bearing was that of haughty indifference: "Mag +auch das Talent dieser Menschen,[TN1] mich zu insultieren, gross sein, +mein Talent, sie zu verachten, ist auf alle Faelle groesser."[134] When +his Fruehlingsalmanach of 1835 had been received with disfavor by the +critics, he professed to be concerned only for his publisher: "Ich +meinerseits habe auf Liebe und Dank nie gezaehlt bei meinen +Bestrebungen."[135] "Die (Recensenten) wissen den Teufel von +Poesie."[136] Whether this real or assumed nonchalance would have stood +the test of literary disappointments such as Hoelderlin's, it is needless +to speculate. + +Hoelderlin eagerly sought after happiness and contentment, but fortune +eluded him at every turn. Lenau on the contrary thrust it from him with +true ascetic spirit. + +The mere thought of submitting to the ordinary process of negotiations +and recommendations for a vacant professorship of Esthetics in Vienna is +so repulsive to his pride, that the whole matter is at once allowed to +drop, notwithstanding that he has been preparing for the place by +diligent philosophical studies.[137] The asceticism with which he +regarded life in general is expressed in a letter to Emilie Reinbeck, +1843, in which he says: "Wer die Welt gestalten helfen will, muss darauf +verzichten, sie zu geniessen."[138] But more often this resignation +becomes a defiant challenge: "Ich habe dem Leben gegenueber nun einmal +meine Stellung genommen, es soll mich nicht hinunterkriegen. Dass mein +Widerstand nicht der eines ruhigen Weisen ist, sondern viel Trotziges an +sich hat, das liegt in meinen Temperament."[139] + +Another characteristic difference between Lenau's Weltschmerz and +Hoelderlin's lies in the fact that the writings of the latter do not +exhibit that absolute and abject despair which marks Lenau's lyrics. +Typical for both poets are the lines addressed by each to a rose: + + Ewig traegt im Mutterschosse, + Suesse Koenigin der Flur, + Dich und mich die stille, grosse, + Allbelebende Natur. + + Roeschen unser Schmuck veraltet, + Sturm entblaettert dich und mich, + Doch der ew'ge Keim entfaltet + Bald zu neuer Bluete sich![140] + +Unmistakable as is the melancholy strain of these verses, they are not +without a hopeful afterthought, in which the poet turns from +self-contemplation to a view of a larger destiny. Not so in Lenau's +poem, "Welke Rosen": + + In einem Buche blaetternd, fand + Ich eine Rose welk, zerdrueckt, + Und weiss auch nicht mehr, wessen Hand + Sie einst fuer mich gepflueckt. + + Ach mehr und mehr im Abendhauch + Verweht Erinn'rung; bald zerstiebt + Mein Erdenlos; dann weiss ich auch + Nicht mehr, wer mich geliebt.[141] + +The intensely personal note of the last stanza is in marked contrast +with the corresponding stanza of Hoelderlin's poem just quoted. Further +evidence that Lenau's Weltschmerz was constitutional, while Hoelderlin's +was the result of experience, lies in this very fact, that nowhere do +the writings of the former exhibit that stage of buoyant expectation, +youthful enthusiasm, or hopeful striving, which we find in some of the +earlier poems of the latter. In Hoelderlin's ode "An die Hoffnung," he +apostrophizes hope as "Holde! guetig Geschaeftige!" + + Die du das Haus der Trauernden nicht verschmaehst.[142] + +Lenau, in his poem of the same title, tells us he has done with hope: + + All dein Wort ist Windesfaecheln; + Hoffnung! dann nur trau' ich dir, + Weisest du mit Trosteslaecheln + Mir des Todes Nachtrevier.[143] + +Even his Faust gives himself over almost from the outset to abject +despair. + +Logically consequent upon this state of mind is the poet's oft-repeated +longing for death. The persistency of this thought may be best +illustrated by a few quotations from poems and letters, arranged +chronologically: + +1831. Mir wird oft so schwer, als ob ich einen Todten in mir +herumtruege.[144] + +1833. Und mir verging die Jugend traurig, + Des Fruehlings Wonne blieb versaeumt, + Der Herbst durchweht mich trennungsschaurig, + Mein Herz dem Tod entgegentraeumt.[145] + +1837. Heute dachte ich oefter an den Tod, nicht mit bitterem Trotz + und stoerrischem Verlangen, sondern mit freundlichem Appetit.[146] + +1837. Soll ich Dir alles sagen? Wisse, dass ich wirklich daran + dachte, mir den Tod zu geben.[147] + +1838. Der Gedanke des Todes wird mir immer freundlicher, und ich + verschwende mein Leben gerne.[148] + +1838. Durchs Fenster kommt ein duerres Blatt + Vom Wind hereingetrieben; + Dies leichte offne Brieflein hat + Der Tod an mich geschrieben.[149] + +1840. Oft will mich's gemahnen, als haette ich auf Erden nichts + mehr zu thun, und ich wuenschte dann, Gervinus moechte + recht haben, indem er, wie Georg mir erzaehlte, mir einen + baldigen Zusammenbruch und Tod prophezeite.[150] + +1842. Ich habe ein wolluestiges Heimweh, in Deinen Armen zu + sterben.[151] + +1843. Selig sind die Betaeubten! noch seliger sind die Toten![152] + +1844. In dieses Waldes leisem Rauschen + Ist mir, als hoer' ich Kunde wehen, + Dass alles Sterben und Vergehen + Nur heimlichstill vergnuegtes Tauschen.[153] + +If we should seek for the Leit-motif of Lenau's Weltschmerz, we should +unquestionably have to designate it as the _transientness of life_. Thus +in the poem "Die Zweifler," he exclaims: + + Vergaenglichkeit! wie rauschen deine Wellen + Durch's weite Labyrinth des Lebens fort![154] + +Ten per cent, of all Lenau's lyrics bear titles which directly express +or suggest this thought, as for example, "Vergangenheit," +"Vergaenglichkeit," "Das tote Glueck," "Einst und Jetzt," "Aus!," "Eitel +Nichts," "Verlorenes Glueck," "Welke Rose," "Vanitas," "Scheiden," +"Scheideblick," and the like; while in not less than seventy-one per +cent of his lyrics there are allusions, more or less direct, to this +same idea, which shows beyond a doubt how large a component it must have +been of the poet's characteristic mood. + +If Hoelderlin, the idealist, judges the things which are, according to +his standard of things as they _ought to be_, Lenau, on the other hand, +measures them by the things which _have been_. + + Friedhof der entschlafnen Tage, + Schweigende Vergangenheit! + Du begraebst des Herzens Klage, + Ach, und seine Seligkeit![155] + +Nowhere is this mental attitude of the poet toward life in all its forms +more clearly defined than in his views of nature. That this is an +entirely different one from Hoelderlin's goes without saying. Lenau has +nothing of that naive and unsophisticated childlike nature-sense which +Hoelderlin possessed, and which enabled him to find comfort and +consolation in nature as in a mother's embrace. So that while for +Hoelderlin intercourse with nature afforded the greatest relief from his +sorrows, Lenau's Weltschmerz was on the contrary intensified thereby. +For him the rose has no fragrance, the sunlight no warmth, springtime no +charms, in a word, nature has neither tone nor temper, until such has +been assigned to it by the poet himself. And as he is fully aware of the +artistic possibilities of the mantle of melancholy "um die wunde Brust +geschlungen,"[156] it follows consistently that he should select for +poetic treatment only those aspects of nature which might serve to +intensify the expression of his grief. + +Among the titles of Lenau's lyrics descriptive of nature are "Herbst," +"Herbstgefuehl" (twice), "Herbstlied," "Ein Herbstabend," +"Herbstentschluss," "Herbstklage," and many others of a similar kind, +such as "Das duerre Blatt," "In der Wueste," "Fruehlings Tod," etc. If we +disregard a few quite exceptional verses on spring, the statement will +hold that Lenau sees in nature only the seasons and phenomena of +dissolution and decay. So in "Herbstlied": + + Ja, ja, ihr lauten Raben, + Hoch in der kuehlen Luft, + 's geht wieder ans Begraben, + Ihr flattert um die Gruft![157] + +"Je mehr man sich an die Natur anschliesst," the poet writes to Sophie +Schwab, "je mehr man sich in Betrachtungen ihrer Zuege vertieft, desto +mehr wird man ergriffen von dem Geiste der Sehnsucht, des schwermuetigen +Hinsterbens, der durch die Natur auf Erden weht."[158] Characteristic is +the setting which the poet gives to the "Waldkapelle": + + Der dunkle Wald umrauscht den Wiesengrund, + Gar duester liegt der graue Berg dahinter, + Das duerre Laub, der Windhauch gibt es kund, + Geschritten kommt allmaehlig schon der Winter. + + Die Sonne ging, umhuellt von Wolken dicht, + Unfreundlich, ohne Scheideblick von hinnen, + Und die Natur verstummt, im Daemmerlicht + Schwermuetig ihrem Tode nachzusinnen.[159] + +The sunset is represented as a dying of the sun, the leaves fall sobbing +from the trees, the clouds are dissolved in tears, the wind is described +as a murderer. We see then that Lenau's treatment of nature is +essentially different from Hoelderlin's. The latter explains man through +nature; Lenau explains nature through man. Hoelderlin describes love as a +heavenly plant,[160] youth as the springtime of the heart,[161] tears as +the dew of love;[162] Lenau, on the other hand, characterizes rain as +the tears of heaven, for him the woods are glad,[163] the brooklet +weeps,[164] the air is idle, the buds and blossoms listen,[165] the +forest in its autumn foliage is "herbstlich geroetet, so wie ein +Kranker, der sich neigt zum Sterben, wenn fluechtig noch sich seine +Wangen faerben."[166] A remarkable simile, and at the same time +characteristic for Lenau in its morbidness is the following: + + Wie auf dem Lager sich der Seelenkranke, + Wirft sich der Strauch im Winde hin und her.[167] + +Hoelderlin speaks of a friend's bereavement as "ein schwarzer +Sturm";[168] when he had grieved Diotima he compares himself to the +cloud passing over the serene face of the moon;[169] gloomy thoughts he +designates by the common metaphor "der Schatten eines Woelkchens auf der +Stirne."[170] Lenau turns the comparison and says: + + Am Himmelsantlitz wandelt ein Gedanke, + Die duestre Wolke dort, so bang, so schwer.[171] + +Where Hoelderlin finds delight in the incorporeal elements of nature, +such as light, ether, and ascribes personal qualities and functions to +them, Lenau on the contrary always chooses the tangible things and +invests them with such mental and moral attributes as are in harmony +with his gloomy state of mind. Consequently Lenau's Weltschmerz never +remains abstract; indeed, the almost endless variety of concrete +pictures in which he gives it expression is nothing short of remarkable, +not only in the sympathetic nature-setting which he gives to his +lamentations, but also in the striking metaphors which he employs. Of +the former, probably no better illustration could be found in all +Lenau's poems than his well-known "Schilflieder"[172] and his numerous +songs to Autumn. One or two examples of his incomparable use of +nature-metaphors in the expression of his Weltschmerz will suffice: + + Hab' ich gleich, als ich so sacht + Durch die Stoppeln hingeschritten, + Aller Sensen auch gedacht, + Die ins Leben mir geschnitten.[173] + + Auch mir ist Herbst, und leiser + Trag' ich den Berg hinab + Mein Buendel duerre Reiser + Die mir das Leben gab.[174] + + Der Mond zieht traurig durch die Sphaeren, + Denn all die Seinen ruhn im Grab; + Drum wischt er sich die hellen Zaehren + Bei Nacht an unsern Blumen ab.[175] + +The forceful directness of Lenau's metaphors from nature is aptly shown +in the following comparison of two passages, one from Hoelderlin's "An +die Natur," the other from Lenau's "Herbstklage," in which both poets +employ the same poetic fancy to express the same idea. + + Tot ist nun, die mich erzog und stillte, + Tot ist nun die jugendliche Welt, + Diese Brust, die einst ein Himmel fuellte, + Tot und duerftig wie ein Stoppelfeld.[176] + +If we compare the simile in the last line with the corresponding +metaphor used by Lenau in the following stanza,-- + + Wie der Wind zu Herbsteszeit + Mordend hinsaust in den Waeldern, + Weht mir die Vergangenheit + Von des Glueckes Stoppelfeldern,[177] + +the greater artistic effectiveness of the latter figure will be at once +apparent. + +The idea that nature is cruel, even murderous, as suggested in the +opening lines of the stanza just quoted, seems in the course of time to +have become firmly fixed in the poet's mind, for he not only uses it for +poetic purposes, but expresses his conviction of the fact on several +occasions in his conversations and letters. Tossing some dead leaves +with his stick while out walking, he is said to have exclaimed: "Da +seht, und dann heisst es, die Natur sei liebevoll und schonend! Nein, +sie ist grausam, sie hat kein Mitleid. Die Natur ist erbarmungslos!"[178] +It goes without saying that in such a conception of nature the poet +could find no amelioration of his Weltschmerz.[179] + +In summing up the results of our discussion of Lenau's Weltschmerz, it +would involve too much repetition to mention all the points in which it +stands, as we have seen, in striking contrast to that of Hoelderlin. +Suffice it to recall only the most essential features of the comparison: +the predominance of hereditary and pathological traits as causative +influences in the case of Lenau; the fact that whereas Hoelderlin's +quarrel was largely with the world, Lenau's was chiefly within himself; +the passive and ascetic nature of Lenau's attitude, as compared with the +often hopeful striving of Hoelderlin; the patriotism of the latter, and +the relative indifference of the former; Lenau's strongly developed +erotic instinct, which gave to his relations with Sophie such a vastly +different influence upon his Weltschmerz from that exerted upon +Hoelderlin by his relations with Diotima; and finally the marked +difference in the attitude of these two poets toward nature. + +A careful consideration of all the points involved will lead to no other +conclusion than that whereas in Hoelderlin the cosmic element +predominates, Lenau stands as a type of egoistic Weltschmerz. To quote +from our classification attempted in the first chapter, he is one of +"those introspective natures who are first and chiefly aware of their +own misery, and finally come to regard it as representative of universal +evil." Nowhere is this more clearly stated than in the poet's own words: +"Es hat etwas Troestliches fuer mich, wenn ich in meinem Privatunglueck den +Familienzug lese, der durch alle Geschlechter der armen Menschen geht. +Mein Unglueck ist mir mein Liebstes,--und ich betrachte es gerne im +verklaerenden Lichte eines allgemeinen Verhaengnisses."[180] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 75: _Euphorion_, 1899, p. 791.] + +[Footnote 76: "Nicolaus Lenau," _Neue Fr. Pr._, Nr. 11166-7] + +[Footnote 77: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 212.] + +[Footnote 78: Cf. _Euphorion_, 1899, p. 795.] + +[Footnote 79: Anton Schurz: "Lenau's Leben," Cotta, 1855 (hereafter +quoted as "Schurz"), Vol. II, p. 199.] + +[Footnote 80: "Lenaus Werke," ed Max Koch, in Kuerschner's DNL. +(hereafter quoted as "Werke"), Vol. I, p. 525 f.] + +[Footnote 81: Cf. _supra_, p. 22.] + +[Footnote 82: Cf. among others Sadger, Weiler. _Infra_, p. 88.] + +[Footnote 83: "Nicolaus Lenau's Briefe an einen Freund," Stuttgart, +1853, p. 68 f.] + +[Footnote 84: "Nicolaus Lenau's saemmtliche Werke," herausgegeben von G. +Emil Barthel, Leipzig, Reclam, p. CI.] + +[Footnote 85: Schurz, Vol. I, p. 169.] + +[Footnote 86: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 144.] + +[Footnote 87: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 152f.] + +[Footnote 88: Schurz, Vol. I, p. 275.] + +[Footnote 89: Ricarda Huch: "Romantische Lebenslaeufe." _Neue d. +Rundschau_, Feb. 1902, p. 126.] + +[Footnote 90: Sept. 29, 1844. Cf. Schurz, Vol. II, p. 223.] + +[Footnote 91: L. A. Frankl: "Lenau und Sophie Loewenthal," Stuttgart, +1891 (hereafter quoted as "Frankl") p. 189, incorrectly states the date +as 1838. Possibly it is a misprint.] + +[Footnote 92: Frankl, p. 155.] + +[Footnote 93: Frankl, p. 151.] + +[Footnote 94: Frankl, p. 164.] + +[Footnote 95: Frankl, p. 102.] + +[Footnote 96: Frankl, p. 149.] + +[Footnote 97: Frankl, p. 150.] + +[Footnote 98: Frankl, p. 150.] + +[Footnote 99: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 7.] + +[Footnote 100: Cf. Lenau's Saemmtl. Werke, herausg. von G. Emil Bartel, +Leipzig, ohne Jahr. Introd., p. clxv.] + +[Footnote 101: Frankl, p. 32.] + +[Footnote 102: Frankl, p. 14.] + +[Footnote 103: Frankl, p. 30.] + +[Footnote 104: Cf. _supra_, p. 38.] + +[Footnote 105: Frankl, p. 15.] + +[Footnote 106: Werke, I, p. 89.] + +[Footnote 107: Frankl, p. 114.] + +[Footnote 108: Cf. _supra_, p. 18.] + +[Footnote 109: Hoelderlins Werke, Vol. 1, p. 195.] + +[Footnote 110: "Das Kruzifix, Eine Kuenstlerlegende," 1820.] + +[Footnote 111: Schurz, Vol. I, p. 158f.] + +[Footnote 112: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 6.] + +[Footnote 113: Cf. Breitinger: "Studien und Wandertage;" Frauenfeld, +Huber, 1870.] + +[Footnote 114: Schlossar: "Nicolaus Lenaus Briefe an Emilie von +Reinbeck," Stuttgart, 1896 (hereafter quoted as "Schlossar"), p. 98.] + +[Footnote 115: Werke, Vol. II, p. 260.] + +[Footnote 116: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 193.] + +[Footnote 117: Schlossar, p. 109.] + +[Footnote 118: Schlossar, p. 111.] + +[Footnote 119: Schlossar, p. 112 f.] + +[Footnote 120: "Lenau et son Temps," Paris, 1898, p. 351.] + +[Footnote 121: Schlossar, p. 103.] + +[Footnote 122: Schlossar, p. 154.] + +[Footnote 123: Werke, Vol. II, p. 183.] + +[Footnote 124: Frankl, p. 99.] + +[Footnote 125: Frankl, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 126: Frankl, p. 90.] + +[Footnote 127: Frankl, p. 192.] + +[Footnote 128: Frankl, p. 173.] + +[Footnote 129: Frankl, p. 103.] + +[Footnote 130: Schlossar, p. 55.] + +[Footnote 131: Cf. Schlossar, p. 93 f.] + +[Footnote 132: Cf. _supra_, p. 48.] + +[Footnote 133: Schlossar, p. 46.] + +[Footnote 134: Schlossar, p. 85.] + +[Footnote 135: Schlossar, p. 83.] + +[Footnote 136: Schurz, Vol. I, p. 176.] + +[Footnote 137: Cf. Schlossar, p. 173.] + +[Footnote 138: Schlossar, p. 184.] + +[Footnote 139: Schlossar, p. 87.] + +[Footnote 140: Hoelderlin, "An eine Rose," Werke, Vol. I, p. 142.] + +[Footnote 141: Werke, Vol. I, p. 389.] + +[Footnote 142: Hoelderlins Werke, Vol. I, p. 253.] + +[Footnote 143: Werke, Vol. I, p. 99.] + +[Footnote 144: Schurz, Vol. I, p. 132.] + +[Footnote 145: Werke, Vol. I, p. 82.] + +[Footnote 146: Frankl, p. 79.] + +[Footnote 147: Frankl, p. 102.] + +[Footnote 148: Frankl, p. 127.] + +[Footnote 149: Werke, Vol. I, p. 267.] + +[Footnote 150: Schlossar, p. 144.] + +[Footnote 151: Frankl, p. 169.] + +[Footnote 152: Schlossar, p. 188.] + +[Footnote 153: Werke, Vol. I, p. 405.] + +[Footnote 154: Werke, Vol. I, p. 130.] + +[Footnote 155: Werke, Vol. I, p. 62.] + +[Footnote 156: Werke, Vol. I, p. 102.] + +[Footnote 157: Werke, Vol. I, p. 299.] + +[Footnote 158: Cf. Farinelli, in _Verhandlungen des 8. deutschen +Neuphilologentages_, Hannover, 1898, p. 58.] + +[Footnote 159: Werke, Vol. I, p. 137.] + +[Footnote 160: Hoeld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 167.] + +[Footnote 161: Hoeld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 143.] + +[Footnote 162: Hoeld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 140.] + +[Footnote 163: Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 258.] + +[Footnote 164: Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 250.] + +[Footnote 165: Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 260.] + +[Footnote 166: Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 249.] + +[Footnote 167: Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 147.] + +[Footnote 168: Hoeld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 144.] + +[Footnote 169: Hoeld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 164.] + +[Footnote 170: Hoeld. Werke, Vol. II, p. 117.] + +[Footnote 171: Len. Werke, Vol. I, p. 147.] + +[Footnote 172: Werke, Vol. I, p. 51 f] + +[Footnote 173: "Der Kranich," Werke, Vol. I, p. 328.] + +[Footnote 174: "Herbstlied," Werke, Vol. I, p. 299.] + +[Footnote 175: "Mondlied," Werke, Vol. I, p. 310.] + +[Footnote 176: Hoeld. Werke, Vol. I, p. 146.] + +[Footnote 177: Werke, Vol. I, p. 299.] + +[Footnote 178: Schurz, Vol. II, p. 104.] + +[Footnote 179: For an exhaustive discussion of Lenau's nature-sense cf. +Prof. Camillo von Klenze's excellent monograph on the subject, "The +Treatment of Nature in the Works of Nikolaus Lenau," Chicago, University +Press, 1902.] + +[Footnote 180: Frankl, p. 116.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +=Heine= + + +Heine was probably the first German writer to use the term Weltschmerz +in its present sense. Breitinger in his essay "Neues ueber den alten +Weltschmerz"[181] endeavors to trace the earliest use of the word and +finds an instance of it in Julian Schmidt's "Geschichte der +Romantik,"[182] 1847. He seems to have entirely overlooked Heine's use +of the word in his discussion of Delaroche's painting "Oliver Cromwell +before the body of Charles I." (1831).[183] The actual inventor of the +compound was no doubt Jean Paul, who wrote (1810): "Diesen Weltschmerz +kann er (Gott) sozusagen nur aushalten durch den Anblick der Seligkeit, +die nachher verguetet."[184] + +But although Heine may have been the first to adapt the word to its +present use, and although we have fallen into the habit of thinking of +him as the chief representative of German Weltschmerz, it must be +admitted that there is much less genuine Weltschmerz to be found in his +poems than in those of either Hoelderlin or Lenau. The reason for this +has already been briefly indicated in the preceding chapter. Hoelderlin's +Weltschmerz is altogether the most naive of the three; Lenau's, while it +still remains sincere, becomes self-conscious, while Heine has an +unfailing antidote for profound feeling in his merciless self-irony. And +yet his condition in life was such as would have wrung from the heart of +almost any other poet notes of sincerest pathos. + +In Lenau's case we noted circumstances which point to a direct +transmission from parent to child of a predisposition to melancholia. In +Heine's, on the other hand, the question of heredity has apparently only +an indirect bearing upon his Weltschmerz. To what extent was his long +and terrible disease of hereditary origin, and in what measure may we +ascribe his Weltschmerz to the sufferings which that disease caused him? +The first of these questions has been answered as conclusively as seems +possible on the basis of all available data, by a doctor of medicine, S. +Rahmer, in what is at this time the most recent and most authoritative +study that has been published on the subject.[185] Stage by stage he +follows the development of the disease, from its earliest indications in +the poet's incessant nervous headaches, which he ascribes to +neurasthenic causes. He attempts to quote all the passages in Heine's +letters which throw light upon his physical condition, and points out +that in the second stage of the disease the first symptoms of paralysis +made their appearance as early as 1832, and not in 1837 as the +biographers have stated. To this was added in 1837 an acute affection of +the eyes, which continued to recur from this time on. In addition to the +pathological process which led to a complete paralysis of almost the +whole body, Rahmer notes other symptoms first mentioned in 1846, which +he describes as "bulbaer" in their origin, such as difficulty in +controlling the muscles of speech, difficulty in chewing and swallowing, +the enfeebling of the muscles of the lips, disturbances in the functions +of the glottis and larynx, together with abnormal secretion of saliva. +He discredits altogether the diagnosis of Heine's disease as consumption +of the spinal marrow, to which Klein-Hattingen in his recent book on +Hoelderlin, Lenau and Heine[186] still adheres, dismisses as +scientifically untenable the popular idea that the poet's physical +dissolution was the result of his sensual excesses, finally diagnoses +the case as "die spinale Form der progressiven Muskelatrophie"[187] and +maintains that it was either directly inherited, or at least developed +on the basis of an inherited disposition.[188] He finds further +evidence in support of the latter theory in the fact that the first +symptoms of the disease made their appearance in early youth, not many +years after puberty, and concludes that, in spite of scant information +as to Heine's ancestors, we are safe in assuming a hereditary taint on +the father's side. + +The poet himself evidently would have us believe as much, for in his +Reisebilder he says: "Wie ein Wurm nagte das Elend in meinem Herzen und +nagte,--ich habe dieses Elend mit mir zur Welt gebracht. Es lag schon +mit mir in der Wiege, und wenn meine Mutter mich wiegte, so wiegte sie +es mit, und wenn sie mich in den Schlaf sang, so schlief es mit mir ein, +und es erwachte, sobald ich wieder die Augen aufschlug. Als ich groesser +wurde, wuchs auch das Elend, und wurde endlich ganz gross und +zersprengte mein.... Wir wollen von andern Dingen sprechen...."[189] + +And yet Heine's disposition was not naturally inclined to hypochondria. +In his earlier letters, especially to his intimate friends, there is +often more than cheerfulness, sometimes a decided buoyancy if not +exuberance of spirits. A typical instance we find in a letter to Moser +(1824): "Ich hoffe Dich wohl naechstes Fruehjahr wiederzusehen und zu +umarmen und zu necken und vergnuegt zu sein."[190] Only here and there, +but very rarely, does he acknowledge any influence of his physical +condition upon his mental labors. To Immermann he writes (1823): "Mein +Unwohlsein mag meinen letzten Dichtungen auch etwas Krankhaftes +mitgeteilt haben."[191] And to Merkel (1827): "Ach! ich bin heute sehr +verdriesslich. Krank und unfaehig, gesund aufzufassen."[192] In the main, +however, he makes a very brave appearance of cheerfulness, and +especially of patience, which seems to grow with the hopelessness of his +affliction. To his mother (1851): "Ich befinde mich wieder krankhaft +gestimmt, etwas wohler wie frueher, vielleicht viel wohler; aber grosse +Nervenschmerzen habe ich noch immer, und leider ziehen sich die Kraempfe +jetzt oefter nach oben, was mir den Kopf zuweilen sehr ermuedet. So muss +ich nun ruhig aushalten, was der liebe Gott ueber mich verhaengt, und ich +trage mein Schicksal mit Geduld.... Gottes Wille geschehe!"[193] Again a +few weeks later: "Ich habe mit diesem Leben abgeschlossen, und wenn ich +so sicher waere, dass ich im Himmel einst gut aufgenommen werde, so +ertruege ich geduldig meine Existenz."[194] Not only to his mother, whom +for years he affectionately kept in ignorance of his deplorable +condition, does he write thus, but also to Campe (1852): "Mein Koerper +leidet grosse Qual, aber meine Seele ist ruhig wie ein Spiegel und hat +manchmal auch noch ihre schoenen Sonnenaufgaenge und Sonnenuntergaenge."[195] +1854: "Gottlob, dass ich bei all meinem Leid sehr heiteren Gemuetes bin, +und die lustigsten Gedanken springen mir durchs Hirn."[196] Much of this +sort of thing was no doubt nicely calculated for effect, and yet these +and similar passages show that he was not inclined to magnify his +physical afflictions either in his own eyes or in the eyes of others. +Nor is he absolutely unreconciled to his fate: "Es ist mir nichts +geglueckt in dieser Welt, aber es haette mir doch noch schlimmer gehen +koennen."[197] + +In his poems, references to his physical sufferings are remarkably +infrequent. We look in vain in the "Buch der Lieder," in the "Neue +Gedichte," in fact in all his lyrics written before the "Romanzero," not +only for any allusion to his illness, but even for any complaint against +life which might have been directly occasioned by his physical +condition. What is there then in these earlier poems that might fitly be +called Weltschmerz? Very little, we shall find. + +Their inspiration is to be found almost exclusively in Heine's +love-affairs, decent and indecent. Now the pain of disappointed love is +the motive and the theme of very many of Hoelderlin's and Lenau's lyrics, +poems which are heavy with Weltschmerz, while most of Heine's are not. +To speak only of the poet's most important attachments, of his +unrequited love for his cousin Amalie, and his unsuccessful wooing of +her sister Therese,--there can be no doubt that these unhappy loves +brought years of pain and bitterness into his life, sorrow probably as +genuine as any he ever experienced, and yet how little, comparatively, +there is in his poetry to convince us of the fact. Nearly all these +early lyrics are variations of this love-theme, and yet it is the +exception rather than the rule when the poet maintains a sincere note +long enough to engender sympathy and carry conviction. Such are his +beautiful lyrics "Ich grolle nicht,"[198] "Du hast Diamanten und +Perlen."[199] Let us see how Lenau treats the same theme: + + Die dunklen Wolken hingen + Herab so bang und schwer, + Wir beide traurig gingen + Im Garten hin und her. + + So heiss und stumm, so truebe, + Und sternlos war die Nacht, + So ganz wie unsre Liebe + Zu Thraenen nur gemacht. + + Und als ich musste scheiden + Und gute Nacht dir bot, + Wuenscht' ich bekuemmert beiden + Im Herzen uns den Tod.[200] + +We believe implicitly in the poet's almost inexpressible grief, and +because we are convinced, we sympathize. And we feel too that the poet's +sorrow is so overwhelming and has so filled his soul that it has +entirely changed his views of life and of nature, or has at least +contributed materially to such a change,--that it has assumed larger +proportions and may rightly be called Weltschmerz. Compare with this the +first and third stanzas of Heine's "Der arme Peter:" + + Der Hans und die Grete tanzen herum, + Und jauchzen vor lauter Freude. + Der Peter steht so still und stumm, + Und ist so blass wie Kreide. + + * * * * * + + Der Peter spricht leise vor sich her + Und schauet betruebet auf beide: + "Ach! wenn ich nicht zu vernuenftig waer', + Ich thaet' mir was zu leide."[201] + +It is scarcely necessary to cite further examples of this mannerism of +Heine's, for so it early became, such as his "Erbsensuppe,"[202] "Ich +wollte, er schoesse mich tot,"[203] "Doktor, sind Sie des Teufels;"[204] +"Madame, ich liebe Sie!"[205] and many other glaring instances of the +"Sturzbad," in order to show how the poet himself deliberately +attempted, and usually with success, to destroy the traces of his grief. +This process of self-irony, which plays such havoc with all sincere +feeling and therefore with his Weltschmerz, becomes so fixed a habit +that we are almost incapable, finally, of taking the poet seriously. He +makes a significant confession in this regard in a letter to Moser +(1823): "Aber es geht mir oft so, ich kann meine eigenen Schmerzen nicht +erzaehlen, ohne dass die Sache komisch wird."[206] How thoroughly this +mental attitude had become second nature with Heine, may be inferred +from a statement which he makes to Friederike Roberts (1825): "Das +Ungeheuerste, das Ensetzlichste, das Schaudervollste, wenn es nicht +unpoetisch werden soll, kann man auch nur in dem buntscheckigen Gewaende +des Laecherlichen darstellen, gleichsam versoehnend--darum hat auch +Shakespeare das Graesslichste im "Lear" durch den Narren sagen lassen, +darum hat auch Goethe zu dem furchtbarsten Stoffe, zum "Faust," die +Puppenspielform gewaehlt, darum hat auch der noch groessere Poet (der +Urpoet, sagt Friederike), naemlich Unser-Herrgott, allen Schreckensszenen +dieses Lebens eine gute Dosis Spasshaftigkeit beigemischt."[207] + +In not a few of his lyrics Heine gives us a truly Lenauesque +nature-setting, as for instance in "Der scheidende Sommer:" + + Das gelbe Laub erzittert, + Es fallen die Blaetter herab; + Ach, alles, was hold und lieblich + Verwelkt und sinkt ins Grab.[208] + +This is one of the comparatively few instances in Heine's lyrics in +which he maintains a dignified seriousness throughout the entire poem. +It is worth noting, too, because it touches a note as infrequent in +Heine as it is persistent in Lenau--the fleeting nature of all things +lovely and desirable.[209] This is one of the characteristic differences +between the two poets,--Heine's eye is on the present and the future, +much more than on the past; Lenau is ever mourning the happiness that is +past and gone. Logically then, thoughts of and yearnings for death are +much more frequent with Lenau than with Heine.[210] + +Reverting to the point under consideration: even in those love-lyrics in +which Heine does not wilfully destroy the first serious impression by +the jingling of his harlequin's cap, as he himself styles it,[211] he +does not succeed,--with the few exceptions just referred to,--in +convincing us very deeply of the reality of his feelings. They are +either trivially or extravagantly stated. Sometimes this sense of +triviality is caused by the poet's excessive fondness for all sorts of +diminutive expressions, giving an artificial effect, an effect of +"Taendelei" to his verses. For example: + + Du siehst mich an wehmuetiglich, + Und schuettelst das blonde Koepfchen, + Aus deinen Augen schleichen sich + Die Perlenthraenentroepfchen.[212] + +Sometimes this effect is produced by a distinct though unintended +anti-climax. Nowhere has Heine struck a more truly elegiac note than in +the stanza: + + Der Tod, das ist die kuehle Nacht, + Das Leben ist der schwuele Tag. + Es dunkelt schon, mich schlaefert, + Der Tag hat mich muede gemacht.[213] + +There is the most profound Weltschmerz in that. But in the second stanza +there is relatively little: + + Ueber mein Bett erhebt sich ein Baum, + Drin singt die junge Nachtigall; + Sie singt von lauter Liebe, + Ich hoer' es sogar im Traum. + +Lenau's lyrics have shown that much Weltschmerz may grow out of +unsatisfied love; Heine's demonstrate that mere love sickness is not +Weltschmerz. The fact is that Heine frequently destroys what would have +been a certain impression of Weltschmerz by forcing upon us the +immediate cause of his distemper,--it may be a real injury, or merely a +passing annoyance. What a strange mixture of acrimonious, sarcastic +protest and Weltschmerz elements we find in the poem "Ruhelechzend"[214] +of which a few stanzas will serve to illustrate. Again he strikes a full +minor chord: + + Las bluten deine Wunden, lass + Die Thraenen fliessen unaufhaltsam; + Geheime Wollust schwelgt im Schmerz, + Und Weinen ist ein suesser Balsam. + +This in practice rather than in theory is what we observe in Lenau,--his +melancholy satisfaction in nursing his grief,--and we have promise of a +poem of genuine Weltschmerz. Even through the second and third stanzas +this feeling is not destroyed, although the terms "Schelm" and "Toelpel" +gently arouse our suspicion: + + Des Tages Laerm verhallt, es steigt + Die Nacht herab mit langen Floehren. + In ihrem Schosse wird kein Schelm, + Kein Toelpel deine Ruhe stoeren. + +But the very next stanza brings the transition from the sublime to the +ridiculous: + + Hier bist du sicher vor Musik, + Vor des Pianofortes Folter, + Und vor der grossen Oper Pracht + Und schrecklichem Bravourgepolter. + + * * * * * + + O Grab, du bist das Paradies + Fuer poebelscheue, zarte Ohren-- + Der Tod ist gut, doch besser waer's, + Die Mutter haett' uns nie geboren. + +It is scarcely necessary to point out that the specific cause which the +poet confides to us of his "wounds, tears and pains" is ridiculously +unimportant as compared with the conclusion which he draws in the last +two lines. + +Evidently then, he does not wish us to take him seriously, nor could we, +if he did. Thus in their very attitude toward the ills and vexations of +life, there appears a most essential difference between Lenau and Heine. +Auerbach aptly remarks: "Spott und Satire verkleinern, Zorn und Hass +vergroessern das Object."[215] And Lenau knew no satire; where Heine +scoffed and ridiculed, he hated and scorned, with a hatred that only +contributed to his own undoing. With Heine the satire's the thing, +whether of himself or of others, and to this he willingly sacrifices the +lofty sentiments of which he is capable. Indeed he frequently introduces +these for no other purpose than to make the laugh or grimace all the +more striking. And with reference to his love affair with Amalie, while +the question as to the reality and depth of his feelings may be left +entirely out of discussion, this much may be safely asserted, that in +comparatively few poems do those feelings find expression in the form of +Weltschmerz. Now there is something essentially vague about Weltschmerz; +it is an atmosphere, a "Stimmung" more or less indefinable, rather than +the statement in lyric form of certain definite grievances with their +particular and definite causes. And that is exactly what we find in +Lenau, even in his love-songs. His love-sorrow is blended with his many +other heart-aches, with his disappointments and regrets, with his +yearning for death. He sings of his pain rather than of its immediate +causes, and the result is an atmosphere of Weltschmerz. + +Turning to Heine's later poems, especially to the "Romanzero," we find +that atmosphere much more perceptible. But even here the poet is for the +most part specific, and his method concrete. So for instance in "Der +Dichter Firdusi"[216] in which he tells a story to illustrate his belief +that merit is appreciated and rewarded only after the death of the one +who should have reaped the reward. So also in "Weltlauf,"[217] the first +stanza of which suggests a poetic rendering of Matth. 13:12, "For +whosoever hath, to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance; +but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he +hath,"--to which the poet adds a stanza of caustic ironical comment: + + Wenn du aber gar nichts hast, + Ach, so lasse dich begraben-- + Denn ein Recht zum Leben, Lump, + Haben nur, die etwas haben. + +And again, the poem "Lumpentum"[218] presents an ironical eulogy of +flattery. His failure to realize the hopes of his youth is made the +subject of "Verlorne Wuensche"[219] which maintains throughout a strain +of seriousness quite unusual for Heine, and concludes: + + Goldne Wuensche! Seifenblasen! + Sie zerrinnen wie mein Leben-- + Ach ich liege jetzt am Boden, + Kann mich nimmermehr erheben. + + Und Ade! sie sind zerronnen, + Goldne Wuensche, suesses Hoffen! + Ach, zu toetlich war der Faustschlag, + Der mich just ins Herz getroffen. + +A number of these lyrics from the Romanzero show very strikingly Heine's +objective treatment of his poems of complaint. Such selections as "Sie +erlischt,"[220] in which he compares his soul to the last flicker of a +lamp in the darkened theater, or "Frau Sorge,"[221] which gives us the +personification of care, represented as a nurse watching by his bedside, +bring his objective method into marked contrast with Hoelderlin's +subjective Weltschmerz. The same may be said of his autobiography in +miniature, "Rueckschau,"[222] which catalogues the poet's experiences, +pleasant and adverse, with evident sincerity though of course with a +liberal admixture of witty irony. Needless to say there is no real +Weltschmerz discoverable in such a pot pourri as the following: + + Die Glieder sind mir rheumatisch gelaehmt, + Und meine Seele ist tief beschaemt. + + * * * * * + + Ich ward getraenkt mit Bitternissen, + Und grausam von den Wanzen gebissen, etc. + +It would scarcely be profitable to attempt to estimate the causes and +development of this self-irony, which plays so important a part in +Heine's poetry. Its possibility lay no doubt in his native mother-wit, +with its genial perception of the incongruous, combined, it must be +admitted, with a relatively low order of self-respect. Its first +incentive he may have found in his unrequited love for Amalie. Had it +been like that of Hoelderlin for Diotima, or Lenau for Sophie, +reciprocated though unsatisfied, we could not easily imagine the +ironical tone which pervades most of his love-songs. And so he uses it +as a veil for his chagrin, preferring to laugh and have the world laugh +with him, rather than to weep alone. But the incident in Heine's life +which probably more than any other experience fostered this habit of +making himself the butt of his witty irony was his outward renunciation +of Judaism. Little need be said concerning this, since the details are +so well known. He himself confesses that the step was taken from the +lowest motives, for which he justly hated and despised himself. To Moser +he writes (1825): "Ich weiss nicht, was ich sagen soll, Cohen versichert +mich, Gans predige das Christentum und suche die Kinder Israels zu +bekehren. Thut er dieses aus Ueberzeugung, so ist er ein Narr; thut er +es aus Gleissnerei, so ist er ein Lump. Ich werde zwar nicht aufhoeren, +Gans zu lieben; dennoch gestehe ich, weit lieber waer's mir gewesen, wenn +ich statt obiger Nachricht erfahren haette, Gans habe silberne Loeffel +gestohlen.... Es waere mir sehr leid, wenn mein eigenes Getauftsein Dir +in einem guenstigen Lichte erscheinen koennte. Ich versichere Dich, wenn +die Gesetze das Stehlen silberner Loeffel erlaubt haetten, so wuerde ich +mich nicht getauft haben."[223] But in addition to the loss of +self-respect came his disappointment and chagrin at the non-success of +his move, since he realized that it was not even bringing him the +material gain for which he had hoped. Instead, he felt himself an object +of contempt among Christians and Jews alike. "Ich bin jetzt bei Christ +und Jude verhasst. Ich bereue sehr, dass ich mich getauft hab'; ich sehe +gar nicht ein, dass es mir seitdem besser gegangen sei; im Gegenteil, +ich habe seitdem nichts als Unglueck."[224] He is so unhappy in +consequence of this step that he earnestly desires to leave Germany. "Es +ist aber ganz bestimmt, dass es mich sehnlichst draengt, dem deutschen +Vaterlande Valet zu sagen. Minder die Lust des Wanderns als die Qual +persoenlicher Verhaeltnisse (z. B. der nie abzuwaschende Jude) treibt mich +von hinnen."[225] + +In his tragedy "Almansor," written during the years 1820 and 1821,[226] +his deep-rooted antipathy to Christianity finds strong expression +through Almansor, although the countervailing arguments are eloquently +stated by the heroine. Prophetic of the poet's own later experience is +the representation of the hero, who is beguiled by his love for Zuleima +into vowing allegiance to the Christian faith, only to find that the +sacrifice has failed to win for him the object for which it was made. In +the character of Almansor, more than anywhere else, Heine's +"Liebesschmerz" and "Judenschmerz" have combined to produce in him an +inner dissonance which expresses itself in lyric lines of real +Weltschmerz: + + Ich bin recht mued + Und krank, und kranker noch als krank, denn ach, + Die allerschlimmste Krankheit ist das Leben; + Und heilen kann sie nur der Tod....[227] + +But here too, as in "Ratcliff," such passages are exceptional. In the +main these tragedies are nothing more than vehicles for the poet's +stormy protest, much of it after the Storm and Stress pattern;[228] and +mere protest, however acrimonious, cannot be called Weltschmerz. + +Certain it is that during these early years numerous disappointments +other than those of love contributed to produce in the poet a gloomy +state of mind. A reflection of the unhappiness which he had experienced +during his residence in Hamburg is found in many passages in his +correspondence which express his repugnance for the city and its people. +To Immanuel Wohlwill (1823): "Es freut mich, dass es Dir in den Armen +der aimablen Hammonia zu behagen beginnt; mir ist diese Schoene zuwider. +Mich taeuscht nicht der goldgestickte Rock, ich weiss, sie traegt ein +schmutziges Hemd auf dem gelben Leibe, und mit den schmelzenden +Liebesseufzern 'Rindfleisch[3] Banko!' sinkt sie an die Brust des +Meistbietenden.... Vielleicht thue ich aber der guten Stadt Hamburg +unrecht; die Stimmung, die mich beherrschte, als ich dort einige Zeit +lebte, war nicht dazu geeignet, mich zu einem unbefangenen Beurteiler zu +machen; mein _inneres_ Leben war bruetendes Versinken in den duesteren, +nur von phantastischen Lichtern durchblitzten Schacht der Traumwelt, +mein _aeusseres_ Leben war toll, wuest, cynisch, abstossend; mit einem +Worte, ich machte es zum schneidenden Gegensatz meines inneren Lebens, +damit mich dieses nicht durch sein Uebergewicht zerstoere."[229] To Moser +(1823): "Hamburg? sollte ich dort noch so viele Freuden finden koennen, +als ich schon Schmerzen dort empfand? Dieses ist freilich +unmoeglich--"[230] "Hamburg!!! mein Elysium und Tartarus zu gleicher +Zeit! Ort, den ich detestiere und am meisten liebe, wo mich die +abscheulichsten Gefuehle martern und we ich mich dennoch +hinwuensche."[231] Another letter to Moser is dated: "Verdammtes Hamburg, +den 14. Dezember, 1825."[232] The following year he writes, in a letter +to Immermann: "Ich verliess Goettingen, suchte in Hamburg ein +Unterkommen, fand aber nichts als Feinde, Verklatschung und +Aerger."[233] And to Varnhagen von Ense (1828): "Nach Hamburg werde ich +nie in diesem Leben zurueckkehren; es sind mir Dinge von der aeussersten +Bitterkeit dort passiert, sie waeren auch nicht zu ertragen gewesen, ohne +den Umstand, dass nur ich sie weiss."[234] To his mother's insistent +pleading he replies (1833): "Aber ich will, wenn Du es durchaus +verlangst, diesen Sommer auf acht Tage nach Hamburg kommen, nach dem +schaendlichen Neste, wo ich meinen Feinden den Triumph goennen soll, mich +wiederzusehen und mit Beleidigungen ueberhaeufen zu koennen."[235] + +His several endeavors to establish himself on a firm material footing in +life had failed,--he had sought for a place in a Berlin high school, +then entertained the idea of practising law in Hamburg, then aspired to +a professorship in Munich, but without success. But more than by all +these reverses, more even than by the circumstances and consequences of +his Hebrew parentage, was the poet wrought up by the family strife over +the payment of his pension, which followed upon the death of his uncle +in December, 1844, and which lasted for several years. From the very +beginning he had had much intermittent annoyance through his dealings +with his sporadically generous uncle Salomon Heine. As early as 1823 +Heine writes to Moser: "Auch weiss ich, dass mein Oheim, der sich hier +so gemein zeigt, zu andern Zeiten die Generositaet selbst ist; aber es +ist doch in mir der Vorsatz aufgekommen, alles anzuwenden, um mich so +bald als moeglich von der Guete meines Oheims loszureissen. Jetzt habe ich +ihn freilich noch noetig, und wie knickerig auch die Unterstuetzung ist, +die er mir zufliessen laesst, so kann ich dieselbe nicht entbehren."[236] +And again in the same year: "Es ist fatal, dass bei mir der ganze Mensch +durch das Budget regiert wird. Auf meine Grundsaetze hat Geldmangel oder +Ueberfluss nicht den mindesten Einfluss, aber desto mehr auf meine +Handlungen. Ja, grosser Moser, der H. Heine ist sehr klein."[237] And +when, after his uncle's demise, the heirs of the latter threatened to +cut off the poet's pension, he writes to Campe[238] and to Detmold,[239] +in a frenzy of wrath and excitement, and shows what he is really capable +of under pressure of circumstances. Perhaps it is only fair to suppose +that his long years of suffering, both from his physical condition and +from the unscrupulous attacks of his enemies, had had a corroding effect +upon his moral sensibilities. In his request to Campe to act as mediator +in the disagreeable affair he says: "Sie koennen alle Schuld des +Missverstaendnisses auf mich schieben, die Grossmut der Familie +hervorstreichen, kurz, mich sacrificiren." And all this to be submitted +to the public in print! "Ich gestehe Ihnen heute offen, ich habe gar +keine Eitelkeit in der Weise andrer Menschen, mir liegt am Ende gar +nichts an der Meinung des Publikums; mir ist nur eins wichtig, die +Befriedigung meines inneren Willens, die Selbstachtung meiner Seele." +But how he was able to preserve his self-respect, and at the same time +be willing to employ any and all means to attain his end, perhaps no one +less unscrupulous than he could comprehend. He intimates that he has +decided upon threats and public intimidation as being probably more +effective than a servile attitude, which, he allows us to infer, he +would be quite willing to take if advisable. "Das Beste muss hier die +Presse thun zur Intimidation, und die ersten Kotwuerfe auf Karl Heine und +namentlich auf Adolf Halle werden schon wirken. Die Leute sind an Dreck +nicht gewoehnt, waehrend ich ganze Mistkarren vertragen kann, ja diese, +wie auf Blumenbeeten, nur mein Gedeihen zeitigen."[240] + +It is quite evident that this long drawn out quarrel aroused all that +was mean and vindictive, all that was immoral in the man, and that the +nervous excitement thereby induced had a most baneful effect upon his +entire nature, physical as well as mental. In a number of poems he has +given expression to his anger and has masterfully cursed his +adversaries, for example, "Es gab den Dolch in deine Hand,"[241] "Sie +kuessten mich mit ihren falschen Lippen,"[242] and several following +ones. But here, too, his fancy is altogether too busy with the suitable +characterization of his enemies and the invention of adequate tortures +for them, to leave room for even a suggestion of the Weltschmerz which +we might expect to result from such painful emotions. + +It is scarcely necessary to theorize as to what would have been the +attitude and conduct of a sensitive Hoelderlin or a proud-spirited Lenau +in a similar position. Lenau is too proud to protest, preferring to +suffer. Heine is too vain to appear as a sufferer, so he meets +adversity, not in a spirit of admirable courage, but in a spirit of +bravado. In giving lyric utterance to his resentment, Heine is conscious +that the world is looking on, and so he indulges, even in the expression +of his Weltschmerz, in a vain ostentation which stands in marked +contrast to Lenau's dignified pride. He is quite right when he says in a +letter to his friend Moser: "Ich bin nicht gross genug, um Erniedrigung +zu tragen."[243] + +As an illustration of the vain display which he makes of his sadness, +his poem "Der Traurige" may be quoted in part: + + Allen thut es weh in Herzen, + Die den bleichen Knaben sehn, + Dem die Leiden, dem die Schmerzen + Auf's Gesicht geschrieben stehn.[244] + +A similar impression is made by the concluding numbers of the +Intermezzo, "Die alten, boesen Lieder."[245] And here again the +comparison,--even if merely as to size,--of a coffin with the +"Heidelberger Fass" is most incongruous, to say the least, and tends +very effectually to destroy the serious sentiment which the poem, with +less definite exaggerations, might have conveyed. Similarly overdone is +his poetic preface to the "Rabbi" sent to his friend Moser:[246] + + Brich aus in lauten Klagen + Du duestres Maertyrerlied, + Das ich so lang getragen + Im flammenstillen Gemuet! + + Es dringt in alle Ohren, + Und durch die Ohren ins Herz; + Ich habe gewaltig beschworen + Den tausendjaehrigen Schmerz. + + Es weinen dir Grossen und Kleinen, + Sogar die kalten Herrn, + Die Frauen und Blumen weinen, + Es weinen am Himmel die Stern. + +It is not necessary, even if it were to the point, to adduce further +evidence of Heine's vanity as expressed in his prose writings, or in +poems such as the much-quoted + + Nennt man die besten Namen, + So wird auch der meine genannt.[247] + +It cannot be denied that this element of vanity, of showiness, only +serves to emphasize our impression of the unreality of much of Heine's +Weltschmerz. + +With the reference to this element of ostentation in Heine's Weltschmerz +there is suggested at once the question of the Byronic pose, and of +Byron's influence in general upon the German poet. On the general +relationship between the two poets much has been written,[248] so that +we may confine ourselves here to the consideration of certain points of +resemblance in their Weltschmerz. + +Julian Schmidt names Byron as the constellation which ruled the heavens +during the period from the Napoleonic wars to the "Voelkerfruehling," +1848, as the meteor upon which at that time the eyes of all Europe were +fixed. Certainly the English poet could not have wished for a more +auspicious introduction and endorsation in Germany, if he had needed +such, than that which was given him by Goethe himself, whose subsequent +tribute in his Euphorion in the second part of "Faust" is one of Byron's +most splendid memorials. The enthusiasm which Lord Byron aroused in +Germany is attested by Goethe: "Im Jahre 1816, also einige Jahre nach +dem Erscheinen des ersten Gesanges des 'Childe Harold,' trat englische +Poesie und Literatur vor allen andern in den Vordergrund. Lord Byrons +Gedichte, je mehr man sich mit den Eigenheiten dieses ausserordentlichen +Geistes bekannt machte, gewannen immer groessere Teilnahme, so dass +Maenner und Frauen, Maegdlein und Junggesellen fast aller Deutschheit und +Nationalitaet zu vergessen schienen."[249] + +It is important to note that this first period of unrestrained Byron +enthusiasm coincides with the formative and impressionable years of +Heine's youth. In his first book of poems, published in 1821, he +included translations from Byron, in reviewing which Immermann pointed +out[250] that while Heine's poems showed a superficial resemblance to +those of Byron, the temperament of the former was far removed from the +sinister scorn of the English lord, that it was in fact much more +cheerful and enamored of life.[251] There is plenty of evidence, +however, to show that it was exceedingly gratifying to the young Heine +to have his name associated with that of Byron; and although he had no +enthusiasm for Byron's philhellenism, he was pleased to write, June 25, +1824, on hearing of the Englishman's death: "Der Todesfall Byrons hat +mich uebrigens sehr bewegt. Es war der einzige Mensch, mit dem ich mich +verwandt fuehlte, und wir moegen uns wohl in manchen Dingen geglichen +haben; scherze nur darueber, soviel Du willst. Ich las ihn selten seit +einigen Jahren; man geht lieber um mit Menschen, deren Charakter von dem +unsrigen verschieden ist. Ich bin aber mit Byron immer behaglich +umgegangen, wie mit einem voellig gleichen Spiesskameraden. Mit +Shakespeare kann ich gar nicht behaglich umgehen, ich fuehle nur zu +sehr, dass ich nicht seinesgleichen bin, er ist der allgewaltige +Minister, und ich bin ein blosser Hofrat, und es ist mir, als ob er mich +jeden Augenblick absetzen koennte."[252] Significant is the allusion in +this same letter to a proposition which the writer seems to have made to +his friend in a previous one: " ... ich darf Dir Dein Versprechen in +Hinsicht des 'Morgenblattes' durchaus nicht erlassen. Robert besorgt +gern den Aufsatz. Byron ist jetzt tot, und ein Wort ueber ihn ist jetzt +passend. Vergiss es nicht; Du thust mir einen sehr grossen +Gefallen."[253] We shall probably not be far astray in assuming that the +"Gefallen" was to have been the advertising of Heine as the natural +successor of Byron in European literature. Three months later he once +more urges the request: "Auch faende ich es noch immer angemessen, ja +jetzt mehr als je, dass Du Dich ueber Byron und Komp. vernehmen +liessest."[254] + +But it was not long before Heine, with an increasing sense of literary +independence, reinforced no doubt by the reaction of public opinion +against Byron, and influenced also by his friend Immermann's judgment in +particular,[255] was no longer willing to be considered a disciple of +the English master. Several unmistakable references betoken this change +of heart, for example, the following from his "Nordsee" III (1826): +"Wahrlich in diesem Augenblicke fuehle ich sehr lebhaft, dass ich kein +Nachbeter, oder, besser gesagt, Nachfrevler, Byrons bin, mein Blut ist +nicht so spleenisch schwarz, meine Bitterkeit koemmt nur aus den +Gallaepfeln meiner Dinte, und wenn Gift in mir ist, so ist es doch nur +Gegengift, Gegengift wider jene Schlangen, die im Schutte der alten Dome +und Burgen so bedrohlich lauern."[256] Byron, instead of being regarded +as "kindred spirit" and "cousin," is now characterized as a ruthless +destroyer of venerable forms, injuring the most sacred flowers of life +with his melodious poison, or as a mad harlequin who thrusts the steel +into his heart, in order that he may teasingly bespatter ladies and +gentlemen with the black spurting blood. In remarkable contrast with his +former views, he now writes: "Von allen grossen Schriftstellern ist +Byron just derjenige, dessen Lektuere mich am unleidigsten beruehrt." + +Perhaps the most interesting passage in this connection, because so +thoroughly characteristic of the Byronic pose in Heine, occurs in the +"Baeder von Lucca": "Lieber Leser, gehoerst du vielleicht zu jenen frommen +Voegeln, die da einstimmen in das Lied von Byronischer Zerrissenheit, das +mir schon seit zehn Jahren in allen Weisen vorgepfiffen und +vorgezwitschert worden ...? Ach, teurer Leser, wenn du ueber jene +Zerrissenheit klagen willst, so beklage lieber, dass die Welt selbst +mitten entzwei gerissen ist. Denn da das Herz des Dichters der +Mittelpunkt der Welt ist, so musste es wohl in jetziger Zeit jaemmerlich +zerrissen werden. Wer von seinem Herzen ruehmt, es sei ganz geblieben, +der gesteht nur, dass er ein prosaisches, weitabgelegenes Winkelherz +hat. Durch das meinige ging aber der grosse Weltriss, und eben deswegen +weiss ich, dass die grossen Goetter mich vor vielen andern hoch begnadigt +und des Dichtermaertyrtums wuerdig geachtet haben."[257] Here while +vociferously disclaiming all kinship or sympathy with Byron, he pays him +the flattering compliment of imitation. Probably nowhere in Byron could +we find a more pompous display of egoism under the guise of Weltschmerz. + +Byron's Weltschmerz, like Heine's, had its first provocation in a purely +personal experience. "To a Lady"[258] and "Remembrance"[259] both give +expression in passionate terms to the poet's disappointed love for Mary +Chaworth, the parallel in Heine's case being his infatuation for his +cousin Amalie. The necessity for defending himself against a public +opinion actively hostile to his earliest poems,[260] largely diverted +Byron from this first painful theme, so that from this time on until he +left England, he is almost incessantly engaged in a bitter warfare +against the injustice of critics and of society. To this second period +Heine's development also shows a general resemblance. Thus far both +poets exhibit a purely egoistic type of Weltschmerz. But with his +separation from his wife in 1816, and his final departure from England, +that of Byron enters upon a third period and becomes cosmic. Ostracized +by English society, his relations with it finally severed, he disdains +to defend himself further against its criticism, and espouses the cause +of unhappy humanity. No longer his own personal woes, but rather those +of the nations of the earth are nearest his heart: + + What are our woes and sufferance?... + ................................ Ye! + Whose agonies are evils of a day-- + A world is at our feet as fragile as our clay.[261] + +And in contemplating the ruins of the Palatine Hill: + + ..................... Upon such a shrine + What are our petty griefs? Let me not number mine.[262] + +Here we have the essential difference between these two types of +Weltschmerz. Heine does not, like Byron, make this transition from the +personal to the universal stage. Instead of becoming cosmic in his +Weltschmerz, he remains for ever egoistic. + +Numerous quotations might be adduced from the writings of both poets, +which would seem to indicate that Heine had borrowed many of his ideas +and even some forms of expression from Byron. Except in the case of the +most literal correspondence, this is generally a very unsafe deduction. +Such passages as a rule prove nothing more than a similarity, possibly +quite independent, in the trend of their pessimistic thought. Compare +for example Byron's lines in the poem "And wilt thou weep when I am +low?" + + Oh lady! blessed be that tear-- + It falls for one who cannot weep; + Such precious drops are doubly dear + To those whose eyes no tear may steep,[263] + +with Heine's stanza: + + Seit ich sie verloren hab', + Schafft' ich auch das Weinen ab; + Fast vor Weh das Herz mir bricht, + Aber weinen kann ich nicht.[264] + +Or again, "Childe Harold," IV, 136: + + From mighty wrongs to petty perfidy + Have I not seen what human things could do? + From the loud roar of foaming calumny + To the small whisper of the as paltry few-- + And subtler venom of the reptile crew,[265] + +with the first lines of Heine's ninth sonnet: + + Ich moechte weinen, doch ich kann es nicht; + Ich moecht' mich ruestig in die Hoehe heben, + Doch kann ich's nicht; am Boden muss ich kleben, + Umkraechzt, umzischt von eklem Wurmgezuecht,[266] + +a thought which in one of his letters (1823) he paraphrases thus: "Der +Gedanke an Dich, liebe Schwester, muss mich zuweilen aufrecht halten, +wenn die grosse Masse mit ihrem dummen Hass und ihrer ekelhaften Liebe +mich niederdrueckt."[267] There can be no doubt that Heine for a time +studied diligently to imitate this fashionable model, pose, irony and +all. So diligently perhaps, that he himself was sometimes unable to +distinglish between imitation and reality. So at least it would appear +from No. 44 of "Die Heimkehr:" + + Ach Gott! im Scherz und unbewusst + Sprach ich, was ich gefuehlet: + Ich hab mit dem Tod in der eignen Brust + Den sterbenden Fechter gespielet.[268] + +In summing up our impressions of the two poets we shall scarcely escape +the feeling that while Byron is pleased to display his troubles and his +heart-aches before the curious gaze of the world, they are at least in +the main real troubles and sincere heart-aches, whereas Heine, on the +other hand, does a large business in Weltschmerz on a very small +capital. + +Nor is Heine the man more convincing as to his sincerity than Heine the +poet. No more striking instance of this fact could perhaps be found than +his letter to Laube on hearing the news of Immermann's death.[269] +"Gestern Abend erfuhr ich durch das _Journal des Debats_ ganz zufaellig +den Tod von Immermann. Ich habe die ganze Nacht durch geweint. Welch ein +Unglueck!... Welch einen grossen Dichter haben wir Deutschen verloren, +ohne ihn jemals recht gekannt zu haben! Wir, ich meine Deutschland, die +alte Rabenmutter! Und nicht nur ein grosser Dichter war er, sondern auch +brav und ehrlich, und deshalb liebte ich ihn. Ich liege ganz darnieder +vor Kummer." But scarcely has he turned the page with a short +intervening paragraph, when he continues: "Ich bin, sonderbar genug, +sehr guter Laune," and concludes the letter with some small talk. Now if +he was sincere, as we may assume he was, in the asseveration of his +grief at the death of his friend, then either that grief must have been +anything but profound, or we have the clearest sort of evidence of the +poet's incapacity for serious feeling of more than momentary duration. +It is safe to assert that Heine never set himself a high artistic task, +and remained true to his purpose until the task was accomplished. In +other words, Heine betrays a lack of will-energy along artistic lines, +which in the case of Hoelderlin and Lenau was more evident in their +attitude toward the practical things of life. + +But the fact that Heine never created a monumental literary work of +enduring worth is not attributable solely to a fickleness of artistic +purpose or lack of will-energy. We find its explanation rather in the +poet's own statement: "Die Poesie ist am Ende doch nur eine schoene +Nebensache."[270] and to this principle, consciously or unconsciously, +Heine steadily adhered. Certain it is that he took a much lower view of +his art than did Hoelderlin or Lenau. Hence we find him ever ready to +degrade his muse by making it the vehicle for immoral thoughts and +abominable calumnies.[271] + +The question of Heine's patriotism has always been a much-debated one, +and must doubtless remain so. But whatever opinion we may hold in regard +to his real attitude and feelings toward the land of his birth, this we +shall have to admit, that there are exceedingly few traces of +Weltschmerz arising from this source. Genuine feeling is expressed in +the two-stanza poem "Ich hatte einst ein schoenes Vaterland"[272] and +also in "Lebensfahrt,"[273] although this latter poem illustrates a +characteristic of so many of his writings, namely that he himself is +their central figure. It is the sublime egoism which characterizes Heine +and all his works. No wonder, then, that one of his few +"Freiheitslieder" refers to his own personal liberty.[274] For the +failings of his countrymen he is ever ready with scathing satire,[275] +he grieves over his separation from them only when he thinks of his +mother;[276] and in regard to the future of Germany he is for the most +part sceptical.[277] In a word, Heine's lyric utterances in regard to +his fatherland are of so mixed a character, that altogether aside from +the question of the sincerity of his feeling toward the land of his +birth, certainly none but the blindest partisan would be able to +discover more than a negligible quantity of Weltschmerz directly +attributable to this influence. + +Heine's conscience is at best a doubtful quantity. Where Byron with a +sincere sense and acknowledgment of his guilt writes: + + "My injuries came down on those who loved me-- + On those whom I best loved: . . . . . . + But my embrace was fatal."[278] + +Heine sees it in quite another light: "War ich doch selber jetzt das +lebende Gesetz der Moral und der Quell alles Rechtes und aller Befugnis; +die anruechigsten Magdalenen wurden purifiziert durch die laeuternde und +suehnende Macht meiner Liebesflammen,"[279] a moral aberration which he +attributes to an imperfect interpretation of the difficult philosophy of +Hegel. If further evidence were necessary to show the perversity of +Heine's moral sense, the following paragraph from a letter to Varnhagen +would suffice, in its way perhaps as remarkable a contribution to the +theory of ethics as has ever been penned: "In Deutschland ist man noch +nicht so weit, zu begreifen, dass ein Mann, der das Edelste durch Wort +und That befoerdern will, sich oft einige kleine Lumpigkeiten, sei es aus +Spass oder aus Vorteil, zu schulden kommen lassen darf, wenn er nur +durch diese Lumpigkeiten (d. h. Handlungen, die im Grunde ignobel sind,) +der grossen Idee seines Lebens nichts schadet, ja dass diese +Lumpigkeiten oft sogar lobenswert sind, wenn sie uns in den Stand +setzen, der grossen Idee unsres Lebens desto wuerdiger zu dienen."[280] +Scarcely less remarkable is the poet's confession to his friend Moser +that he has a rubber soul: "Ich kann Dir das nicht oft genug +wiederholen, damit Du mich nicht misst nach dem Massstabe Deiner eigenen +grossen Seele. Die meinige ist Gummi elastic, zieht sich oft ins +Unendliche und verschrumpft oft ins Winzige. Aber eine Seele habe ich +doch. I am positive, I have a soul, so gut wie Sterne. Das genuege Dir. +Liebe mich um der wunderlichen Sorte Gefuehls willen, die sich bei mir +ausspricht in Thorheit und Weisheit, in Guete und Schlechtigkeit. Liebe +mich, weil es Dir nun mal so einfaellt, nicht, weil Du mich der Liebe +wert haeltst.... Ich hatte einen Polen zum Freund, fuer den ich mich bis +zu Tod besoffen haette, oder, besser gesagt, fuer den ich mich haette +totschlagen lassen, und fuer den ich mich noch totschlagen liesse, und +der Kerl taugte fuer keinen Pfennig, und war venerisch, und hatte die +schlechtesten Grundsaetze--aber er hatte einen Kehllaut, mit welchem er +auf so wunderliche Weise das Wort 'Was?' sprechen konnte, dass ich in +diesem Augenblick weinen und lachen muss, wenn ich daran denke."[281] + +Taking him all in all then, Heine is not a serious personality, a fact +which we need to keep constantly in mind in judging almost any and every +side of his nature. + +As a matter of fact, Heine's Weltschmerz, like his whole personality, is +of so complex and contradictory a nature, that it would be a hopeless +undertaking to attempt to weigh each contributing factor and estimate +exactly the amount of its influence. All the elements which have been +briefly noted in the foregoing pages, and probably many minor ones which +have not been mentioned, combined to produce in him that "Zerrissenheit" +which finds such frequent expression in his writings. But it must be +remembered that this "Zerrissenheit" does not always express itself as +Weltschmerz. In Heine it often appears simply as pugnacity; and where +wit, satire, self-irony or even base calumny succeeds in covering up all +traces of the poet's pathos we are no longer justified on sentimental or +sympathetic grounds in taking it for granted. In looking for pathos in +Heine's verse we shall not have to look in vain, it is true, but we +shall find much less than his popular reputation as a poet of +Weltschmerz would lead us to expect; and we frequently gain the +impression that his disposition and his personal experiences are after +all largely the excuse for rather than the occasion of his Weltschmerz. + +Pluemacher maintains: "Der Weltschmerz ist entweder die absolute +Passivitaet, und die Klage seine einzige Aeusserung, oder aber er +verpufft seine Kraefte in rein subjectivistischen, eudaemonischen +Anstrengungen,"[282]--a characterization which certainly holds good in +the case of Lenau and Hoelderlin respectively. Hoelderlin, although in a +visionary, idealistic way, remains, en in his Weltschmerz, altruistic +and constructive. Lenau is passive, while Heine is solely egoistic and +destructive. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 181: "Studien und Wandertage," Frauenfeld, Huber, 1884.] + +[Footnote 182: Vol. II, p. 265.] + +[Footnote 183: "Franzoesische Maler. Gemaelde-Ausstellung in Paris, 1831." +Heines Saemmtliche Werke, mit Einleitung von E. Elster. Leipzig, +Bibliogr. Inst., 1890. (Hereafter quoted as "Werke.") Vol. IV, p. 61.] + +[Footnote 184: "Selina, oder ueber die Unsterblichkeit," II, p. 132.] + +[Footnote 185: "Heinrich Heines Krankheit und Leidensgeschichte." Eine +kritische Studie, von S. Rahmer, Dr. Med., Berlin, 1901.] + +[Footnote 186: "Das Liebesleben Hoelderlin's, Lenaus, Heines." Berlin, +1901.] + +[Footnote 187: Rahmer, op. cit. p. 45.] + +[Footnote 188: Rahmer, p. 46.] + +[Footnote 189: Werke, Vol. III, p. 194.] + +[Footnote 190: Karpeles ed. Werke (2. Aufl.) VIII, p. 441.] + +[Footnote 191: _Ibid._, p. 378.] + +[Footnote 192: _Ibid._, p. 520.] + +[Footnote 193: Karpeles ed. Werke, IX, p. 371.] + +[Footnote 194: _Ibid._, p. 374.] + +[Footnote 195: _Ibid._, p. 459 ff.] + +[Footnote 196: _Ibid._, p. 513.] + +[Footnote 197: _Ibid._, p. 475.] + +[Footnote 198: Werke, Vol. I, p. 72, Nos. 18 and 19.] + +[Footnote 199: Werke, Vol. I, p. 123, No. 62.] + +[Footnote 200: Lenaus Werke, Vol. I, p. 257 ff.] + +[Footnote 201: Werke, Vol. I, p. 37.] + +[Footnote 202: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 11.] + +[Footnote 203: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 97.] + +[Footnote 204: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 177.] + +[Footnote 205: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 197.] + +[Footnote 206: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 408.] + +[Footnote 207: _Ibid._, p. 468.] + +[Footnote 208: Karpeles ed. Werke, Vol. II, p. 31.] + +[Footnote 209: A few other examples of this same coloring in Heine's +lyrics are to be found in the "Neuer Fruehling," Nos. 40, 41 and 43.] + +[Footnote 210: Werke, Vol. II, p. 89, No. 55, "O Gott, wie haesslich +bitter ist das Sterben!" etc.] + +[Footnote 211: Engel: "Heine's Memoiren," p. 133.] + +[Footnote 212: Werke, Vol. I, p. 87.] + +[Footnote 213: Werke, Vol. I, p. 134.] + +[Footnote 214: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 102.] + +[Footnote 215: "Nicolaus Lenau. Erinnerung und Betrachtung." Wien, +1876.] + +[Footnote 216: Werke, Vol. I, p. 367f.] + +[Footnote 217: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 415.] + +[Footnote 218: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 48.] + +[Footnote 219: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 42 f.] + +[Footnote 220: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 428.] + +[Footnote 221: Werke, Vol. I, p. 424.] + +[Footnote 222: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 416.] + +[Footnote 223: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 473.] + +[Footnote 224: Cf. Heine's letter to Moser, Jan. 9, 1826, in Karpeles' +Autob. p. 191.] + +[Footnote 225: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 491.] + +[Footnote 226: Cf. Werke, Einleitung, Vol. II, p. 241.] + +[Footnote 227: Werke, Vol. II, p. 293.] + +[Footnote 228: Cf. Almansor's Speech, Werke, Vol. II, p. 288 f.] + +[Footnote 229: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 363.] + +[Footnote 230: _Ibid._, p. 384.] + +[Footnote 231: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 391.] + +[Footnote 232: _Ibid._, p. 472.] + +[Footnote 233: _Ibid._, p. 503.] + +[Footnote 234: _Ibid._, p. 540.] + +[Footnote 235: _Ibid._, IX, p. 25.] + +[Footnote 236: _Ibid._, VIII, p. 392.] + +[Footnote 237: Karpeles ed. VIII, p. 396.] + +[Footnote 238: _Ibid._, IX, p. 308 ff.] + +[Footnote 239: _Ibid._, p. 316.] + +[Footnote 240: Letter to Detmold, Jan. 9, 1845, Werke (Karpeles ed.), +Vol. IX, p. 310.] + +[Footnote 241: Werke, Vol. II, p. 104.] + +[Footnote 242: _Ibid._, Vol. II, p. 105.] + +[Footnote 243: Cf. Karpeles' Autob. p. 164.] + +[Footnote 244: Werke, Vol. I, p. 35.] + +[Footnote 245: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 92.] + +[Footnote 246: Werke, Vol. II, p. 164.] + +[Footnote 247: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 102.] + +[Footnote 248: One of the most exhaustive monographs on the subject is +that of Felix Melchior (Cf. bibliography, _infra_ p. 90), to whom I am +indebted for several of the parallels suggested.] + +[Footnote 249: Weimar Ausg. I Abt. Bd. 36, p. 128.] + +[Footnote 250: In the _Rheinisch-westfaelischer Anzeiger_, May 31, 1822, +No. 23.] + +[Footnote 251: Cf. Strodtmann, "H. Heines Leben und Werke," 3. ed., +Hamburg, 1884. Vol. I, p. 200.] + +[Footnote 252: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 434.] + +[Footnote 253: _Ibid._, p. 433.] + +[Footnote 254: _Ibid._, p. 441.] + +[Footnote 255: In discussing the first volume of Heine's "Reisebilder," +Immermann had said: "Man hat Heinen beim Beginn seiner dichterischen +Laufbahn mit Byron vergleichen wollen. Diese Vergleichung scheint nicht +zu passen. Der Brite bringt mit ungeheuren Mitteln nur massige poetische +Effekte hervor, waehrend Heine eine Anlage zeigt, sich kuenstlerisch zu +begrenzen und den Stoff gaenzlich in die Form zu absorbieren." +(_Jahrbuecher f. wissenschaftliche Kritik_, 1827, No. 97, p. 767.)] + +[Footnote 256: Werke, III, p. 116.] + +[Footnote 257: Werke, Vol. Ill, p. 304.] + +[Footnote 258: Byron's Works, Coleridge ed., London and New York, 1898. +Vol. I, p. 189 ff.] + +[Footnote 259: _Ibid._, p. 211.] + +[Footnote 260: Cf. the poems "To a Knot of Ungenerous Critics," "English +Bards and Scotch Reviewers," and others.] + +[Footnote 261: Coleridge ed., Vol. II, p. 388 f.] + +[Footnote 262: _Ibid._, p. 406.] + +[Footnote 263: Coleridge ed., Vol. I, p. 266 f.] + +[Footnote 264: Werke, Vol. I, p. 78.] + +[Footnote 265: Coleridge ed., Vol. II, p. 429.] + +[Footnote 266: Werke, Vol. I, p. 61.] + +[Footnote 267: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 411.] + +[Footnote 268: Werke, I, p. 117.] + +[Footnote 269: Werke, Karpeles ed. Vol. IX, p. 162 f.] + +[Footnote 270: Letter to Immermann, Werke (Karpeles ed.), Vol. VIII, p. +354.] + +[Footnote 271: Cf. his vulgar prognostication of Germany's future, Kaput +XXVI of the "Wintermaerchen," Werke, Vol. II, p. 488 ff.] + +[Footnote 272: Werke, Vol. I, p. 263.] + +[Footnote 273: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 308.] + +[Footnote 274: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 301, "Adam der erste."] + +[Footnote 275: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 316, "Zur Beruhigung."] + +[Footnote 276: _Ibid._, Vol. I, p. 320, "Nachtgedanken."] + +[Footnote 277: Cf. _supra_, note 1.] + +[Footnote 278: "Manfred," Coleridge ed., IV, p. 101.] + +[Footnote 279: Werke VI, p. 48.] + +[Footnote 280: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 541.] + +[Footnote 281: Karpeles ed. Werke, VIII, p. 399.] + +[Footnote 282: Pluemacher: "Der Pessimismus." Heidelberg, 1888, p. 103.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +=Bibliography= + + +_General_ + +Breitinger, H. Neues ueber den alten Weltschmerz. "Studien und +Wandertage." Frauenfeld, Huber, 1884, p. 246-62. + +Caro, E. Le Pessimisme au 19. Siecle; Leopardi, Schopenhauer, Hartmann. +4th. ed. Paris, 1889. + +Deutsches Litteraturblatt, Halle a. S. 1879, Nr. 1. Der Pessimismus in +der Litteratur. + +"Europa," 1869, Nr. 16. Der Weltschmerz in der Poesie. von Golther, +Ludwig. Der Moderne Pessimismus. Leipzig, 1878. + +Hartmann, Ed. Zur Begruendung und Geschichte des Pessimismus. Leipzig, +1892. + +Heyse, Paul. Leopardi, der Dichter des Pessimismus. Deutsche Rundschau, +Band 14, Art. 15. + +Huber, Johannes. Der Pessimismus. Muenchen, 1876. + +Lenzi, Annita. Il problema del dolore in alcune figure della +letteratura. Roma, Bertero. + +Lombroso, C. Der geniale Mensch. Hamburg, 1900. + +Nisbet. Pessimism and its Antidote. Macmillan's Magazine, London, Aug. +1877. + +Pfleiderer, E. Der Moderne Pessimismus. "Deutsche Zeit- und +Streitfragen," Berlin, 1875. + +Pluemacher, O. Der Pessimismus in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. 2d. ed. +Heidelberg, 1888. + +Revue des deux Mondes, Dec. 1877, p. 481-514. L'Ecole pessimiste en +Allemagne; son influence et son avenir. + +Sully, James. Pessimism. A History and a Criticism. London, 1877. + +Westminster Review, Vol. 138, Oct. 1892. Pessimism and Poetry. + +Weygoldt, G. P. Kritik des philosophischen Pessimismus der neusten Zeit. +Leiden, 1875. + + +_Hoelderlin_ + +Hoelderlins Saemmtliche Werke, herausgegeben von C. T. Schwab. Stuttgart, +1846. + +Hoelderlins gesammelte Dichtungen. Neu durchgesehene und vermehrte +Ausgabe, mit biographischer Einleitung herausgegeben von B. Litzmann. +Stuttgart, Cotta. + +Arnold, R. F. Der deutsche Philhellenismus. Euphorion, 1896, II +Ergaenzungsheft, p. 71 ff. + +Brandes, G. Die Hauptstroemungen der Litteratur des 19. Jahrhunderts. +Leipzig, 1894. Vol. 2, p. 48-53. + +Challemel-Lacour. La Poesie paienne en Allemagne au XIX. Siecle. Revue +des deux Mondes, June, 1867. + +Haym, R. Die Romantische Schule. Berlin, 1870, p. 289-324 + +Jung, Alexander. Friedrich Hoelderlin und seine Werke. Cotta, 1848. + +Klein-Hattingen, Oskar. Das Liebesleben Hoelderlins, Lenaus, Heines. +Berlin, 1901. + +Koestlin, K. Dichtungen von Friedrich Hoelderlin, mit biographischer +Einleitung. Tuebingen, 1884. + +Litzmann, Carl C. T. Friedrich Hoelderlins Leben, in Briefen von und an +Hoelderlin. Berlin, 1890. (Reviewed by O. F. Walzel, Zeitschrift f. d. +Alt. Anz. 17, p. 314-320.) + +Mueller, David. Friedrich Hoelderlin, eine Studie. Preuss. Jahrbuecher, +1866, 17, p. 548-68. + +Mueller-Rastatt. Friedrich Hoelderlins Leben und Dichten, Bremen, 1894. +(Reviewed by Hermann Fischer, Anz. f. d. Alt. 22, p. 212-18.) + +Rosenkranz, K. Aus Hegels Leben. I. Hegel und Hoelderlin. Prutz, +Literarhistor. Taschenbuch, 1843, Bd. I, p. 89-200. + +Scherer, Wilh. Vortraege und Aufsaetze zur Geschichte des geistigen Lebens +in Deutschland und Oesterreich. Berlin, 1874. Hoelderlin, p. 346-355. + +Teuffel, W. S. Studien und Charakteristiken zur griechischen u. +roemischen sowie zur deutschen Litteraturgeschichte. Leipzig, 1871. +Hoelderlin, p. 473-502. + +Waiblinger, Wilh. Friedrich Hoelderlin's Leben, Dichtung und Wahnsinn. In +Waiblinger's Werken, 3, p. 219-61. + +Wenzel, G. Hoelderlin und Keats als geistesverwandte Dichter. Programm. +Magdeburg, 1896. + +Wilbrandt, Adolf. Hoelderlin. In "Geisteshelden. Eine Sammlung von +Biographien," herausgegeben von Dr. Anton Bettelheim. Berlin, 1896. 2 +und 3 Band, p. 1-46. + +(Originally published as "Hoelderlin, der Dichter des Pantheismus," in +Riehls Historisches Taschenbuch, 5. Folge, 1. Jahrgang. Leipzig, 1871, +p. 373-413.) + + +_Lenau_ + +Nicolaus Lenau's Saemmtliche Werke, herausgegeben von G. Emil Barthel. 2. +Aufl. Leipzig (Ohne Jahr). + +Lenau's Saemmtliche Werke, in 4 Baenden, Stuttgart, Cotta (Ohne Jahr). + +Lenau's Werke, herausgegeben von Max Koch. Kuerschners Nationallitt. 154 +und 155. + +Auerbach. Nicolaus Lenau. Erinnerung und Betrachtung. Wien, 1876. + +Barewicz, Witold. Rezension von Zdziechowski, Der deutsche Byronismus. +Euphorion, 1894, p. 417-18. + +Berdrow, Otto. Frauenbilder aus der neueren deutschen +Litteraturgeschichte. Stuttgart (ohne Jahr). Lenau's Mutter, p. 223-235; +Sophie Loewenthal, p. 236-259; Marie Behrends, p. 260-80. + +Castle, Ed. Nicolaus Lenau. Zur Jahrhundertfeier seiner Geburt. Leipzig, +1902. + +Castle, Ed. Heimaterinnerungen bei Lenau. Grillparzer Jahrb. Wien, 1900, +p. 80-95. + +Castle, Ed. Nicolaus Lenaus Savonarola. Euphorien, 1896, Vol. 3, p. +74-92; 441-64; 1897, Vol. 4, p. 66-91. + +Ernst, Ad. Wilh. Litterarische Charakterbilder. Hamburg, 1895. Lenau, p. +253-74. + +Ernst, Ad. Lenaus Frauengestalten. Stuttgart, 1902. + +Faggi, A. Lenau und Leopardi. Palermo, 1898. + +Farinelli, A. Ueber Leopardis und Lenaus Pessimismus. Verhandlungen des +8. Allgem. d. Neuphilologentages, 1898. (Reviewed in Neuphil. +Centralblatt, Sept. 1898). + +Fischer, Kuno. Der Philosoph des Pessimismus. Kleine Schriften, +Heidelberg, 1897. + +Frankl, L. A. Zur Biographie Nicolaus Lenaus. 2. Aufl. Wien, Pest, +Leipzig, Hartleben, 1885. + +Frankl, L. A. Lenau und Sophie Loewenthal. Cotta, 1891. (Reviewed by +Minor, Anz. f. d. Alt. 18, p. 276-291.) + +Friedrichs, Paul. Nicolaus Lenau. Nordd. Allg. Ztg. 1902, Nr. 188. + +Gesky, Theodor. Lenau als Naturdichter. Leipzig, 1902. + +Hohenhausen, F. Nicolaus Lenau und Emilie Reinbeck. Westermanns Ill. +Monatsh. Mai, 1873. + +Kerner, Theobald. Das Kernerhaus und seine Gaeste. Deutsche +Verlagsanstalt, 1894. + +Klein-Hattingen, Oscar. See under Hoelderlin. + +Marchand, Alfred. Les Poetes lyriques de l'Autriche. Paris, Fischbacher, +1889. + +Martensen, U. Aus meinem Leben. Berlin, 1891. + +Mayer, Karl. Nicolaus Lenaus Briefe an einen Freund. Stuttgart, 1853. + +Mueller-Frauenstein. Von Heinrich von Kleist his zur Graefin M. +Ebner-Eschenbach. Hannover, 1891. Lenau, p. 123-33. + +Roettinger, Heinrich. Lenaus Bertha. Ein Beitrag zur Lebensgeschichte des +Dichters. Euphor. 1899, p. 752-61. + +Sadger, J. Nicolaus Lenau. Ein pathologisches Lebensbild. Neue Freie +Presse, Nr. 111166-7. Sept. 25, 26, 1895. (Reviewed by Castle, Euphor. +1899, p. 792-95.) + +Roustan, L. Lenau et son Temps, Paris, 1898. (Reviewed by Castle, +Euphor. 1899, p. 785-97, in which review he quotes at length the opinion +of Dr. Med. Karl Weiler.) + +Saly-Stern, J. La vie d'un Poete. Essai sur Lenau. Paris, 1902. + +Scherr, J. Ein Dichter des Weltleids. Hammerschlaege und Historien, +Zuerich, 1872. + +Schlossar, Dr. A. Nicolaus Lenau's Briefe an Emilie v. Reinbeck, nebst +Aufzeichnungen. Stuttgart, 1896. + +Schurz, Anton X. Lenaus Leben, grossentheils aus des Dichters eignen +Briefen. 2 vols. Cotta, 1855. + +Sintenis, Franz. Nicolaus Lenau. Vortrag. 1892. + +Von Klenze, Camillo. The Treatment of Nature in the Works of Lenau. +Chicago Univ. Press, 1902. + +Wechsler, Ed. Nicolaus Lenau. Eine litterarische Studie. Westermanns +Ill. Monatsh. 68, p. 676-92. + +Weisser, Paul. Lenau und Marie Behrends. Deutsche Rundschau, 1889, p. +420 ff. + +Witt, A. Lenau's Leben und Charakter. Marburg, 1893. + + +_Heine_ + +Heinrich Heines Saemmtliche Werke. Hamburg, Hoffmann und Campe, 1876. + +Heinrich Heines Gesammelte Werke. Kritische Gesammtausgabe, +herausgegeben von Gustav Karpeles. Berlin, 1887. + +Heinrich Heines Saemmtliche Werke. Kritisch durchgesehene und erlaeuterte +Ausgabe, herausgegeben von Ernst Elster. Leipzig, Bibliogr. Inst. 1890. + +Briefe von Heinrich Heine an seinen Freund Moses Moser. Leipzig, 1862. + +Arnold, Matthew. Essays in Criticism. 3d. ed. London, 1875. Heinrich +Heine, p. 181-224. + +Betz, Dr. Louis P. Heine in Frankreich. Eine litterarhistorische +Untersuchung. Zuerich, 1895. Betz, Dr. Heinrich Heine und Alfred de +Musset. Eine biographisch-litterarische Parallele. Zuerich, 1897. +(Reviewed by Walzel, Euphor. 1898, p. 788 ff.) + +Boelsche, Wilhelm. Heinrich Heine. Versuch einer aesthetisch-kritischen +Analyse seiner Werke und seiner Weltanschauung. Leipzig, 1888. + +Ducros, Louis. Henri Heine et son Temps. Paris, 1886. + +Eliot, George. Essays and Leaves from a Note-book. London, 1884. Heine, +p. 79-141. + +Elster, Ernest. Zu Heines Biographie. Vierteljahrschrift fuer +Litteraturgeschichte, 1891, Vol. 4, p. 465-512. + +Engel, E. Heine's Memoiren und Gedichte. Prosa und Briefe. Hamburg, +1884. + +Gautier, Theophile. Portraits et Souvenirs Litteraires. Paris, 1875. +Henri Heine, p. 105-128. + +Goetze, R. Heines Buch der Lieder und sein Verhaeltnis zum Volkslied. +Dissertation. Halle, 1895. + +Gottschall, Rudolf. Portraets und Studien. Leipzig, 1870. Heinrich Heine +nach neuen Quellen, Bd. I. p. 185-264. + +Houghton, Lord. Monographs, personal and social. London, 1873. The last +days of Heinrich Heine, p. 293-339. + +Hueffer, H. Aus dem Leben Heinrich Heines. Berlin, 1878. + +Hueffer, H. H. Heine und Ernst C. A. Keller. Deutsche Rundschau, Nov. and +Dec., 1895. + +Kalischer, Dr. Alfred C. Heinrich Heines Verhaeltnis zur Religion. +Dresden, 1890. + +Karpeles, Gustav. Heinrich Heine und das Judentum. Breslau, 1868. + +Karpeles, Gustav. Heinrich Heine und seine Zeitgenossen. Berlin, 1888. + +Karpeles, Gustav. Heine's Autobiographie, nach seinen Werken, Briefen +und Gespraechen. Berlin, 1888. + +Karpeles, Gustav. H. Heine. Aus seinem Leben und aus seiner Zeit. +Leipzig, 1899. + +Kaufmann, Max. Heine's Charakter und die Moderne Seele. Zuerich, 1902. + +Keiter, H. H. Heine. Sein Leben, sein Charakter, seine Werke. Koeln, +1891. + +Kohn-Abrest, F. Les, Coulisses d'un Livre. A propos des Memoires de +Henri Heine, Poete. Paris, 1884. + +Legras, Jules. Henri Heine, Poete. Paris, 1897. (Reviewed by Walzel, +Euphor. 1898, Vol. 5, p. 149.) + +Magnus, Lady. Jewish Portraits. London, 1888. p. 45-81. (Originally in +Macmillan's Magazine for 1883.) + +Meiszner, Alfred. Heinrich Heine. Erinnerungen. Hamburg, 1856. + +Melchior, Felix. Heinrich Heines Verhaeltnis zu Lord Byron. Litterarische +Forschungen, XXVII Heft. Berlin, 1903. + +Nietzki, M. Heine als Dichter und Mensch. Berlin, 1895. (Reviewed by +Fuerst, Euphor. 1898, Vol. 5, p. 342 f.) + +Nollen. Heine und Wilhelm Mueller. Mod. Lang. Notes, April, 1902. + +Proelss, Robert. Heinrich Heine. Sein Lebensgang und seine Schriften. +Stuttgart, 1886. + +Rahmer, S. Heinrich Heines Krankheit und Leidensgeschichte. Eine +kritische Studie. Berlin, 1902. + +Delia Rocca. Skizzen ueber H. Heine. Wien, Pest, Leipzig, Hartleben, +1882. + +Sandvoss, Franz. Was duenket Euch um Heine? Ein Bekenntnis. Leipzig, +1888. + +Schmidt, Julian. Bilder aus dem geistigen Leben unsrer Zeit. Leipzig, +1870-71. Heine, Bd. 2, p. 283-350. + +Schmidt-Weissenfels. Ueber Heinrich Heine. Berlin, 1857. + +Selden, Camille. Les derniers Jours de H. Heine. Paris, 1884. + +Sharp, William. Life of Heinrich Heine. London, 1888. + +Sintenis, F. H. Heine; ein Vortrag. Dorpat, 1877. + +Stigand. The Life, Works and Opinions of Heinrich Heine. London, 1875. + +Strodtmann, Adolf. Heinrich Heine's Wirken und Streben, Dargestellt an +seinen Werken. Hamburg, 1857. + +Strodtmann, Adolf. Immortellen Heinrich Heine's. Berlin, 1871. + +Strodtmann, Adolf. H. Heine's Leben und Werke. III Aufl. Berlin, 1884. + +Stylo, A. Heine und die Romantik. Programm. Krakau, 1900. + +Weill, Alexandre: Souvenirs Intimes de Henri Heine. Paris, 1883. + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + +[Note TN1: Correction of the original, which has +'Menchen' here.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WELTSCHMERZ *** + +***** This file should be named 17364.txt or 17364.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/3/6/17364/ + +Produced by David Starner, Ralph Janke and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/17364.zip b/17364.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f794532 --- /dev/null +++ b/17364.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8532540 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #17364 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17364) |