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diff --git a/17928.txt b/17928.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b136fb --- /dev/null +++ b/17928.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4263 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Influence of India and Persia on the +Poetry of Germany, by Arthur F. J. Remy + +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: The Influence of India and Persia on the Poetry of Germany + +Author: Arthur F. J. Remy + +Release Date: March 5, 2006 [EBook #17928] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE INFLUENCE OF INDIA *** + + + + +Produced by Stacy Brown, David Starner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: There are many diacritical marks in this text, +in addition to Greek, Persian and Arabic characters. Many common fonts +should display these more or less correctly, including Times New +Roman, Arial, and Courier New. + +Unusual characters that may not display correctly, depending on your +font or software, include H (H with a line underneath), r (r with a +dot underneath), n (n with a dot underneath), d (d with a dot +underneath), and all of the Persian and Arabic characters. + +In this ASCII version, accents are omitted, and the Greek and Arabic +scripts have been either transliterated or elided, with a note like +[Arabic]. Please see the UTF-8 version of the file to view these. + + + +THE INFLUENCE +OF +INDIA AND PERSIA +ON THE +POETRY OF GERMANY + +BY + +ARTHUR F.J. REMY, A.M., Ph.D. + +SOMETIME FELLOW IN COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY +COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY + + + + +Copyright 1901, Columbia University Press, +New York + +Manufactured in the United States of America + + + + +TO +Prof. William H. Carpenter, Ph.D. +Prof. Calvin Thomas, A.M. +Prof. A.V. Williams Jackson, L.H.D., Ph.D. +OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK +IN GRATITUDE + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The Oriental movement which manifested itself so strikingly in German +literature during the nineteenth century is familiar to every student of +that literature. Although the general nature of this movement is pretty +clearly understood, no systematic investigation of it, so far as I know, +has ever been undertaken. In the following pages an attempt is made to +trace the influence which the Indo-Iranian East--the Semitic part is not +considered--exerted on German poetry. The work does not claim to be +exhaustive in the sense that it gives a list of all the poets that ever +came under that influence. Nor does it pretend to be anything like a +complete catalogue of the sources whence the poets derived their +material. The performance of such a task would have required far more +time and space than were at my disposal. A selection was absolutely +necessary. It is hoped that the material presented in the case of each +poet is sufficient to give a clear idea of the extent to which he was +subject to Oriental influence, as well as of the part that he took in +the movement under discussion. + +It is my pleasant duty to acknowledge the obligations under which I am +to various scholars. In the first place, my sincere thanks are due to +Professor Jackson, at whose suggestion this investigation was undertaken +and whose encouragement and advice have never been wanting. I am also +indebted for helpful suggestions to Professors Carpenter and Thomas of +the Germanic department, who kindly volunteered to read the +proof-sheets. Furthermore, I wish to thank Mr. Yohannan for assistance +rendered in connection with the transliteration of some of the +lithographic editions of Persian authors. And, finally, I am indebted to +the kindness of Dr. Gray for the use of several rare volumes which +otherwise would have been inaccessible to me. + +Arthur F.J. Remy. + +New York, May 1, 1901. + + + + +List of Works most frequently consulted. + + +Baharistan. The Baharistan by Jami. Printed by the Kama Shastra Society +for Private Subscribers only. Benares, 1887. + + +Bhartrhari. Satakatrayam, 2d ed. Nirnaya Sagara Press. Bombay, 1891. + +Quotations are from this edition. + + +Bodenstedt, Friedr. Martin. Gesammelte Schriften. 12 Bde. Berlin, 1865. + +Tausend und ein Tag im Orient in vols. i and ii. + +References to Mirza Schaffy songs are based on this edition. + + +Firdausi. See Shah Namah. + + +Goethe's Werke. 36 Bde. Berlin (Hempel), 1879. + +Quotations are from this edition. + + +Grundriss der iranischen Philologie. Hrsg. von W. Geiger und E. Kuhn. +Strassburg, 1896 ----. + + +Gulistan. The Gulistan of Shaikh Muslihu'd din Sa'di of Shiraz, ed. John +Platts. 2d ed. London, 1874. + +Quotations are from this edition. + + +---- or Rose garden. Printed by the Kama Shastra Society for Private +Subscribers only. Benares, 1888. + + +Hafid. Die Lieder des Hafis. Persisch mit dem Commentare des Sudi hrsg. +von Herm. Brockhaus. Leipzig, 1863. + +Quotations are from this edition. + + +Hammer, Jos. von. Geschichte der schoenen Redekuenste Persiens, mit einer +Bluethenlese aus zweyhundert persischen Dichtern. Wien, 1818. + + +Heine. Heinrich Heines saemtliche Werke in 12 Bden. Stuttgart (Cotta), +s. a. + + +Herder. Saemmtliche Werke, ed. Bernhard Suphan. 32 Bde. Berlin, 1877. + + +Hitopadesa. The Hitopades'a of Narayana Pandit, ed. Godabole and Parab. +3d ed. Nirn. Sag. Press. Bombay, 1890. + +Quotations are from this edition. + + +Jackson, A.V. Williams. Zoroaster, the Prophet of ancient Iran. New +York, 1899. + + +Mohl. See Shah Namah. + + +Piper, Paul. Hoefische Epik. 4 pts. KDNL. iv. + + +---- Spielmannsdichtung. 2 pts. KDNL. ii. + + +Platen. Platens saemtliche Werke. Stuttgart (Cotta), s. a. + +References are based on this edition. + + +Rueckert. Friedrich Rueckert's gesammelte poetische Werke. 12 Bde. Fkft. +a. M., 1882. + +References are based on this edition. + + +Schack, Ad. Friedr. Graf von. Gesammelte Werke. 3 Aufl. 10 Bde. +Stuttgart, 1897. + + +Shah Namah. Firdusii Liber Regium qui inscribitur Shah Name, ed. Vullers +(et Landauer). Tom. 3. Lugd. 1877-1884. + + +---- Le Livre des Rois par Abou'l Kasim Firdousi, traduit et commente +par Jules Mohl. 7 vols. Paris, 1876-1878. + + + + +Abbreviations. + + +BLVS. Bibliothek des Litterarischen Vereins in + Stuttgart. Tuebingen. + +Boehtl. Otto Boehtlingk, Indische Sprueche, St. + Petersburg, 1870-1873. 2 Aufl. 3 Bde. + +Grdr. iran. Phil. Grundriss der iranischen Philologie. + +Gul. Gulistan, ed. Platts. + +H. Hafid, ed. Brockhaus. + +H.E. Hoefische Epik, ed. Piper in KDNL. + +JAOS. Journal American Oriental Society. + +KDNL. Deutsche National-Litteratur, ed. Jos. + Kuerschner. (Berlin) u. Stuttgart. + +K.S. Translations of the Gulistan and Baharistan, + printed for the Kama Shastra Society. + +Red. Geschichte der schoenen Redekuenste Persiens. + +Sh. N. Shah Namah. + +ZDMG. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlaendischen + Gesellschaft. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +Chapter I. + +INTRODUCTION. + Page +Information of Mediaeval Europe concerning India and +Persia--Travellers--India and Persia in Mediaeval +German Poetry, 1 + + +Chapter II. + +FROM THE PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES TO THE TIME OF +SIR WILLIAM JONES. + +Travels to India and Persia--Olearius and his Work--Progress +of Persian Studies--Roger--India's Language +and Literature remain unknown--Oriental +Influence in German Literature, 9 + + +Chapter III. + +HERDER. + +Herder's Interest in the Orient--Fourth Collection of his +Zerstreute Blaetter--His Didactic Tendency and +Predilection for Sa'di, 16 + + +Chapter IV. + +GOETHE. + +Enthusiasm for Sakuntala--Der Gott und die Bajadere; +der Paria--Goethe's Aversion for Hindu Mythology--Origin +of the Divan--Oriental Character of the +Work--Inaugurates the Oriental Movement, 20 + + +Chapter V. + +SCHILLER. + +Schiller's Interest in Sakuntala--Turandot, 28 + + +Chapter VI. + +THE SCHLEGELS. + +Friedrich Schlegel's Weisheit der Indier--Foundation of +Sanskrit Study in Germany, 30 + + +Chapter VII. + +PLATEN. + +His Oriental Studies--Ghaselen--Their Persian +Character--Imitation of Persian Form--Translations, 32 + + +Chapter VIII. + +RUeCKERT. + +His Oriental Studies--Introduces the Ghasele--Oestliche +Rosen; Imitations of Hafid--Erbauliches und +Beschauliches--Morgenlaendische Sagen und +Geschichten--Brahmanische Erzaehlungen--Die Weisheit des +Brahmanen--Other Oriental Poems, 38 + + +Chapter IX. + +HEINE. + +Becomes Interested in India through Schlegel--Influence +of India's Literature on his Poetry--Interest in the +Persian Poets--Persian Influence on Heine--His +Attitude toward the Oriental Movement, 57 + + +Chapter X. + +BODENSTEDT. + +Lieder des Mirza Schaffy--Are Original Poems--Nachlass--Aus +Morgenland und Abendland--Sakuntala, +a Narrative Poem, 64 + + +Chapter XI. + +THE MINOR ORIENTALIZING POETS. + +Some less known Poets who attempted the Oriental +Manner, 72 + + +Chapter XII. + +VON SCHACK. + +His Fame as Translator of Firdausi--Stimmen vom +Ganges--Sakuntala, compared with the Original in +the Mahabharata--His Oriental Scholarship in his +Original Poems--Attitude towards Hafizian Singers, 74 + + +Chapter XIII. + +CONCLUSION. + +Summary of Results Attained--Persian Tendency predominates +over Indic--Reason for this--Estimate of the Value +of the Oriental Movement in German Literature. 79 + + + + +TRANSCRIPTION. + + +For the transcription of Sanskrit words the system of the _Zeitschrift +der Deutschen Morgenlaendischen Gesellschaft_ has been followed; for that +of Persian words the system of the Grundriss der iranischen Philologie +has been adopted, with some variations however, e.g. [Arabic] is indicated by +'. To be consistent, such familiar names as Hafiz and Nizami appear as +Hafid and Nidami; Omar Khayyam as 'Umar Xayyam; and the word ghazal, +the German _Ghasele_, is written _gazal_. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTION. + + Information of Mediaeval Europe Concerning India and + Persia--Travellers--India and Persia in Mediaeval German + Poetry. + + +The knowledge which mediaeval Europe had of India and Persia was mostly +indirect, and, as might be expected, deficient both in correctness and +extent, resting, as it did, on the statements of classical and patristic +writers, on hearsay and on oral communication. In the accounts of the +classic writers, especially in those of Pliny, Strabo, Ptolemy, truth +and fiction were already strangely blended. Still more was this the case +with such compilers and encyclopaedists as Solinus, Cassiodorus and +Isidorus of Sevilla, on whom the mediaeval scholar depended largely for +information. All these writers, in so far as they speak of India, deal +almost entirely with its physical description, its cities and rivers, +its wealth of precious stones and metals, its spices and silks, and in +particular its marvels and wonders. Of its religion we hear but little, +and as to its literature we have only a few vague statements of +Arrian,[1] Aelian[2] and Dio Chrysostomus.[3] When the last mentioned +author tells us that the ancient Hindus sang in their own language the +poems of Homer, it shows that he had no idea of the fact that the great +Sanskrit epics, to which the passage undoubtedly alludes, were +independent poems. To him they appeared to be nothing more than versions +of Homer. Aelian makes a similar statement, but cautiously adds [Greek]. +Philostratus represents the Hindu sage Iarchas as well acquainted with +the Homeric poems, but nowhere does his hero Apollonius of Tyana show the +slightest knowledge of Sanskrit literature.[4] + +Nor do the classic authors give us any more information about the +literature of Persia, though the Iranian religion received some +attention. Aristotle and Theopompus were more or less familiar with +Zoroastrian tenets,[5] and allusions to the prophet of ancient Iran are +not infrequent in classic writers. But their information concerning him +is very scanty and inaccurate. To them Zoroaster is simply the great +Magian, more renowned for his magic art than for his religious system. +Of the national Iranian legends, glimpses of which we catch in the +Avesta (esp. Yt. 19), and which must have existed long before the +Sassanian period and the time of Firdausi, the Greek and Roman authors +have recorded nothing. + + * * * * * + +But Europe was not limited to the classic and patristic writers for +information about the Orient. The points of contact between the Eastern +and Western world were numerous even before the Portuguese showed the +way to India. Alexandria was the seat of a lively commerce between the +Roman Empire and India during the first six centuries of the Christian +era; the Byzantine Empire was always in close relations, hostile or +friendly, with Persia; the Arabs had settled in Spain, Southern Italy +and Sicily; and the Mongols ruled for almost two centuries in Russia. +All these were factors in the transmission of Oriental influence.[6] +And, as far as Germany is concerned, we must remember that in the tenth +century, owing to the marriage of the emperor Otto II to the Greek +princess Theophano, the relations between the German and Byzantine +Empires were especially close. Furthermore the Hohenstaufen emperor, +Frederick II, it will be remembered, was a friend and patron of the +Saracens in Italy and Sicily, who in turn supported him loyally in his +struggle against the papacy. Above all, the crusades, which brought the +civilization of the West face to face with that of the East, were a +powerful factor in bringing Oriental influence into Europe. The effect +they had on the European mind is shown by the great number of French and +German poems which lay their scene of action in Eastern lands, or, as +will be shown presently, introduce persons and things from India and +Persia.[7] + +Of course it is as a rule impossible to tell precisely how and when the +Oriental influence came into Europe, but that it did come is absolutely +certain. The transformation of the Buddha-legend into the Christian +legend of Barlaam and Josaphat, the migration of fables and stories, and +the introduction of the game of chess furnish the clearest proofs of +this. + + * * * * * + +But direct information about the East was also available. A number of +merchants and missionaries penetrated even as far as China, and have +left accounts of their travels. Such an account of India and Ceylon was +given as early as the sixth century by Cosmas, surnamed Indicopleustes. +The names of Benjamin of Tudela (about 1160 A.D.) and of Marco Polo +(1271-1295) are familiar to every student of historical geography. The +Mongol rulers during the period of their dominion over China were in +active communication with the popes and allowed Western missionaries +free access to their realm. A number of these missionaries also came to +India or Persia, for instance Giovanni de Montecorvino (1289-1293),[8] +Odorico da Pordenone (1316-1318),[9] Friar Jordanus (1321-1323, and +1330)[10] and Giovanni de Marignolli (1347).[11] In the fifteenth +century Henry III of Castile sent Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo as ambassador +to Timur, and towards the end of that century several Venetian +Ambassadors, Caterino Zeno (1472), Josaphat Barbaro (1473) and Ambrosio +Contarini (1473), were at the Persian Court in order to bring about +united action on the part of Venice and Persia against the Turks.[12] +These embassies attracted considerable attention in Europe, as is shown +by numerous pamphlets concerning them, published in several European +countries.[13] In this same century Nicolo de Conti travelled in India +and the account of his wanderings has been recorded by Poggio.[14] + +As we see, most of these travellers are Italians. We know of but one +German, before the year 1500, who went further than the Holy Land, and +that is Johann Schildberger of Munich, whose book of travel was printed +in 1473. Taken prisoner while fighting in Turkish service against Timur +at Angora, he remained in the East from 1395 to 1417, and got as far as +Persia. His description of that country is very meagre; India, as he +expressly states,[15] he never visited, his statements about that land +being mostly plagiarized from Mandeville.[16] + +These accounts, however, while they give valuable information concerning +the physical geography, the wealth, size, and wonderful things of the +countries they describe, have little or nothing to say about the +languages or literatures. All that Conti for instance has to say on this +important subject is contained in a single sentence: "Loquendi idiomata +sunt apud Indos plurima, atque inter se varia."[17] + +In these accounts it was not so much truthfulness that appealed to the +public, as strangeness and fancifulness. Thus Marco Polo's narrative, +marvelous as it was, never became as popular as the spurious memoirs of +Mandeville, who in serving up his monstrosities ransacked almost every +author, classic or mediaeval, on whom he could lay his hands.[18] In fact +a class of books arose which bore the significant name of _Mirabilia +Mundi_ and purported to treat of the whole world, and especially of +India. Such are, for instance, _Les Merveilles de l'Inde_ by Jean +Vauquelin, _Fenix de las maravillas del mondo_ by Raymundus Lullius, and +similar works by Nicolaus Donis, Arnaldus de Badeto and others.[19] But +the great store-house of Oriental marvels on which the mediaeval poets +drew for material was the Alexander-romance of pseudo-Callisthenes, of +which there were a number of Latin versions, the most important being +the epitome made by Julius Valerius and the _Historia de Preliis_ +written by the archpresbyter Leo in the tenth century. The character of +the Oriental lore offered in these writings is best shown by a cursory +examination of the work last mentioned.[20] There we are introduced to a +bewildering array of _mirabilia_, snakes, hippopotami, scorpions, +giant-lobsters, forest-men, bats, elephants, bearded women, dog-headed +people, griffins, white women with long hair and canine teeth, +fire-spouting birds, trees that grow and vanish in the course of a +single day, mountains of adamant, and finally sacred sun-trees and +moon-trees that possess the gift of prophecy. But beyond some vague +reference to asceticism not a trace of knowledge of Brahmanic life can +be found. While the Brahman King Didimus is well versed in Roman and +Greek mythology, he never mentions the name of any of his own gods. Of +real information concerning India there is almost nothing. + + * * * * * + +From what we have seen thus far we shall not expect in mediaeval +literature conscious imitation or reproduction of works from Persian or +Sanskrit literature. Whatever influence these literatures exerted in +Europe was indirect. If a subject was transmitted from East to West it +was as a rule stripped of its Oriental names and characteristics, and +even its Oriental origin was often forgotten. This is the case with the +greater part of the fables and stories that can be traced to Eastern +sources and have found their way into such works as the _Gesta +Romanorum_, or the writings of Boccaccio, Straparola and Lafontaine. +Sometimes, however, the history of the origin is still remembered, as +for instance in the famous _Buch der Beispiele_, where the preface +begins thus: "Es ist von den alten wysen der geschlaecht der welt dis +buoch des ersten jn yndischer sprauch gedicht und darnach in die +buochstaben der Persen verwandelt,...."[21] + +Poems whose subjects are of Eastern origin are not frequent in the +German literature of the middle ages. The most striking example of such +a poem is the "Barlaam und Josaphat" of Rudolph von Ems (about 1225), +the story of which, as has been conclusively proved, is nothing more or +less than the legend of Buddha in Christian garb.[22] The well known +"Herzmaere" of the same author has likewise been shown to be of Indic +origin.[23] Then there is a poem of the fourteenth or fifteenth century +on the same subject as Rueckert's parable of the man in the well, which +undoubtedly goes back to Buddhistic sources.[24] Besides these we +mention "Vrouwenzuht" (also called "von dem Zornbraten") by a poet +Sibote of the thirteenth century,[25] and Hans von Buehel's "Diocletianus +Leben" (about 1412), the well known story of the seven wise masters.[26] + + * * * * * + +The great interest which the East aroused in Europe, especially after +the period of the first crusades, is shown by the great number of poems +which have their scene of action in Oriental lands, especially in India +or Persia, or which introduce persons and things from those countries. +To indulge this fondness for Oriental scenery poets do not hesitate to +violate historical truth. Thus Charlemagne and his paladins are sent to +the Holy Land in the "Pelerinage de Charlesmagne"[27] and in the poem +called the "Karl Meinet," a German compilation of various legends about +the Frankish hero.[28] Purely Germanic legends like those of +Ortnit-Wolfdietrich and King Rother were orientalized in much the same +manner.[29] As might be expected, it is in the court-epic and +minstrel-poetry (_Spielmannsdichtung_) where this Oriental tendency +manifests itself most markedly. A typical poem of this kind is "Herzog +Ernst." The hero, a purely German character, is made to go through a +series of marvelous adventures in the East some of which bear a +striking resemblance to those of Sindbad.[30] The later strophic version +(14th century) and the prose-version of the _Volksbuch_ (probably 15th +century) localize some of these adventures definitely in the _fernen +India_.[31] Probably under the influence of this story the author of the +incompleted "Reinfrit von Braunschweig" (about 1300) was induced to send +his hero into Persia, to meet with somewhat similar experiences.[32] +Heinrich von Neustadt likewise lays the scene of Apollonius' adventures +in the golden valley Crysia bordering on India.[33] In the continuation +of the Parzifal-story entitled "Der Juengere Titurel," which was written +by Albrecht von Scharffenberg (about 1280), the Holy Grail is to be +removed from a sinful world and to be carried to the East to be given to +Feirefiz, half brother to Parzifal.[34] The meeting of Feirefiz with the +knights furnishes the poet an opportunity of bringing in a learned +disquisition on Prester John and his _dri India die witen_, and finally +this mythical monarch offers his crown to Parzifal, who henceforth is +called _Priester Johanni_. In the poem of "Lohengrin", of unknown +authorship, the knight when about to depart declares he has come from +India where there is a house fairer than that at Montsalvatsch.[35] + +Princes and princesses from India or Persia abound in the poems of the +court-writers and minstrels. Thus in "Solomon und Morolf" Salme is the +daughter of the King of _Endian_;[36] in Wolfram's "Willehalm" King +Alofel of Persia and King Gorhant from the _Ganjes_ figure in the battle +of Alischanz.[37] In Konrad von Wuerzburg's "Trojanischer Krieg" the +kings Panfilias of Persia and Achalmus of India are on the Trojan +side.[38] In the same poet's "Partenopier" the Sultan of Persia is the +hero's chief rival.[39] In "Der Juengere Titurel" Gatschiloe, a princess +from India, becomes bearer of the Grail; similarly in a poem by Der +Pleiaere, Flordibel, who comes to the Knights of the Round Table to +learn courtly manners, reveals herself as a princess from India.[40] +According to a poem of the fourteenth century the father of St. +Christopher is king of Arabia and Persia.[41] Even the folk-epic +"Kudrun" knows of Hilde of India, Hagen's wife.[42] + +Again, wonderful things from India are abundant in this class of poetry. +The magic lance which Wigalois receives, when he is about to do battle +with a fire-spitting dragon, is from that land.[43] So also is the magic +ring given to Reinfrit when he sets out on his crusade.[44] Wigamur's +bride Dulceflur wears woven gold from the castle Gramrimort in +India,[45] and in the "Nibelungen" Hagen and Dancwart, when going to the +Isenstein, wear precious stones from that land.[46] + +To some poets India and Persia are a sort of Ultima Thule to denote the +furthest limits of the earth, as for instance, when in the "Rolandslied" +Ganelun complains that for the ambition of Roland even Persia is not too +far,[47] or, when in the "Willehalm" King Tybalt, whose daughter has +been carried off, lets his complaint ring out as far as India.[48] + +Examples might be multiplied. But they would all prove the same thing. +India and Persia were magic names to conjure with; their languages and +literatures were a book with seven seals to mediaeval Europe. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Indica, ch. 10. + +[2] Var. Hist. xii. 48. + +[3] De Homero, Oratio liii., ed. Dindorf, Lips. 1857, vol. ii. p. 165. + +[4] Apollonii Vita, iii. 19 et passim. + +[5] See Jackson, Zoroaster, p. 8. + +[6] See Benfey, Pantschatantra, Vorrede, p. xxiv and note. + +[7] See Gaston Paris, La Litterature Francaise au Moyen Age, Paris, +1888, p. 49 seq. A striking illustration of oral transmission is the +origin of the tradition about Prester John, for which see Cathay and the +Way thither, ed. Henry Yule, Lond. 1866, Hakluyt Soc. No. 36, 37, vol. +i. p. 174 and n. 1. + +[8] Yule, op. cit. vol. i. pp. 165-167 and p. 197 seq. + +[9] Ib. pp. 1-161; Latin text in appendix i of vol. ii. + +[10] Mirabilia Descripta, ed. Henry Yule, London, 1863. Hakluyt Society, +No. 31. + +[11] Yule, Cathay, vol. ii. pp. 311-381. + +[12] For their accounts see the publications of the Hakluyt Society, +1859 and 1873. Nos. 26 and 49. + +[13] See Paul Horn, Gesch. Irans in Islamitischer Zeit, in Grdr. iran. +Phil. II. p. 578 and note 4; also p. 579. See also Bibl. Asiat. et +Afric. par H. Ternaux-Compans, Paris, 1841, under the years 1508, 1512, +1514, 1515, 1516, 1535, 1543, 1579, 1583, etc. + +[14] English tr. in R.H. Major, India in the Fifteenth Century, London, +1857. Hakluyt Society, No. 22. + +[15] Hans Schiltbergers Reisebuch ed. Val. Langmantel (BLVS. vol. 172) +Tuebingen, 1885, p. 79: "In der grossen India pin ich nicht gewesen...." + +[16] Ibid. p. 164. + +[17] Friedr. Kunstmann, Die Kenntnis Indiens im 15^ten Jahrhunderte, +Muenchen, 1863, p. 59; Major, op. cit. p. 31. + +[18] See Albert Bovenschen, Quellen fuer die Reisebeschreibung des Joh. +v. Mandeville, Berl. 1888. + +[19] See Graesse, J.G.Th., Lehrbuch einer allgem. Literaergesch., 9 vols., +Dresd. u. Leipz. 1837-59, Vol. II. pt. 2, pp. 783-785. + +[20] Latin text publ. by Oswald Zingerle as an appendix to Die Quellen +zum Alexander des Rudolf v. Ems in Weinhold Germ. Abhandl. Breslau. +1885, pt. iv. + +[21] Das Buch der Beispiele der alten Weisen, ed. Wilh. Ludw. Holland, +Stuttg. 1860, BLVS. vol. 56. + +[22] Piper, H.E. iii. pp. 562-632. Joseph Langen, Johannes von Damaskus, +Gotha, 1879, pp. 239-255, esp. p. 252, n. 1. + +[23] Piper, H.E. iii. pp. 216-219. + +[24] Vetter, Lehrhafte Litteratur des 14. u. 15. Jahrhunderts (KDNL. +vol. 12), I. pp. 496-499. For a bibliography of this poem see C. Beyer, +Nachgelassene Ged. Friedr. Rueckert's, Wien, 1877, pp. 311-320. For a +translation of the version in the Mahabharata see Boxberger, Rueckert +Studien, p. 94 seq. A translation of a Buddhist sutta on the same +subject is given in Edm. Hardy, Indische Religionsgeschichte, Leipz. +1898, pp. 72, 73. Cf. also E. Kuhn, in Boehtlingks Festgruss, Stuttg. +1888, pp. 74, 75. + +[25] Piper, H.E. iii. pp. 531, 532. See also Hagen, Gesammtabenteuer, i. +LXXXV and n. 2. + +[26] Edited by Keller, Quedl. 1841. See art. by Goedeke in Orient und +Occident, iii. 2. pp. 385 seq. + +[27] See edition by Koschwitz, in Altfranz. Bibl., vol. ii. p. 7 seq., +and consult Gaston Paris, La Poesie du Moyen Age, Paris, 1887, p. 119 +seq. + +[28] See ed. Adelb. von Keller, Stuttg. 1858 (BLVS. vol. 45), pp. 507 +seq. Cf. also Uhland's Koenig Karls Meerfart. + +[29] Jiriczek, Die deutsche Heldensage, Leipz. 1897, pp. 144, 153. + +[30] On this see Karl Bartsch, Herzog Ernst, Wien, 1869, Einl. p. cliii. + +[31] Bartsch, op. cit. p. 204 seq. and p. 279 seq. + +[32] See ed. Bartsch, Tueb. 1871 (BLVS. vol. 108), ll. 16749 seq. + +[33] Piper, H.E. iii. p. 389. + +[34] Piper, H.E. ii. p. 530 seq. + +[35] See ed. by Heinr. Rueckert, Quedlinb. u. Leipz. 1858, l. 7141 seq. +p. 189. + +[36] Piper, Spielmannsdichtung, I. p. 215. See also ed. by Hagen u. +Buesching in Ged. d. Mittel., Berl. 1808, i. l. 6. + +[37] Piper, Wolfr. v. Eschenbach (KDNL, vol. 5), I. p. 214. + +[38] See ed. v. Keller, Stuttg. 1858 (BLVS. vol. 44), ll. 24840, 24939, +pp. 296, 298. + +[39] Piper, H.E. iii. pp. 299, 300. + +[40] Piper, H.E. ii. p. 325. + +[41] Piper, Die geistliche Dichtung des Mittelalters (KDNL. vol. 3), ii. +pp. 71, 72. + +[42] See ed. Bartsch (KDNL. vol. 6), pp. 26, 27. + +[43] Piper, H.E. ii. p. 222. + +[44] See ed. Bartsch, l. 15067, p. 440. + +[45] See ed. by Hagen in Ged. d. Mittel. i. p. 46, l. 4462 seq. + +[46] Das Nibelungenlied, ed. Friedr. Zarncke, Leipz. 1894, p. 62, v. 3. + +[47] Piper, Spielm., p. 30. + +[48] Piper, Wolfr. v. Eschenbach, i. p. 208; cf. Dante's Paradiso, cant. +29, ll. 100-102. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +FROM THE PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES TO THE TIME OF SIR WILLIAM JONES. + + Travels to India and Persia--Olearius and his Work--Progress + of Persian Studies--Roger--India's Language and Literature remain + unknown--Oriental Influence in German Literature. + + +Little can be said of Oriental influence on German poetry during the +next three centuries after the Great Age of Discovery, and in an +investigation like the one in hand, which confines itself to poetry +only, this chapter might perhaps be omitted. Nevertheless a brief +consideration of this influence on German literature in general during +this period forms an appropriate transition to the time when the +Oriental movement in Germany really began. + +After the Portuguese had sailed around Africa, direct and uninterrupted +communication with the far East was established. Portuguese, Dutch, +French and English merchants appeared successively on the scene to get +their share of the rich India commerce. German merchants also made a +transitory effort. The firm of the Welsers in Augsburg sent two +representatives who accompanied the expedition of Francisco d' Almeida +in 1505 and that of Tristao da Cunha in the following year. But +conditions were not favorable and the attempt was not renewed.[49] + +Travels to India and Persia now multiplied rapidly, and accounts of such +travels became very common; so common, in fact, that already in the +sixteenth century collections of them were made, the best known being +the _Novus Orbis_ of Grynaeus, and the works of Ramusio and Hakluyt. +Among the more famous travellers of the sixteenth century we may mention +Barthema, Federici, Barbosa, Fitch and van Linschoten for India, and the +brothers Shirley for Persia. In the seventeenth century we may cite the +names of della Valle, Baldaeus, Tavernier, Bernier and the German +Mandelslo for India, while those of Olearius and Chardin are most famous +in connection with Persia. And that books of travel were much read in +Germany is attested by the number of editions and translations which +appeared there. Thus among the earliest books printed there we have a +translation of Marco Polo (Nuremberg), 1477,[50] reprinted repeatedly, +e.g. at Augsburg, 1481, in the _Novus Orbis_, 1534 (Latin version), at +Basle, 1534 (German translation of the preceding), while Mandeville's +memoirs were so popular as to become finally a _Volksbuch_.[51] + +The account of Olearius is of special interest to us. It gives an +excellent description of Persia, and above all it gives us valuable +information on the literature and language. Olearius is struck by the +similarity of many Persian words to corresponding words in German and +Latin, and hints at the kinship of these idioms, though, looking only at +the vocabulary and not at the structure, he supposes Persian to be +related to Arabic.[52] He tells us of the high esteem in which poetry +was held by the Persians, and notices that rhyme is an indispensable +requisite of their poetic art. He also mentions some of their leading +poets, among them Sa'di, Hafid, Firdausi and Nidami.[53] + + * * * * * + +But what interests us most is the translation which he made of the +_Gulistan_, published in 1654, under the title of _Persianischer +Rosenthal_. True, it was not the first in point of time. As early as +1634 du Ryer had published at Paris an incomplete French version, and +shortly afterwards this version was translated into German by Johann +Friedrich Ochsenbach of Tuebingen, but apparently without attracting much +notice.[54] In 1644, Levin Warner of Leyden had given the Persian text +and Latin version of a number of Sa'di's maxims,[55] while Gentius had +published the whole text with a Latin translation at Amsterdam in 1651. +But it was the version of Olearius that really introduced the _Gulistan_ +to Europe. + +The edition of Olearius, from which we have cited, contains also a +translation of the _Bustan_, called _Der Persianische Baumgarten_, made, +however, not directly from the Persian, but from a Dutch version. +Besides this, the edition contains also the narratives of two other +travellers, Juergen Andersen and Volquard Iversen, as well as an account +of Persia by the French missionary Sanson. Iversen, in speaking of the +Parsi religion, gives an essentially correct account of the Zoroastrian +hierarchy, of the supreme god and his seven servants, each presiding +over some special element, evidently an allusion to Ahura Mazda and his +six Amesha Spentas, with the possible addition of Sraosha.[56] Sanson +states that the _Gavres_ have kept up the old Persian language and that +it is entirely different from modern Persian,[57] a distinct recognition +of the existence of the Avestan language. The eighteenth century saw the +discovery of the _Avesta_ by Anquetil du Perron, and its close found men +like Jones, Revizky, de Sacy and Hammer busily engaged in spreading a +knowledge of Persian literature in Europe. + + * * * * * + +India, as far as its literature was concerned, did not fare so well. The +struggles of European nations for the mastery of that rich empire did +little towards promoting a knowledge of its religion or its language. +Nor were the efforts of missionaries very successful. Most of their +attention was devoted to the Dravidian idioms of Southern India, not to +Sanskrit. We have the authority of Friedrich Schlegel for the statement +that before his time there were but two Germans who were known to have +gained a knowledge of the sacred language, the missionary Heinrich Roth +and the Jesuit Hanxleben.[58] Even their work was not published and was +superseded by that of Jones, Colebrooke and others. Most valuable +information on Hindu religion was given by the Dutch preacher Abraham +Roger in his well known book _De Open-Deure tot het Verborgen +Heydendom_, published at Leyden in 1651, two years after the author's +death. This book also gave to the West the first specimen of Sanskrit +literature in the shape of a Dutch version of two hundred maxims of +Bhartrhari, not a direct translation from the Sanskrit, but based on +oral communication imparted by a learned Brahman Padmanaba.[59] As a +rule the rendering is very faithful, sometimes even literal. The maxims +were translated into German by C. Arnold and were published at Nuremberg +in 1663. + +This, however, ended the progress of Sanskrit literature in Europe for +the time being. Information came in very slowly. The _Lettres +Edifiantes_ of the Jesuits, and the accounts of travellers like Sonnerat +began to shed additional light on the religious customs of India, but +its sacred language remained a secret. In 1785, Herder wrote that what +Europe knew of Hindu literature was only late legends, that the Sanskrit +language as well as the genuine Veda would probably for a long time +remain unknown.[60] Sir William Jones, however, had founded the Asiatic +Society a year before and the first step towards the discovery of +Sanskrit had really thus been taken. + +But let us consider what bearing all this had on German poetry. In this +field the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were desperately dreary. +In the former century the leading thinkers of Germany were absorbed in +theological controversy, while in the next the Thirty Years' War +completely crushed the spirit of the nation. There is little poetry in +this period that calls for even passing notice in this investigation. +Paul Fleming, although he was with Olearius in Persia, has written +nothing that would interest us here. Andreas Gryphius took the subject +for his drama "Catharina von Georgien" (1657) from Persian history. It +is the story of the cruel execution of the Georgian queen by order of +Shah 'Abbas in 1624.[61] Nor is Oriental influence in the eighteenth +century more noticeable. Occasionally an Oriental touch is brought in. +Pfeffel makes his "Bramine" read a lesson to bigots; Matthias Claudius +in his well-known poem makes Herr Urian pay a visit to the Great Mogul; +Buerger, in his salacious story of the queen of Golkonde, transports the +lovers to India; Lessing, in "Minna von Barnhelm" (Act i. Sc. 12) +represents Werner as intending to take service with Prince Heraklius of +Persia, and he chooses an Oriental setting for his "Nathan der Weise." + + * * * * * + +In the prose writings of this period Oriental influence is much more +discernible. In the literature dealing with magic Zoroaster always +played a prominent part. The invention of the Cabala was commonly +ascribed to him.[62] European writers on the black art, as for instance +Bodinus, whose _De Magorum Daemonomania_ was translated by Fischart +(Strassburg, 1591), repeat about Zoroaster all the fables found in +classical or patristic writers. So the Iranian sage figures prominently +also in the Faust-legend. He is the prince of magicians whose book Faust +studies so diligently that he is called a second Zoroastris.[63] This +book passes into the hands of Faust's pupil Christoph Wagner, who uses +it as diligently as his master.[64] + +In all this folkbook-literature India is a mere name. Thus in the oldest +Faust-book of 1587 the sorcerer makes a journey in the air through +England, Spain, France, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, India, Africa and +Persia, and finally comes to _Morenland_.[65] + +Of all the prose-writings, however, the novel, which began to flourish +luxuriously in the seventeenth century, showed the most marked tendency +to make use of Eastern scenery and episodes, and incidentally to exhibit +the author's erudition on everything Oriental. Thus Grimmelshausen +transports his hero Simplicissimus into Asia through the device of +Tartar captivity. Lohenstein, in his ultra-Teutonic romance of Arminius, +manages to introduce an Armenian princess and a prince from Pontus. The +latter, as we learn from the autobiography with which he favors us in +the fifth book, has been in India. He took with him a Brahman sage, who +burned himself on reaching Greece. Evidently Lohenstein had read +Arrian's description of the burning of Kalanos (Arrian vii. 2, 3). The +_Asiatische Banise_ of Heinrich Anselm von Ziegler-Kliphausen, perhaps +the most popular German novel of the seventeenth century, was based +directly on the accounts of travellers to Farther India, not on Greek or +Latin writings.[66] Other authors who indulged their predilection for +Oriental scenery were Buchholtz in his _Herkules und Valisca_ (1659), +Happel in _Der Asiatische Onogambo_ (Hamb. 1673), Bohse (Talander) in +_Die durchlauchtigste Alcestis aus Persien_ (Leipz. 1689) and +others.[67] + +The most striking instance of the Oriental tendency is furnished by +Grimmelshausen's _Joseph_, first published probably in 1667.[68] Here we +meet the famous story of Yusuf and Zalicha as it is given in the _Quran_ +or in the poems of Firdausi and Jami. The well-known episode of the +ladies cutting their hands instead of the lemons in consequence of their +confusion at the sight of Joseph's beauty is here narrated at +length.[69] In the preface the author states explicitly that he has +drawn, not only from the Bible, but from Hebrew, Arabic and Persian +writings as well.[70] That he should have made use of Arabic material is +credible enough, for Dutch Orientalists like Golius and Erpenius had +made this accessible.[71] That he had some idea of Persian poetry is +shown by his allusions to the fondness of Orientals for handsome +boys.[72] On the other hand, what he says of Zoroaster in the _Musai_ +can all be found in Latin and Greek writers.[73] Here we get the +biography of Joseph's chief servant in the form of an appendix to the +novel, and the author displays all the learning which fortunately his +good taste had excluded from the story itself. Of the Iranian tradition +concerning Zoroaster's death as given in the Pahlavi writings or the +_Shah Namah_[74] Grimmelshausen knew absolutely nothing; nor can we find +the slightest evidence to substantiate his assertion that for the work +in question he drew from Persian or Arabic sources. + + * * * * * + +In the eighteenth century the Oriental tale was extremely popular in +France, and thence it spread to other countries. The translation of the +Thousand and One Nights by Galland (Paris, 1704-1712) and of the Persian +Tales by Petis de La Croix called into being a host of similar French +productions, which in turn found their way into German literature. The +most fruitful writer in this genre was Simon Gueulette, the author of +_Soirees Bretonnes_ (1712) and _Mille et un quart d'heures_ (1715). The +latter contains the story of a prince who is punished for his +presumption by having two snakes grow from his shoulders. To appease +them they are fed on fresh human brain.[75] Of course, we recognize at +once the story of the tyrant Zahhak familiar from Firdausi. The material +for the _Soirees_ was drawn largely from Armeno's _Peregrinaggio_, which +purports to be a translation from the Persian, although no original is +known to scholars.[76] From these _Soirees_ Voltaire took the material +for his _Zadig_.[77] In most cases, however, all that was Oriental about +such stories was the name and the costume. So popular was the Oriental +costume that Montesquieu used it for satirizing the Parisians in his +_Lettres Persanes_ (1721). Through French influence the Oriental story +came to Germany, and so we get such works as August Gottlob Meissner's +tales of _Nushirvan_, _Massoud_, _Giaffar_, _Sadi_ and others,[78] or +Klinger's _Derwisch_. Wieland used the Eastern costume in his _Schach +Lolo_ (1778) and in his politico-didactic romance of the wise +Danischmende. This fondness for an Oriental atmosphere continues even +into the nineteenth century and may be seen in such works as Tieck's +_Abdallah_ and Hauff's _Karawane_. But this brings us to the time when +India and Persia were to give up their secrets, and when the influence +of their literature begins to be a factor in the literature of Europe. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[49] See Kunstmann, Die Fahrt der ersten Deutschen nach dem +portugiesischen Indien in Hist. pol. Blaetter f. d. Kath. Deutschl., +Muenchen, 1861, vol. 48, pp. 277-309. + +[50] For title see Panzer, Annalen d. aelteren deutsch. Litt., Nuernb. +1788. + +[51] See Graesse, op. cit. ii. 2. pp. 773, 774. + +[52] Des Welt-beruehmten Adami Olearii colligirte und viel vermehrte +Reise-Beschreibungen etc., Hamb. 1696, chap. xxv. + +[53] Ibid. chap. xxviii. p. 327 seq. + +[54] Olearius, op. cit., Preface to the Rosenthal. Full title of +Ochsenbach's book in Buch der Beispiele, ed. Holland, p. 258, n. 1. + +[55] Proverbiorum et Sententiarum Persicarum Centuria, Leyden, 1644. In +the preface the author says that he undertakes his work, "cum e genuinis +Persarum scriptis nihil hactenus in Latinam linguam sit translatum." + +[56] Iversen in op. cit. chap. xi. p. 157 seq. Cf. Jackson, Die +iranische Religion in Grdr. iran. Ph. iii. pp. 633, 634, 636. + +[57] Sanson in op. cit. pp. 48, 49. + +[58] Fr. Schlegel, Weisheit der Indier, Heidelb. 1808, Vorrede, p. xi. + +[59] See preface to op. cit. + +[60] Ideen zur Phil. d. Gesch. der Menschheit, chap. iv. ed. Suphan, +vol. 13, p. 415. + +[61] The story is given in Chardin's book, though this was not the +source. See Andreas Gryphius Trauerspiele, ed. Herm. Palm, BLVS. vol. +162, pp. 138, 139. + +[62] See Zoroasters Telescop oder Schluessel zur grossen divinatorischen +Kabbala der Magier in Das Kloster ed. J. Scheible, Stuttg. 1846, vol. +iii. p. 414 seq., esp. p. 439. + +[63] Widmann's Faust in Das Kloster, vol. ii. p. 296; Der Christlich +Meynende, ibid. ii. p. 85. + +[64] Christoph. Wagners Leben, ibid. vol. iii. p. 78. + +[65] Ibid. ii. p. 1004. + +[66] Ed. by Felix Bobertag, KDNL. vol. 37, Einl. p. 8. + +[67] On this see Felix Bobertag, Gesch. des Romans und der ihm +verwandten Dichtungsgattungen in Deutschland, Bresl. 1876, vol. ii. 2. +pp. 110 seq., 140, 160. + +[68] In Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus ed. Adalb. Keller, Stuttg. +1862 (BLVS. vol. 66), vol. iv. pp. 707 seq. + +[69] Op. cit. pp. 759, 760. + +[70] Ibid, p. 710; again p. 841. + +[71] The Story of Joseph from the Quran was published in Arabic with a +Latin version by Erpenius as early as 1617. See Zenker, Bibl. Orient., +Leipz. 1846, vol. i. p. 169, No. 1380. + +[72] Keller, op. cit. p. 742. + +[73] See Jackson, Zoroaster, Appendix V (by Gray). + +[74] See Jackson, Zoroaster, pp. 127-132. + +[75] Rud. Fuerst, Die Vorlaeufer der Modernen Novelle im achtzehnten +Jahrhundert, Halle a. S. 1897. p. 51. + +[76] Some of the stories are undoubtedly Oriental in origin. The work +appeared at Venice, 1557, and was translated into German, in 1583, by +Johann Wetzel under the title Die Reise der Soehne Giaffers. Ed. by Herm. +Fischer and Joh. Bolte (BLVS, vol. 208), Tueb. 1895. + +[77] Fuerst, op. cit. p. 52. The name is derived from the Arabic [Arabic] +"speaker of the truth," as pointed out by Hammer in Red. p. 326. See +essay L'ange et l'hermite by Gaston Paris in La Poesie du Moyen Age, +Paris, 1887, p. 151. + +[78] Fuerst, op. cit. p. 154. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +HERDER. + + Herder's Interest in the Orient--Fourth Collection of his + Zerstreute Blaetter--His Didactic Tendency And Predilection For + Sa'di. + + +The epoch-making work of the English Orientalists, and above all, of the +illustrious Sir William Jones, at the end of the eighteenth century not +only laid the foundation of Sanskrit scholarship in Europe, but also +gave the first direct impulse to the Oriental movement which in the +first half of the nineteenth century manifests itself so strikingly both +in English as well as in German literature, especially in the work of +the poets. In Germany this movement came just at the time when the idea +of a universal literature had taken hold of the minds of the leading +literary men, and so it was very natural that the pioneer and prophet of +this great idea should also be the first to introduce into German poetry +the new _west-oestliche Richtung_. + +Herder's theological studies turned his attention to the East at an +early age. As is well known, he always had a fervid admiration for the +Hebrew poets, but we have evidence to show, that, even before the year +1771, when Jones' _Traite sur la poesie orientale_ appeared, he had +widened the sphere of his Oriental studies and had become interested in +Sa'di.[79] Rhymed paraphrases made by him of some stories from the +_Gulistan_ date from the period 1761-1764,[80] and, as occasional +references prove, Sa'di continued to hold his attention until the +appearance, in 1792, of the fourth Collection of the _Zerstreute +Blaetter_, which contains the bulk of Herder's translation from Persian +and Sanskrit literature, and which therefore will have to occupy our +attention.[81] + +Of this collection the following are of interest to us: 1 deg.. Four books +of translations, more or less free, of maxims from the _Gulistan_, +entitled _Blumen aus morgenlaendischen Dichtern gesammlet_. 2 deg.. +Translations from the Sanskrit consisting of maxims from the +_Hitopadesa_ and from Bhartrhari and passages from the _Bhagavadgita_ +under the name of _Gedanken einiger Bramanen_. 3 deg.. A number of versions +from Persian, Sanskrit, Hebrew and Arabic poets given in the Suphan +edition as _Vermischte Stuecke_. + +The first three books of the _Blumen_ consist entirely of maxims from +the _Gulistan_, the versions of Gentius, or sometimes of Olearius, being +the basis, while the fourth book contains also poems from Rumi, Hafid +and others (some not Persian), taken mostly from Jones' well known +_Poeseos_.[82] For the _Gedanken_ our poet made use of Wilkins' +translation of the _Hitopadesa_ (1787) and of the _Bhagavadgita_ (1785), +together with the German version of Bhartrhari by Arnold from Roger's +Dutch rendering. + +As Herder did not know either Sanskrit or Persian, his versions are +translations of translations, and it is not surprising if the sense of +the original is sometimes very much altered, especially when we consider +that the translations on which he depended were not always accurate.[83] +In most cases, however, the sense is fairly well preserved, sometimes +even with admirable fidelity, as in "Lob der Gottheit" (_Bl._ i. 1), +which is a version of passages from the introduction to the _Gulistan_. +No attention whatever is paid to the form of the originals. For the +selections from Sa'di the distich which had been used for the versions +from the Greek anthology is the favorite form. Rhyme, which in Persian +poetry is an indispensable requisite, is never employed. + + * * * * * + +The moralizing tendency which characterizes all of Herder's work, and +which grew stronger as he advanced in years, rendered him indifferent +to the purely artistic side of poetry. He makes no effort in his +versions to bring out what is characteristically Oriental in the +original; on the contrary, he often destroys it. Thus his "Blume des +Paradieses" (_Bl._ iv. 7 = H. 548) is addressed to a girl instead of a +boy. The fourth couplet is accordingly altered to suit the sense, while +the last couplet, which according to the law governing the construction +of the Persian _gazal_ contained the name of the poet, is omitted. So +also in "Der heilige Wahnsinn" (_Verm._ 6 = _Gul._ v. 18, ed. Platts, p. +114) the characteristic Persian phrase + + [Arabic] + + "It is necessary to survey Laila's beauty from the window of + Majnun's eye" + +appears simply as "O ... sieh mit meinen Augen an." + +This exclusive interest in the purely didactic side induced Herder also +to remove the maxims from the stories which in the _Gulistan_ or +_Hitopadesa_ served as their setting. So they appear simply as general +sententious literature, whereas in the originals they are as a rule +introduced solely to illustrate or to emphasize some particular point of +the story. Then again a story may be considerably shortened, as in "Die +Luege" (_Bl._ ii. 28 = _Gul._ i. 1), "Der heilige Wahnsinn" (see above). +To atone for such abridgment new lines embodying in most cases a general +moral reflection are frequently added. Thus both the pieces just cited +have such additions. In "Verschiedener Umgang" (_Ged._ 3 = Bhart. +_Nitis._ 67; Boehtl. 6781) the first three lines are evidently +inspired by the last line of the Sanskrit proverb: _prayena +'dhamamadhyamottamagunah samsargato jayate_ "in general the lowest, the +middle and the highest quality arise from association," but they are in +no sense a translation. + +What we have given suffices to characterize Herder as a translator or +adapter of Oriental poetry. His Eastern studies have scarcely exerted +any influence on his original poems beyond inspiring some fervid lines +in praise of India and its dramatic art as exhibited in _Sakuntala_,[84] +which had just then (1791) been translated by Forster into German from +the English version of Sir William Jones. Unlike his illustrious +contemporary Goethe he received from the East no impulse that stimulated +him to production. His one-sided preference for the purely didactic +element rendered him indifferent to the lyric beauty of Hafid and +caused him to proclaim Sa'di as the model most worthy of imitation.[85] +Yet it was Hafid, the prince of Persian lyric poets, the singer of wine +and roses, who fired the soul of Germany's greatest poet and inspired +him to write the _Divan_, and thus Hafid became the dominating +influence and the guiding star of the _west-oestliche Richtung_ in German +poetry. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[79] See the edition by Meyer (KDNL. vol. 74) i. 1. pp. 164, 165. + +[80] Given by Redlich in the edition by Suphan, vol. 26, p. 435 seq. + +[81] We may state here that the work in question has been thoroughly +commented on by such scholars as Duentzer and Redlich, and their comments +may be found in the editions of Suphan and Meyer. The same has been done +for Goethe's Divan by Duentzer and Loeper. The former's notes are in his +Goethe-edition in the Kuerschner-series, the latter's in the edition of +Hempel. In this investigation, therefore, the chapters on Herder and +Goethe are somewhat briefer than they otherwise would be, as further +details as to sources, etc., are easily accessible in the editions just +mentioned. In all cases, however, the Sanskrit or Persian originals of +the passages cited have been examined. + +[82] Poeseos Asiaticae commentariorum libri vi, publ. at London, 1774. +Reprinted by Eichborn at Leipzig, 1777. + +[83] Compare, for instance. Hit. couplet 43 = Boehtl. 3121 with the +rendering of Wilkins in Fables and Proverbs from the Sanskrit, London, +1888 (Morley's Univ. Lib.), pp. 41, 42. And then compare with Herder's +Zwecke des Lebens (Ged. 15). + +[84] Indien, ed. Suphan, vol. 29, p. 665. + +[85] "An Hafyz Gesaengen haben wir fast genug; Sadi ist uns lehrreicher +gewesen." Adrastea vi. ed. Suphan, vol. 24, p. 356. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +GOETHE. + + Enthusiasm for Sakuntala--Der Gott und die Bajadere; Der + Paria--Goethe's Aversion for Hindu Mythology--Origin of the + Divan--Oriental Character of the Work--Inaugurates the Oriental + Movement. + + +In _Wahrheit und Dichtung_ (B. xii. vol. xxii. p. 86) Goethe tells us +that he first became acquainted with Hindu fables through Dapper's book +of travel,[86] while pursuing his law studies at Wetzlar, in 1771. He +amused his circle of literary friends by relating stories of Rama and +the monkey _Hanneman_ (i.e. Hanuman), who speedily won the favor of the +audience. The poet himself, however, could not get any lasting pleasure +from monstrosities; misshapen divinities shocked his aesthetic sense. + +The first time that Goethe's attention was turned seriously to Eastern +literature was in 1791, when, through Herder's efforts, he made the +acquaintance of Kalidasa's dramatic masterpiece _Sakuntala_, which +inspired the well known epigram "Willst du die Bluete des fruehen," etc., +an extravagant eulogy rather than an appreciative criticism. That the +impression was not merely momentary is proved by the fact that five +years later the poet took the inspiration for his _Faust_ prologue from +Kalidasa's work.[87] Otherwise it cannot be said that the then just +awakening Sanskrit studies exercised any considerable influence on his +poetic activity. For his two ballads dealing with Indic subjects, "Der +Gott und die Bajadere" and "Der Paria", the material was taken, not from +works of Sanskrit literature, but from a book of travel. The former poem +was completed in 1797, though the idea was taken as early as 1783 from +a German version of Sonnerat's travels, where the story is related +according to the account of Abraham Roger[88] in _De Open-Deure_. There +the account is as follows: "'t Is ghebeurt ... dat Dewendre, onder +Menschelijcke ghedaente, op eenen tijdt ghekomen is by een sekere Hoere, +de welcke hy heeft willen beproeven of sy oock ghetrouw was. Hy +accordeert met haer, ende gaf haer een goet Hoeren loon. Na den loon +onthaelde sy hem dien nacht heel wel, sonder dat sy haer tot slapen +begaf. Doch 't soude in dien nacht ghebeurt zijn dat Dewendre sich +geliet of hy stierf; ende storf soo sy meynde. De Hoere die wilde met +hem branden, haer Vrienden en konde het haer niet afraden; de welcke +haer voor-hielden dat het haer Man niet en was. Maer nadien dat sy haer +niet en liet gheseggen, soo lietse het yver toestellen om daer in te +springen. Op't uyterste ghekomen zijnde, ontwaeckte Dewendre, ende +seyde, dat hy hem hadde ghelaten doot te zijn, alleenlijck om te +ondervinden hare trouwe; ende hy seyde haer toe, tot een loon van hare +ghetrouwigheyt, dat sy met hem na Dewendrelocon (dat is een der platsen +der gelucksaligheyt) gaen soude. Ende ghelijck den Bramine seyde, ist +alsoo gheschiet."[89] + +It will be seen that Goethe has changed the story considerably and for +the better. How infinitely nobler is his idea of uniting the maiden with +her divine lover on the flaming pyre from which both ascend to heaven! +It may also be observed that Goethe substitutes Mahadeva, i.e. Siva, for +Dewendre[90] and assigns to him an incarnation, though such incarnations +are known only of Visnu. + + * * * * * + +The "Paria," a trilogy consisting of "Gebet," "Legende" and "Dank des +Paria," was begun in 1816, but not finished until December, 1821. Even +then it was not quite complete. The appearance of Delavigne's _Le Paria_ +and still more of Michael Beer's drama of the same name, spurred Goethe +to a final effort and the poem was published in October, 1823. + +The direct source is the legend which Sonnerat tells of the origin of +the Paria-goddess Mariatale.[91] Indirectly, however, the sources are +found in Sanskrit literature. Two parts may be distinguished: The story +of the temptation and punishment, and the story of the interchange of +heads.[92] The former story is that of the ascetic Jamadagni and his +wife Renuka, who was slain by her son Rama at the command of the ascetic +himself, in punishment for her yielding to an impure desire on beholding +the prince Citraratha. Subsequently at the intercession of Rama she is +again restored to life through Jamadagni's supernatural power. The story +is in _Mahabharata_ iii. c. 116 seq.[93] and also in the _Bhagavata +Purana_, Bk. ix. c. 16,[94] though here the harshness of the original +version is somewhat softened.[95] + +The second story is found in the _Vetalapancavims'ati_, being the sixth +of the "twenty-five tales of a corpse-demon," which are also found in +the twelfth book of the _Kathasaritsagara_.[96] It relates how +Madanasundari, whose husband and brother-in-law had beheaded themselves +in honor of Durga, is commanded by the goddess to restore the corpses to +life by joining to each its own head, and how by mistake she +interchanges these heads. + +The two stories were fused into one and so we get the legend in the form +in which Sonnerat presents it. Goethe followed this form closely without +inventing anything. He did, however, put into the poem an ethical +content and a noble idea. Both the Indic ballads are a fervent plea for +the innate nobility of humanity. + + * * * * * + +Here the influence of India on Goethe's work ends. The progress of +Sanskrit studies could not fail to excite the interest of the poet whose +boast was his cosmopolitanism,[97] but they did not incite him to +production. For India's mythology, its religion and its abstrusest of +philosophies he felt nothing but aversion. Especially hateful to him +were the mythological monstrosities: + + Und so will ich, ein fuer allemal, + Keine Bestien in dem Goettersaal! + Die leidigen Elephantenruessel, + Das umgeschlungene Schlangengenuessel, + Tief Urschildkroet' im Weltensumpf, + Viel Koenigskoepf' auf einem Rumpf, + Die muessen uns zur Verzweiflung bringen, + Wird sie nicht reiner Ost verschlingen.[98] + +Goethe classed Indic antiquities with those of Egypt and China, and his +attitude towards the question of their value is distinctly expressed in +one of his prose proverbs: "Chinesische, Indische, Aegyptische +Altertuemer sind immer nur Curiositaeten: es ist sehr wohl gethan, sich +und die Welt damit bekannt zu machen; zu sittlicher und aesthetischer +Bildung aber werden sie uns wenig fruchten."[99] + +After all, Goethe's Orient did not extend beyond the Indus. It was +confined mainly to Persia and Arabia, with an occasional excursion into +Turkey. + +To this Orient he turned at the time of Germany's deepest political +degradation, when the best part of its soil was overrun by a foreign +invader, and when the whole nation nerved itself for the life and death +struggle that was to break its chains. The aged poet shrank from the +tumult and strife about him and took refuge in the East. The opening +lines of the first Divan poem express the motive of this poetical +_Hegire_. + +The history of the composition of the _Divan_ is too well known to +require repetition. It is given with great detail in the editions +prepared by von Loeper and Duentzer.[100] Suffice it to say that the +direct impulse to the composition of the work was the appearance, in +1812, of the first complete version of Persia's greatest lyric poet +Hafid, by the famous Viennese Orientalist von Hammer. The bulk of the +poems were written between the years 1814 and 1819,[101] although in +the work as we now have it a number of poems are included which arose +later than 1819 and were added to the editions of 1827 and 1837.[102] + +The idea of dividing the collection into books was suggested by the fact +that two of Hafid's longer poems bear the titles [Arabic] +i.e. "book of the cup-bearer" and "book of the minstrel," as well as by +the seven-fold division which Sir William Jones had made of Oriental +poetry.[103] For the heroic there was no material, nor were some of the +other divisions suitable for Goethe's purpose. So only the _Buch der +Liebe_ and the _Buch des Unmuts_ (to correspond to satire) could be +formed. Other books were formed in an analogous manner until they were +twelve in number. The poet originally intended to make them of equal +length, but this intention he never carried out, and so they are of very +unequal extent, the longest being that of _Suleika_ (53 poems) and the +shortest those of Timur and of the Parsi (two poems each). + +The great majority of the Divan-poems are not in any sense translations +or reproductions, but entirely original compositions inspired by the +poet's Oriental reading and study. The thoroughness and earnestness of +these studies is attested by the explanatory notes which were added to +the _Divan_ and were published with it in 1819,[104] and which show +conclusively, that, although Goethe could not read Persian poetry in the +original, he nevertheless succeeded admirably in entering into its +spirit. + +We have mentioned Hammer's translation of Hafid as the direct impulse +to the composition of the _Divan_. It was also the principal source from +which the poet drew his inspiration for the work. A single verse would +often furnish a theme for a poem. Sometimes this poem would be a +translation, e.g. "Eine Stelle suchte der Liebe Schmerz," p. 54 (H. +356. 8); but more often it was a very free paraphrase, e.g. the motto +prefixed to _Buch Hafis_, a variation of the motto to Hammer's version +(H. 222. 9). As an example of how a single verse is developed into an +original poem we may cite "Ueber meines Liebchens Aeugeln," p. 55, where +the first stanza is a version of H. 221. 1, all the others being free +invention. Other Persian poets besides Hafid also furnished material. +Thus the opening passage of Sa'di's _Gulistan_ was used for "Im +Athemholen," p. 10, where the sense, however, is altered and the line +"So sonderbar ist das Leben gemischt" is added. A number of poems are +based on the _Pand Namah_ of 'Attar, e.g. pp. 58, 60,[105] and two are +taken from Firdausi, namely "Firdusi spricht," p. 75 (Sh. N. i. p. 62, +couplet 538; Mohl, i. 84; Fundgruben. ii. 64) and "Was machst du an der +Welt?" p. 96 (Sh. N. i. p. 482, coupl. 788, 789; _Red._ p. 58). But it +was not only the poetical works of Persia that were laid under +contribution; sayings, anecdotes, descriptions, remarks of any kind in +books of travel and the like were utilized as well. Thus Hammer in the +preface to his version of Hafid relates the _fatva_ or judgment which a +famous _mufti_ of Constantinople pronounced on the poems of the great +singer, and this gave Goethe the idea for his "Fetwa," p. 32.[106] In +the same preface[107] is related the well known reply which Hafid is +reported to have given to Timur, when called to account by the latter +for the sentiment of the first couplet of the famous eighth ode, and +this inspired the poem "Haett' ich irgend wol Bedenken," p. 133. +Similarly "Vom heutigen Tag," p. 94, is based on the words of an +inscription over a caravansery at Ispahan found in Chardin's book. The +story of Bahramgur and Dilaram inventing rhyme[108] gave rise to the +poem "Behramgur, sagt man," p. 153. And so we might cite poems from +other sources, _Quran_, Jones' _Poeseos_, Diez' _Buch des Kabus_, etc., +but the examples we have given are sufficient to show how Goethe used +his material. + +Throughout the _Divan_ Persian similes and metaphors are copiously +employed and help to create a genuine Oriental atmosphere. The adoration +of the dust on the path of the beloved, p. 23 (cf. H. 497. 10); the +image of the candle that is consumed by the flame as the lover is by +yearning, p. 54 (cf. H. 414. 4); the love of the nightingale for the +rose, p. 125 (cf. H. 318. 1); the lover captive in the maiden's +tresses, p. 46 (cf. H. 338. 1); the arrows of the eye lashes, p. 129 +(cf. H. 173. 2); the verses strung together like pearls, p. 193 (cf. +H. 499. 11), are some of the peculiarly Persian metaphors that occur. +Allusions to the loves of Yusuf and Zalicha, of Laila and Majnun and of +other Oriental couples are repeatedly brought in. Moreover, a whole book +is devoted to the _saqi_ so familiar to students of Hafid, and Goethe +does not shrink from alluding to the subject of boy-love, p. 181. + +A great many of the poems, however, do not owe their inspiration to the +Orient, and many are completely unoriental. Such are, for instance, +those of the _Randsch Namah_, expressing, as they do, Goethe's opinions +on contemporary literary and aesthetic matters. Again, many are inspired +by personal experiences, and, as is now well known, the whole _Buch +Suleika_ owes its origin to the poet's love for Marianne von Willemer; +some of its finest poems have been proved to have been written by this +gifted lady. Such poems, written under the impressions of some actual +occurrence, were sometimes subsequently orientalized. Some striking +illustrations of this are given by Burdach in the essay which we cited +before and to which we refer. + +As the _Divan_ was an original work, though inspired by Oriental +sources, Goethe did not feel the necessity of imitating the extremely +artificial forms of his Oriental models. Besides, he knew of these forms +only indirectly through the work of Jones. What Hammer's versions could +teach him on this point was certainly very little. Perhaps he did not +realize what an essential element form is in Persian poetry, that, in +fact, it generally predominates over the thought, and this so much that +the unity of a _gazal_ is entirely dependent on the recurrence of the +rhyme. Instead of such recurrent rhyme he employs changing rhyme and +free strophes. Only twice does he attempt anything like an imitation of +the _gazal_, but in neither case does he satisfy the technical rules of +this poetic form.[109] + +From all this we see that Goethe in the _Divan_ preserves his poetic +independence. He remains a citizen of the West, though he chooses to +dwell for a time in the East. As a rule he takes from there only what he +finds congenial to his own nature. So we can understand his attitude +towards mysticism. He has no love for it; it was utterly incompatible +with his own habit of clear thinking. Speaking of Rumi, the prince of +mystics, he doubts if this poet could give a clear account of his own +doctrine;[110] the grades by which, according to Sufi-doctrine, man +rises to ultimate union with the Godhead he calls follies.[111] +Therefore to him Hafid was the singer of real love, real roses and real +wine, and this conception of the great lyric poet was also adopted by +all the later Hafizian singers.[112] Unfortunately it cannot be said +that it is quite correct. For even if we ignore the mystical +interpretation which Oriental commentators give to the wine of Hafid, +we cannot possibly ignore the fact that the love of which he sings is +never the ideal love for woman, but mostly the love for a handsome +boy.[113] + +With the _Divan_ Goethe inaugurated the Oriental movement in German +poetry, which Rueckert, Platen and Bodenstedt carried to its culmination. +These later Hafizian singers remembered gratefully what they owed the +sage of Weimar. Rueckert pays his tribute to him in the opening poem of +his _Oestliche Rosen_, where he hails him as lord of the East as he has +been the star of the West.[114] And Platen offers to him reverentially +his first _Ghaselen_: + + Der Orient sei neu bewegt, + Soll nicht nach dir die Welt vernuechtern, + Du selbst, du hast's in uns erregt: + So nimm hier, was ein Juengling schuechtern + In eines Greisen Haende legt.[115] + +The poetic spirit of the Orient had been brought into German literature; +it was reserved for Rueckert and Platen to complete the work by bringing +over also the poetic forms. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[86] Asia, Oder: Ausfuehrliche Beschreibung, etc. See Benfey, Orient u. +Occident, i. p. 721, note. + +[87] See Duentzer, Goethes Faust, Leipz. 1882, p. 68. + +[88] This information is given by Duentzer in his Goethe ed. (KDNL. vol. +82), vol. i. p. 167, note. The French ed. of Sonnerat, Paris, 1783, does +not contain the story. The German version to which Duentzer refers has +not been accessible to me. + +[89] Roger, De Open-Deure, Leyden, 1651, pp. 166, 167, chap. xi. + +[90] It is to be noted that in Sanskrit literature _devendra_ is an +epithet of Siva as well as of Indra. + +[91] Voyage aux Indes et a la Chine, Paris, 1782, i. 244 seq. + +[92] See Benfey, Goethes Gedicht Legende und dessen indisches Vorbild in +Or. u. Occ. i. 719-732. Benfey erroneously supposes the material of the +poem to have been derived from Dapper. + +[93] Bombay edition; cf. also Engl. trans. of Mahabh. ed. Roy, vol. iii. +p. 358 seq. + +[94] Nirn. Sag. Press ed. Bomb. 1898, p. 407 seq. Cf. also Engl. tr. in +Wealth of India ed. Dutt, Calc. 1895, pp. 62, 63. + +[95] For other Sanskrit sources see Petersb. Lex. sub voce _renuka_. + +[96] Nirn. Sag. Press ed., Bombay, 1889, p. 481 seq. Cf. also Engl. tr. +by Tawney, vol. ii. p. 261 seq. + +[97] See for instance his discussion of Sakuntala, Gitagovinda and +Meghaduta in Indische Dichtung, written 1821. Vol. 29, p. 809. + +[98] Vol. ii. p. 352. + +[99] Sprueche in Prosa, vol. 19, p. 112. + +[100] See also Konrad Burdach, Goethe's West-Oestlicher Divan, Goethe +Jahrbuch, vol. xvii. Appendix. + +[101] More than 200 poems out of 284 date from the years 1814, 1815 +alone. Loeper in vol. vi. preface, p. xxviii. + +[102] Loeper, ibid. p. xv. + +[103] Poeseos, The Works of Sir William Jones, ed. Lord Teignmouth, +London, 1807, vol. vi. chapters 12-18. + +[104] Based mainly on information contained in Hammer's Gesch. der +schoenen Redekuenste Persiens, Wien, 1818. + +[105] Given in Fundgruben des Orients, Wien, 1809, vol. ii. pp. 222, +495, in the French translation of de Sacy. + +[106] Op. cit. p. xxxiv. + +[107] Ibid. pp. xvi, xvii. + +[108] Red. p. 35; Pizzi, Storia della Poesia Persiana, Torino, 1894, +vol. i. p. 7. This story inspired also the scene between Helena and +Faust. Faust, Act iii. See Duentzer, Goethes Faust, Leipz., 1882, ii. p. +216. + +[109] In tausend Formen, p. 169; Sie haben wegen der Trunkenheit, p. +178. + +[110] Noten u. Abhandlungen, p. 260. + +[111] Ibid. p. 264. + +[112] That Goethe knew of the mystic interpretation to which Hafid is +subjected by Oriental commentators is evident from "Offenbar Geheimnis," +p. 38, and from the next poem "Wink," p. 39. + +[113] See Paul Horn, Was verdanken wir Persien?, in Nord u. Sued, Sept. +1900, p. 389. + +[114] Rueckert's Werke, vol. v. 286. + +[115] Platen, Werke, i. p. 255. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SCHILLER. + + Schiller's Interest in Sakuntala--Turandot. + + +While the Orient, as we have seen, cast its spell over Germany's +greatest poet and inspired the lyric genius of his later years for one +of its most remarkable efforts, it remained practically without any +influence on his illustrious friend and brother-poet Schiller. If +Schiller had lived longer, it is not impossible that he too might have +contributed to the West-Eastern literature. As it is, however, he died +before the Oriental movement in Germany had really begun. At no time did +he feel any particular interest in the East. Once, indeed, he mentions +_Sakuntala_. Goethe had drawn his attention to a German version of the +_Gitagovinda_ and this reminded Schiller of the famous Hindu drama which +he read with the idea of possibly utilizing it for the theatre.[116] +This idea he abandons owing to the delicacy of the piece and its lack of +movement. + +An attempt has been made to prove that to Kalidasa's drama Schiller was +indebted for the motive of his "Alpenjaeger," but it cannot be said to +have been successful.[117] + + * * * * * + +Though there was no direct Oriental influence on Schiller's poetry, +there is one dramatic poem of his which indirectly goes back to a +Persian source. It is _Turandot_. The direct source for this composition +was Gozzi's play of the same name in the translation of August Clemens +Werthes, which Schiller, however, used with such freedom that his own +play may be regarded as an original production rather than a version. +The Italian poet based his _fiaba_ on the story of Prince Kalaf in the +Persian tales of Petis de La Croix.[118] Now, as has been pointed out +by scholars,[119] the name of the heroine, who gives the name to the +play, is genuinely Persian, _Turan-ducht_, "the daughter of Turan,"[120] +and although the scene is laid in China, most of the proper names, both +in Gozzi and Schiller, are not at all Chinese, but Persian or Arabic. +The oldest known model for the story is the fourth romance of Nidami's +_Haft Paikar_, the story of Bahramgur and the Russian princess, written +1197.[121] Whether Schiller was aware of the ultimate origin of the +legend or not, he certainly made no attempt to give Persian local color +to his piece, but on the contrary he studiously tried to impart to it a +Chinese atmosphere.[122] It is interesting nevertheless to notice that +when _Turandot_ was given at Hamburg (July 9 to Sept. 9, 1802) its real +provenence was recognized, and, accordingly Turandot was no longer the +princess of China, but that of Shiraz, her father being transformed into +the Shah of Persia and the doctors of the _divan_ into Oriental +Magi.[123] At Dresden the same thing happened, and here even Tartaglia +and Brigella, who had been allowed to retain their Italian names in +Hamburg, were made to assume the Oriental names of Babouk and Osmin. The +specifically Chinese riddles disappeared, and instead of Tien and Fohi, +Hormuz was now invoked.[124] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[116] A Letter dated from Weimar, Feb. 20, 1802. Briefwechsel zwischen +Schiller u. Goethe. Stuttg. (Cotta) s. A., vol. iv. p. 98. + +[117] W. Sauer in Korrespondenzblatt f. d. Gelehrten u. Realschulen +Wuerttembergs, XL. pp. 297-304. Against this view Ernst Mueller in +Zeitschr. fuer vgl. Litteraturgesch., Neue Folge, viii. pp. 271-278. + +[118] Les Mille et Un Jours, tr. Petis de La Croix, ed. +Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, Paris, 1843, p. 69 seq. + +[119] Hammer, Red. p. 116; Pizzi, Storia della Poesia Persiana, p. 429. + +[120] Cf. name of Mihrab's wife, Sinducht, Sh. N. tr. Mohl i. p. 192 et +passim; Puranducht, daughter of Xusrau Parviz, Mirchvand tr. Rehatsek, +vol. i. p. 403. + +[121] See Ethe, Gesch. der pers. Litt. in Grdr. d. iran. Phil. ii. p +242. + +[122] See Albert Koester's essay on Turandot in Schiller als Dramaturg, +Berl. 1891, p. 201. + +[123] Koester, op. cit. p. 212. + +[124] Ibid. p. 213. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE SCHLEGELS. + + Friedrich Schlegel's Weisheit der Indier--Foundation of + Sanskrit Study in Germany. + + +We have now come to the period of the foundation of Sanskrit philology +in Germany. English statesmanship had completed the material conquest of +India; German scholarship now began to join in the spiritual conquest of +that country. With this undertaking the names of Friedrich and August +Wilhelm Schlegel are prominently identified. The chief work of these +brothers lies in the field of philosophy, translation and criticism, and +is therefore beyond the scope of this investigation. Suffice it to say +that Friedrich's famous little book _Die Weisheit der Indier_, published +in 1808, besides marking the beginning of Sanskrit studies and +comparative grammar in Germany,[125] is also of interest to us because +here for the first time a German version of selections from the +_Mahabharata_, _Ramayana_ and the _Code of Manu_, as well as a +description of some of the most common Sanskrit metres is +presented,[126] and an attempt is even made to reproduce these metres in +the translation. The work of August Wilhelm Schlegel as critic, +translator and editor of important works from Sanskrit literature is too +familiar to need more than mention.[127] It is well known that to his +lectures Heine owed his fondness for the lotus-flowers and gazelles on +the banks of the Ganges. + +On the poetry of the Schlegels their Oriental studies exercised very +little influence. Friedrich translated some maxims from the _Hitopadesa_ +and from Bhartrhari;[128] August likewise translated from the same +works, as well as from the Epics and Puranas.[129] There are only two +original poems of his that have anything to do with India, and both of +these were written before he had begun the study of Sanskrit. The first +is "Die Bestattung des Braminen,"[130] a somewhat morbid description of +the burning of a corpse. It was addressed to his brother Karl August, +who had joined a Hanoverian regiment in the service of the East India +Company. The second of these poems is "Neoptolemus an Diokles" (ii. 13), +written in 1800, and dedicated to the memory of this same brother who +had died at Madras in 1789.[131] As a matter of fact, there is really +nothing Oriental in the spirit of the poem. + +Aside from translations, the only poems that are connected with +Schlegel's Sanskrit studies, are the epigrams against his illustrious +contemporaries, Bopp and Rueckert. Those against the former (ii. 234) are +of no special interest here. With those against Rueckert, however, the +case is different. It is worth while noting that towards the +distinguished scholar-poet Schlegel assumed a patronizing attitude. To +Rueckert's masterly renderings from Sanskrit literature he referred +slightingly as "Sanskritpoesiemetriknachahmungen" (ii. 235). But when he +hailed the younger poet as + + Aller morgenlaend'schen Zaeune Koenig, + Wechselsweise zeisigkranichtoenig! (ii. 218), + +he came much nearer to the truth than he imagined at the time. For, +while it will be conceded that Rueckert did not always sing with equal +power, it also is indisputable that he is the leading spirit in the +movement under investigation. But we shall not anticipate a discussion +of this poet's work, which is reserved for a succeeding chapter. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[125] See Benfey, Gesch. der Sprachwissenschaft und orient. Philologie +in Deutschland, Muenchen, 1869, pp. 361-369. + +[126] The _sloka_, the _tristubh_ and the _jagati_ metre are described, +the last two, however, not by name. Narada's speech, p. 236, is in +_sloka_, 16 syllables to the line; the first distich, p. 233, is in +_tristubh_, 22 syllables to the line. Quantity of course is ignored. + +[127] See Benfey, op. cit. pp. 379-405. + +[128] Friedr. Schlegel, Saemmtliche Werke, Wien, 1846. vol. ii. p. 82 +seq. + +[129] Aug. W. Schlegel, Saemmtliche Werke. Leipz. 1846. vol. iii. p. 7 +seq. + +[130] Ibid. i. p. 82. + +[131] Friedr. Schlegel, Weisheit der Indier, pref. pp. xii, xiii. See +also prefatory remarks to the poem in question. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +PLATEN. + + His Oriental Studies--Ghaselen--Their Persian + Character--Imitation of Persian Form--Translations. + + +The first to introduce the _gazal_ in its strict form into German +literature[132] was Rueckert, who in 1821 published a version of a number +of _gazals_ from the _divan_ of Rumi.[133] Chronologically, therefore, +he ought to have the precedence in this investigation. If we, +nevertheless, take up Platen first, we do so because the _gazals_ of +this poet were really the first professedly original poems of this form +to appear in Germany (Rueckert's claiming to be versions only), and also +because they constitute almost the only portion of his poetic work that +comes within the sphere of this discussion. Moreover, the remarks which +we shall make concerning their content, imagery, and poetic structure, +apply largely to the _gazals_ of Rueckert and also to his _Oestliche +Rosen_, if we except the structure of the latter. + +Platen became interested in the East through the work of Hammer, and +still more through the influence of Goethe's _Divan_. He at once set to +work studying Persian, and his zeal was increased when, on meeting +Rueckert in 1820 at Ebern, and again at Nuernberg, he received +encouragement and instruction from that scholarly poet. Above all, the +appearance of the latter's versions from Rumi gave him a powerful +stimulus, and in 1821 the first series of his _Ghaselen_ appeared at +Erlangen. Others followed in rapid succession. The same year a second +series appeared at Leipzig;[134] a third series, united under the title +_Spiegel des Hafis_, appeared at Erlangen the next year;[135] and, +lastly, a series called _Neue Ghaselen_ appeared in the same place in +1823. A few _gazals_ arose later, some being published as late as 1836 +and 1839.[136] + +We shall confine our discussion to those _gazals_ that date from the +years 1821 and 1822, the last series being Persian in nothing but form. + +The _Ghaselen_ are not at all translations. Like the _Divan_-poems they +are original creations, inspired by the reading of Hafid, and, to use +the poet's own words "dem Hafis nachgefuehlt und nachgedichtet."[137] +They follow as closely as possible the Persian metrical rules, and make +use throughout of Persian images and metaphors, so much so that we can +adduce direct parallels from the poems of Hafid. Thus in 13[138] we +read: "Schenke! Tulpen sind wie Kelche Weines," evidently a parallel to +some such line as H. 541. 1: + + [Arabic] + +"_saqi_, come! for the tulip-like goblet is filled with wine." In 75 the +words "Weil ihren goldnen Busen doch vor euch verschliesst die Rose" are +an echo of H. 300. 2: + + [Arabic] + +"like the rose-bud, how can its inward secret remain concealed?" (cf. +also H. 23. 3). And again in 85 "Und nun ... entrinnet dem Herzen das +Blut leicht, das sonst mir den Odem benahm" is to be compared with H. +11. 9: + + [Arabic] + +"the sorrowful heart of Hafid, which through separation from thee is +full of blood." Furthermore in 81 we read: + + Du fingst im lieblichen Trugnetz der Haare die ganze Welt,-- + Als spiegelhaltende Sklavin gewahre die ganze Welt! + +For the first line compare H. 102. 1: + + [Arabic] + +"there is no one who has not been snared by that doubled tress," and for +the second line compare H. 470. 1: + + [Arabic] + +"O, thou of whose beauty the sun is the mirror-holder!" In 86 the idea +of the young men slain like game by the beauty of the beloved is +evidently inspired by H. 358. 6: + + [Arabic] + [Arabic] + +"in every nook thine eye has a hundred slain ones fallen like me," and +the following lines in the same poem 86: + + O welche Pfeile strahlt zu mir dein Antlitz, + Und es befreit kein Schild von deiner Schoenheit, + +remind us of H. 561. 7: + + [Arabic] + + "thine eye causes the arrow (lit. poplar) to pass through the + shield of life." + + * * * * * + +Again and again we meet with allusions to the famous image of the love +of the nightingale for the rose (35, 75, etc.) so common in Persian +poetry, especially in Hafid. We cite only 318. 1: + + [Arabic] + +"the whole thought of the nightingale is that the rose may be his +beloved; the rose has in her thought how she may show grace in her +actions." In 302. 1 the nightingale is called [Arabic] "the rose's +bride." + +Besides this, the poems teem with characteristic Persian metaphors: the +moth longing for the flame (37, H. 187. 7); the tulip-bed glowing like +fire (67, H. 288. 1); the tulip-cheek [Arabic] (whence Moore's _Lalla +Rookh_), | (70, H. 155. 2); the musk-perfumed hair | +(73, H. 33. 4); the garden of the face (73, H. 33. 4); the pearl of +Aden | (77, H. 197. 10 and 651); wine as a ruby in a golden cup +(82, H. 204. 8 | "O thou, the golden cup is +made full of ruby"); the eye-brows like the crescent-moon (82, H. 470. +5 | "brow like the new moon"); the dust on his love's +threshold (83, H. 497. 10 |); the sky playing ball with the +moon (14, inspired by some such couplet as H. 409. 7); and the verses +like pearls (43). For this compare H. 499. 11: + + [Arabic] + +"like a string of lustrous pearls is thy clear verse, O Hafid." We +might multiply such parallels, but those given bear out our statement in +regard to the imitation of Persian rhetorical figures on the part of +Platen. + +In the eagerness to be genuinely Persian, the poet was not content, +however, with imitating only what was striking or beautiful; he +introduces even some features which, though very prominent in Eastern +poetry, will never become congenial to the West. Thus the utter +abjectness of the Oriental lover, who puts his face in the path of his +beloved and invites her (or him) to scatter dust on his head (H. 148. +3), is presented to us with all possible extravagance in these lines of +87: + + Sieh mich hier im Staub und setze deine Ferse mir auf's Haupt, + Mich, den letzten von den letzten deiner letzten Sklaven, sieh![139] + +To the _saqi_ is assigned a part almost as prominent as that which is +his in the Persian original. It was the introduction of this repulsive +trait (e.g. 82) that gave to Heine the opportunity for the savage, +scathing onslaught on Platen in the well known passage of the +_Reisebilder_.[140] + + * * * * * + +Otherwise Platen, like Goethe, ignores the mystic side of Hafid, and +infuses into his _Ghaselen_ a thoroughly bacchanalian spirit, taking +frequent occasion to declaim against hypocrisy, fanaticism and the +precepts of the _Quran_. The _credo_ of these poems is the opening +_gazal_ in _Spiegel des Hafis_ (64), where the line "Wir schwoeren ew'gen +Leichtsinn und ew'ge Trunkenheit" may be taken to reflect the sentiment +of the revelling Persian poet, who begs the _sufi_ not to forbid wine, +since from eternity it has been mingled with men's dust (H. 61. 4); +who claims to have been predestined to the tavern (H. 20. 4); who asks +indulgence if he turns aside from the mosque to the wine-house (H. 213. +4); who drinks his wine to the sound of the harp, feeling sure that God +will forgive him (H. 292. 5); who is above the reproach of the boasters +of austerity (H. 106. 3); and who, finally, asks that the cup be placed +in his coffin so that he may drink from it on the day of resurrection +(H. 308. 8). But when Platen flings away the _Quran_ he certainly is +not in accord with his Persian model, for, while Hafid takes issue with +the expounders of the sacred book, he discreetly refrains from assailing +the book itself. + +But perhaps the chief significance of these _Ghaselen_, as well as those +of Rueckert, lies in the fact that they introduced a new poetic form into +German literature. It is astonishing to see how completely Platen has +mastered this difficult form. The _radif_ or refrain, so familiar to +readers of Hafid, he reproduces with complete success, as may be seen, +for instance, in 8, where the words "du liebst mich nicht" are repeated +at the end of each couplet, preceded successively by _zerrissen_, +_wissen_, _beflissen_, _gewissen_, _vermissen_, _Narzissen_, exactly in +the style of such an ode as H. 100. In those odes called _Spiegel des +Hafis_ the name _Hafis_ is even regularly introduced into the last +couplet, in accordance with the invariable rule of the Persian _gazal_ +that the author's name must appear in the final couplet. + +Besides the _gazal_ Platen has also attempted the _ruba'i_ or quatrain, +in which form he wrote twelve poems (_Werke_, ii. pp. 62-64), and the +_qasidah_. Of this there is only one specimen, a panegyric (for such in +most cases is the Persian _qasidah_) on Napoleon, and, as may therefore +be imagined, of purely Occidental content.[141] + + * * * * * + +Of Platen's translations from Hafid we need not speak here. But we must +call attention to the attempt which he made to translate from Nidami's +_Iskandar Namah_ in the original _mutaqarib_-metre. The first eight +couplets of the invocation are thus rendered, and in spite of the great +difficulty attending the use of this metre in a European language, the +rendering must be pronounced fairly successful. It is also faithful, as +a comparison with the original shows. We cite the first two couplets +from the Persian: + + [Arabic] + [Arabic] + + "O God, world-sovereignty is Thine! From us comes service, Godhead + is Thine. The Protection of high and low Thou art! Everything is + nonexistent; whatever is, Thou art."[142] + +Of other Oriental poems, not translations, we notice "Parsenlied," +dating from the year 1819, when Goethe's _Divan_ appeared, and it is +quite possible that the _Parsi Nameh_ of that work suggested to Platen +the composition of his poem.[143] His best known ballad, "Harmosan," +written in 1830, has a Persian warrior for its hero. The source for the +poem is probably Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_ (chap. +li.)[144] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[132] We might say into European literature. The only previous attempts, +as far as we know, to reproduce this form were made by Jones, who +translated a ghazal of Jami (Works, vol. ii. p. 501) into English, and +by a certain Tommaso Chabert, who translated several ghazals of Jami +into Italian (Fundgruben, vol. i. pp. 16-19). + +[133] In Taschenbuch fuer Damen, which was already published in 1820, +thus establishing Rueckert's priority over Platen. See C. Beyer, Neue +Mittheilungen ueber Friedrich Rueckert, Leipz. 1873, p. 14; also letter to +Cotta, ibid. pp. 113, 114. + +[134] Published in Lyrische Blaetter. + +[135] In Vermischte Schriften. + +[136] Platens Werke (Cotta), vol. ii. See p. 7, note, where information +is given as to place and date of these poems. + +[137] Dedication of Spiegel des Hafis to Otto von Buelow, vol. i. p. 265. + +[138] We cite the Ghaselen by the number in vol. ii. of the edition here +used. + +[139] Goethe protested against this Oriental feature. See Noten u. Abh. +to his Divan, vol. iv. p. 273 seq. + +[140] Heines Saemtliche Werke, ed. Born (Cotta), vol. vi. pp. 130 seq. +Goethe in his comments on his Saki Nameh (op. cit. p. 307) emphasizes +the purely pedagogical side of this relation of saqi and master. + +[141] Kasside, dated February 3, 1823, ii. p. 60. + +[142] Lith. ed., Shiraz, A.H. 1312. + +[143] The Divan appeared August, 1819. Platen's poem is dated Oct. 28, +1819. + +[144] See Studien zu Platen's Balladen, Herm. Stockhausen, Berl. (1898), +pp. 50, 51, 53, 54. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +RUeCKERT. + + His Oriental Studies--Introduces the Ghasele--Oestliche Rosen; + Imitations of Hafid--Erbauliches und + Beschauliches--Morgenlaendische Sagen und Geschichten--Brahmanische + Erzaehlungen--Die Weisheit des Brahmanen--Other Oriental + Poems. + + +When speaking of the introduction of the _gazal_-form into German +literature mention was made of the name of the man who is unquestionably +the central figure in the great Oriental movement which is occupying our +attention. Combining the genius of the poet with the learning of the +scholar, Rueckert was preeminently fitted to be the literary mediator +between the East and the West. And his East was not restricted, as +Goethe's or Platen's, to Arabia and Persia, but included India and even +China. He is not only a devotee to the mystic poetry of Rumi and the +joyous strain of Hafid, but he is above all the German Brahman, who by +masterly translations and imitations made the treasures of Sanskrit +poetry a part of the literary wealth of his own country. To his +productivity as poet and translator the long list of his works bears +conclusive testimony. In this investigation, however, we shall confine +ourselves to those of his original poems which are Oriental in origin or +subject-matter. A discussion of the numerous translations cannot be +undertaken in the limited space at our disposal. + +Like Goethe and Platen, Rueckert also owed to Hammer the impulse to +Oriental study. His meeting with the famous Orientalist at Vienna, in +1818,[145] decided his future career. He at once took up the study of +Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit, and with such success that in a few years +he became one of the foremost Orientalists in Europe. + +The first fruit of these studies were the _Gaselen_ which appeared in +the _Taschenbuch fuer Damen_, 1821, the first poems of this form in +German literature.[146] They have been generally regarded as +translations from the _divan_ of Rumi, but this is true of only a +limited number; and even these were probably not taken directly from the +Persian, but from the versions given by Hammer in his _Redekuenste_.[147] +As a matter of fact, only twenty-eight--less than one-half of the +_Gaselen_,--can be identified with originals in Hammer's book, and a +comparison of these with their models shows with what freedom the latter +were handled.[148] Furthermore in the opening poem, (a version of _Red._ +p. 187, "So lang die Sonne") the last couplet: + + Dschelaleddin nennt sich das Licht im Ost, + Dess Wiederschein euch zeiget mein Gedicht, + +is original with Rueckert, and clearly shows that he himself did not +pretend to offer real translations. The majority of poems are simply +original _gazals_ in Rumi's manner. + + Dschelaleddin, im Osten warst du der Salbenhaendler, + Ich habe nun die Bude im Westen aufgeschlagen.[149] + +These lines, we believe, define very well the attitude which the poet of +the West assumed toward his mystic brother in the East. + + * * * * * + +The series of _Ghaselen_ signed Freimund and dated 1822 (third series in +our edition) are not characteristically Persian. Hence we proceed at +once to a consideration of the fourth series (p. 253 seq.), which we +shall discuss together with the poems collected under the title of +_Oestliche Rosen_ (p. 289 seq.) from which they differ in nothing but the +form. They were, besides, a part of the _Oestliche Rosen_ as published +originally at Leipzig, 1822. + +These poems are free reproductions or variations of Hafizian themes and +motives. The spirit of revelry and intoxication finds here a much wilder +and more bacchanalian expression than in the _Divan_ of Goethe or the +_Ghaselen_ of Platen. _Carpe diem_ is the sum and substance of the +philosophy of such poems as "Einladung" (p. 287) and "Lebensgnuege" (p. +293); their note is in thorough accord with Hafid, when he exclaims +(H. 525. 7): + + [Arabic] + [Arabic] + +"to me, who worship the beloved, do not mention anything else; for +except for her and my cup of wine, I care for none." We are admonished +to leave alone idle talk on how and why ("Im Fruehlingsthau," p. 261), +for as Hafid says (H. 487. 11): "Our existence is an enigma, whereof +the investigation is fraud and fable." The tavern is celebrated with as +much enthusiasm (e.g. "Das Weinhaus," p. 290) as the [Arabic] to which +Hafid was destined by God (H. 492. 1). Monks and preachers are scored +mercilessly (e.g. "Der Bussprediger," p. 255; "Dem Prediger," p. 295) as +in H. 430. 7: + + [Arabic] + [Arabic] + + "The admonisher spoke tauntingly: Wine is forbidden, do not drink! + I said: On my eye (be it); I do not lend my ear to every ass." + +The characteristic Persian images and rhetorical figures, familiar to us +from Platen, are also found here in still greater variety and number. +Thus to mention some new ones, the soul is likened to a bird (p. 270, +No. 29, cf. H. 427. 5: [Arabic]); the cypress is invoked to come to the +brook (p. 336, cf. H. 108. 3: [Arabic] "the place +of the straight cypress is on the bank of the brook"); the rose-bush +glows with the fire of Moses ("Gnosis," p. 350, cf. H. 517. 2: [Arabic] +[Arabic] "the rose displays the fire of Musa"); _Hafis_ is an +idol-worshipper (p. 305, "Liebesandacht," cf. H. 439. 6, where +[Arabic] "the idol of sweet motions" is addressed). We meet also the +striking Oriental conception of the dust of the dead being converted +into cups and pitchers. In "Von irdischer Herrlichkeit" (p. 257) the +character "der alte Wirth" is the _pir_ of H. 4. 10 et passim, and +when speaking of the fate of Jamsid, Sulaiman and Ka'us Kai, he says: + + Von des Glueckrads hoechstem Gipfel warf der Tod in Staub sie, + Und ein Toepfer nahm den Staub in Dienst des Toepferrades. + Diesen Becher formt' er draus, und glueht' ihn aus im Feuer. + Nimm! aus edlen Schaedeln trink und deiner Lust nicht schad' es! + +This very striking thought, as is well known, is extremely common in +Persian poetry. To cite from Hafid (H. 459. 4): + + [Arabic] + [Arabic] + + "The day when the wheel (of fate) from our dust will make jugs, + take care! make our skull (lit. the cup of the head) full of + wine."[150] + +Some of the poems are versions, more or less free, of Hafid--passages, +e.g. "Die verloren gegangene Schoene" (p. 290, H. 268), "An die Schoene" +(p. 308, H. 160, couplets 2 and 5 being omitted), "Beschwichtigter +Zweifel" (p. 310, H. 430. 6), "Das harte Wort" (p. 350, H. 77. 1 and +2). Sometimes a theme is taken from Hafid and then expanded, as in "Die +Busse" (p. 346), where the first verse is a version of H. 384. 1, the +rest being original. + +Of course, reminiscences of Hafid are bound to be frequent. We shall +point out only a few instances. "Nicht solltest du so, O Rose, versaeumen +die Nachtigall" ("Stimme der Sehnsucht," p. 256) is inspired by a verse +like H. 292. 2: + + [Arabic] + [Arabic] + + "O rose, in thanks for that thou art the queen of beauty, display + no arrogance towards nightingales madly in love." + +In "Zum neuen Jahr" (p. 260) the last lines: + + Trag der Schoenheit Koran im offenen Angesicht, + Und ihm diene das Lied Hafises zum Kommentar + +are a parallel to H. 10. 6: + + [Arabic] + [Arabic] + + "Thy beautiful face by its grace explained to us a verse of the + _Quran_; for that reason there is nothing in our commentary but + grace and beauty." + +The opening lines of "Schmuck der Welt" (p. 260): + + Nicht bedarf der Schmink' ein schoenes Angesicht. + So bedarf die Liebste meiner Liebe nicht + +are distinctly reminiscent of H. 8. 4: + + [Arabic] + [Arabic] + + "Of our imperfect love the beauty of the beloved is independent. + What need has a lovely face of lustre and dye and mole and line?" + +Like Hafid (H. 358. 11; 518. 7 et passim) Rueckert also boasts of his +supremacy as a singer of love and wine ("Vom Lichte des Weines," p. +273). Finally in "Frag und Antwort" (p. 258) he employs the form of the +dialogue, the lines beginning alternately _Ich sprach_, _Sie sprach_, +just as Hafid does in Ode 136 or 194. The "Vierzeilen" (p. 361), while +they have the _ruba'i_-rhyme, are not versions. Only a few of them have +an Oriental character. Completely unoriental are the "Briefe des +Brahmanen" (p. 359), dealing with literary matters of contemporary +interest.[151] + +The Oriental studies which Rueckert continued to pursue with unabated +ardor were to him a fruitful source of poetic inspiration. They +furnished the material for the great mass of narrative, descriptive and +didactic poems which were collected under the titles _Erbauliches und +Beschauliches aus dem Morgenlande_, and again _Morgenlaendische Sagen und +Geschichten_, furthermore _Brahmanische Erzaehlungen_, and lastly +_Weisheit des Brahmanen_. We shall discuss these collections in the +order here given. + + * * * * * + +The first collection _Erbauliches und Beschauliches_ (vol. vi.) consists +of poems which were published between the years 1822 and 1837 in +different periodicals. They appeared in collected form as a separate +work in 1837.[152] The material is drawn from Arabic and Persian +sources, only one poem, "Die Schlange im Korbe," p. 80, being from the +Sanskrit of Bhartrhari (_Nitis_. 85).[153] + +With the Arabic sources, the _Quran_, the chrestomathies of de Sacy and +Kosegarten, and others, we are not here concerned. Among the Persian +sources the one most frequently used is the _Gulistan_, from which are +taken, to give but a few instances, "Sadi an den Fuerstendiener," p. 57 +(_Gul._ i. distich 3), "Mitgefuehl," p. 52 (_Gul._ i. 10, _Mathnavi_), +"Kein Mensch zu Haus," p. 52 (_Gul._ vii. 19, dist. 6, Platts, p. 139), +"Gewahrter Anstand," p. 55 (_Gul._ iv. _Math_. 5, Platts, p. 96), as well +as many of the proverbs and maxims, pp. 102-108. The poem "Die Kerze und +die Flasche," p. 82, is a result of the poet's studies in connection +with his translation of the _Haft Qulzum_, a fragment of Amir Sahi[154] +being combined with a passage cited from Asadi.[155] "Eine Kriegsregel +aus Mirchond," p. 73, is a paraphrase of a _mathnavi_ from Mirchvand's +_Raudat-ussafa_.[156] In "Gottesdienst," p. 52, the first two lines +are from Amir Xusrau (_Red._ p. 229); the remaining lines were added by +Rueckert. The fables given on pp. 87-96 as from Jami are taken from the +eighth chapter or "garden" of that poet's _Baharistan_; they keep rather +closely to the originals, only in "Die Rettung des Fuchses" the +excessive naturalism of the Persian is toned down.[157] One of these +fables, however, "Falke und Nachtigall," p. 89, is not from Jami, but +from the _Machsan-ul-asrar_ of Nidami ([Arabic] ed. Nathan. +Bland, London, 1844, p. 114; translated by Hammer in _Red._ p. 107). + +Some of the poems in this collection are actual translations from +Persian literature. Thus "Ein Spruch des Hafis," p. 59, is a fine +rendering of _qit'ah_ 583 in the form of the original.[158] Then a part +of the introduction to Nidami's _Iskandar Namah_ is given on p. 65. The +translation begins at the fortieth couplet:[159] + + [Arabic] + + "Who has such boldness that from fear of Thee he open his mouth + save in submission to Thee?" + +This is well rendered: + + Wer hat die Kraft, in deiner Furcht Erbebung, + Vor dir zu denken andres als Ergebung? + +As will be noticed, Rueckert here has not attempted to reproduce the +_mutaqarib_, as Platen has done in his version of the first eight +couplets (see p. 36). + +Some of the translations in this collection were not made directly from +the Persian, but from the versions of Hammer. Thus "Naturbetrachtung +eines persischen Dichters," p. 62, is a free rendering of Hammer's +version of the invocation prefixed to Attar's _Mantiq-ut tair_ (_Red._ +p. 141 seq.) and Rueckert breaks off at the same point as Hammer.[160] So +also the extract from the _Iyar-i-Danis_ of Abu'l Fadl (p. 68) is a +paraphrase of the version in _Red._ p. 397. + +A number of poems deal with legends concerning Rumi, or with sayings +attributed to him. Thus the legend which tells how the poet, when a boy, +was transported to heaven in a vision, as told by Aflaki in the +_Manaqibu'l 'Arifin_,[161] forms the subject of a poem, p. 37. A saying +of Rumi concerning music prompted the composition of the poem, p. 54 (on +which see Boxberger, op. cit. p. 241), and on p. 62 the great mystic is +made to give a short statement of his peculiar Sufistic doctrine of +metempsychosis.[162] In "Alexanders Vermaechtnis," p. 61, we have the +well-known legend of how the dying hero gives orders to leave one of his +hands hanging out of the coffin to show the world that of all his +possessions nothing accompanies him to the grave. In Nidami's version, +however, the hand is not left empty, but is filled with earth.[163] + +Finally there are a few poems dealing with Oriental history, of which we +may mention "Hormusan," p. 25, the subject being the same as in Platen's +more famous ballad. It may be that both poets drew from the same source +(see p. 37). + + * * * * * + +In the same year (1837) as the _Erbauliches und Beschauliches_ there +appeared the _Morgenlaendische Sagen und Geschichten_ (vol. iv.) in seven +books or divisions. In general, the contents of these divisions may be +described as versified extracts from Oriental history of prevailingly +legendary or anecdotal character. Their arrangement is mainly +chronological. Only the fourth, fifth and seventh books call for +discussion as having Persian material. The most important source is the +great historical work _Raudat us-safa_ of Mirch, portions of which +had been edited and translated before 1837 by scholars like de +Sacy,[164] Wilken,[165] Vullers[166] and others.[167] + +Other sources to be mentioned are d'Herbelot's _Bibliotheque +Orientale_,[168] de Sacy's version of the _Tarich-i-Yamini_[169] and +Hammer's _Geschichte der schoenen Redekuenste Persiens_. + + * * * * * + +The first poem of the fourth book goes back to the legendary period of +Iran. Its hero is Gustasp, the patron and protector of Zoroaster. +Rueckert calls him Kischtasp. He does not give the story directly +according to Firdausi (tr. Mohl, iv. 224, 278-281) but makes his hero go +to Turan, whence he returns at the head of a hostile army. At the +boundary he is met, not by his brother Zarir, but simply by messengers +who offer him Iran's crown. This he accepts and thus becomes king and +protector of the realm he was about to assail.[170] + +Most of the other poems in this book deal with legends of the Sassanian +dynasty. Thus "Schapurs Ball," p. 114 (_Mem._ pp. 282-285); "Die Woelfe +und Schakale Nuschirwans," p. 115 (_Mem._ p. 381); "Die abgestellte +Hungersnoth," p. 116 (_Mem._ pp. 345, 346); "Die Heerschau," p. 117 +(_Mem._ p. 373). The two stories about Bahram Cubin, pp. 119-122, are +also in _Mem._ p. 395 and pp. 396, 397 respectively.[171] "Der Mann mit +einem Arme," p. 124, is in _Mem._ pp. 348, 349. In the last poem +"Yesdegerd," p. 126, Rueckert gives the story of the sad end of the last +Sassanian apparently according to different accounts, and not simply +according to Firdausi or Mirchvand. + +The sixth book opens with the story of Muntasir, p. 198, (from d'Herb. +vol. iii. pp. 694, 695) and then we enter the period of the Saffarid +dynasty. Its founder Ya'qub is the subject of a poem, p. 207 (d'Herb. +iv. 459). "Zu streng und zu milde" and "Schutz und Undank," both p. 210, +tell of the fortunes of Prince Qabus (Wilken, _Sam._ p. 181 and pp. +79-81, 91, 198-200, n. 47). "Die aufgehobene Belagerung," p. 211, brings +us to the Buyids (d'Herb. ii. pp. 639, 640). The story of Saidah and +Mahmud, p. 212, is from Wilken's _Buj._ c. xii. pp. 87-90, but the order +of the events is changed. Then we come to the history of the Ghaznavid +dynasty, in connection with which the story of Alp Tagin is told in +"Lokman's Wort," p. 214, according to the account of Haidar in Wilk. +Gasnevid. p. 139, n. 1, preceded by an anecdote told of Luqman (d'Herb. +ii. 488). "Die Schafschur," p. 215, gives a saying of Sabuktagin from +the _Tarich-i-Yamini_ (on the authority of 'Utbi, de Sacy, _Notices et +Extr._ iv. 365). In the story of Mahmud's famous expedition to +Somanatha, p. 215, Rueckert has combined the meagre account of Mirchvand +with that of Firista for the story of the Brahman's offer and with that +of Haidar for the sultan's reply (Wilk. _Gasnevid._ pp. 216, 217, n. +109). "Mahmud's Winterfeldzug," p. 216, is also from Wilken's book (pp. +166-168, n. 38); in fact Dilchak's reply is a rhymed translation of the +passage in the note referred to. From the same source came also the poem +on the two Dabsalims, p. 219 (Wilken, _Gasnevid._ pp. 220-225). The +familiar anecdote of the vizier interpreting to Mahmud the conversation +of the two owls is told in Nidami's _Machsan-ul-asrar_ (ed. Bland, pp. +48-50), where, however, Anusirvan is the sultan. The title reads: +[Arabic].[172] "Abu Rihan" (i.e. Albiruni) is taken from d'Herb. I. 45 and iv. 697. + +Then follow stories from the period of the Saljuks: "Des Sultan's +Schlaf," p. 224 (Vullers, _Gesch. der Seldsch._ pp. 43, 44); "Nitham +Elmulks Ehre," p. 228 (ibid. pp. 228-230); "Nitham Elmulks Fall," p. 229 +(ib. pp. 123-125 and pp. 128-132); "Die unglueckliche Stunde," p. 232 +(ibid. pp. 153, 154). "Die unterthaenigen Wuerfel," p. 227, is from the +_Haft Qulzum_ (_Gram. u. Poet. der Perser_, pp. 366, 367). The stories +of Alp Arslan and Romanus, p. 225, and of Malaksah's prayer, p. 228, are +not given by Mirchvand, but occur in the works of Deguignes, Gibbon, +Malcolm and d'Herbelot.[173] The story of the death of Sultan Muhammad +(in 1159 A.D.), p. 232, is in Deguignes, ii. 260, 261. + +Then we get stories from the period of the Mongol invasion. "Die +prophezeite Weltzerstoerung," p. 237, the legend of Jingis Chan's birth, +is in the _Tarich-i-Yamini_ (_Notices et Extr._ iv. pp. 408, 409). The +material for the poems concerning Muhammad Xvarazm Sah, p. 237, and his +brave son Jalal ud-din, pp. 240, 241, is found in the work of Deguignes +(op. cit. ii. p. 274 and pp. 280-283). Finally we are carried even to +India and listen to the story of the unhappy queen Raziyah, p. 255, who +was murdered at Delhi by her own generals in 1239 A.D.[174] + +A few anecdotes about Persian poets are also given. Thus +"Dichterkampf," p 233, gives the amusing story of the literary contest +between Anvari and Rasid, surnamed Vatvat "the swallow" (Hammer, _Red._ +p. 121; David Price, _Chronological Retrospect_, London, 1821, ii. 391, +392), and on p. 243 we are told how Kamal ud-din curses his native city +Ispahan and how the curse was fulfilled. (Hammer, _Red._ p. 159.) + +The seventh book contains two of Rueckert's best known parables, the +famous "Es ging ein Mann im Syrerland," p. 303,[175] and "Der Sultan +laesst den Mewlana rufen," p. 305 (_Red._ p. 338). + + * * * * * + +It will be noticed that the Oriental poems which we have thus far +discussed were mainly derived from Arabic and Persian sources. We may +now turn our attention to a collection in which Rueckert's studies on +matters connected with India are also represented. + +This collection _Brahmanische Erzaehlungen_, published in the year 1839 +(vol. iii.), does not, however, as its title might lead us to suppose, +consist exclusively of Indic material. Some of the poems are not even +Oriental; "Annikas Freier," p. 217, for example, is from the Finnic. Of +others, again, the subject-matter, whether originally Oriental or not, +has long ago become the common property of the world's fable-literature, +as, for instance, "Weisheit aus Vogelmund," p. 239, the story of which +may be found in the _Gesta Romanorum_, and in French, English and +German, as well as in Persian, fable-books.[176] Some are from Arabic +sources, as from the Thousand and One Nights, e.g. "Der schwanke +Ankergrund," p. 357,[177] "Elephant, Nashorn und Greif," p. 367,[178] +"Die Kokosnuesse," p. 359.[179] The poem "Rechtsanschauung in Afrika," p. +221, is a Hebrew parable from the Talmud and had been already used by +Herder.[180] + +A considerable number of the poems contain nothing but Persian material. +Thus "Wettkampf," p. 197, is from the _Gulistan_ (i. 28; K.S. tr. p. +27); and from the same source we have "Rache fuer den Steinwurf," p. 219 +(_Gul._ i. 22; K.S. 21), "Fluch und Segen," p. 234 (_Gul._ i. 1), and +"Busurgimihr," p. 225 (_Gul._ i. 32; K.S. 31). "Die Bibliothek des +Koenigs," p. 405, is from the _Baharistan_ (K.S., p. 31; _Red._ p. 338). +Three episodes from the _Iskandar Namah_ are narrated on pp. 214-217: +the story of the invention of the mirror (_Isk._ tr. Clark, xxiii. p. +247), the battle between the two cocks (ibid., xxii. p. 234 seq.), and +the message of Dara to Alexander with the latter's reply (ibid. xxiv. p. +263).[181] + +On p. 329 Rueckert offers a free, but faithful, even if abridged version +of selected passages from the introductory chapters of Nidami's work +(_Isk._ tr. Clarke, canto ii, p. 18 seq. and canto vii, p. 53 seq.). In +"Kiess der Reue," p. 421, he paraphrases the episode of Alexander's +search for the fountain of life from the _Shah Namah_ (tr. Mohl, v. pp. +177, 178). The story of Bahramgur in the same work (tr. Mohl, v, pp. +488-492) appears in "Allwo nicht Zugethan," p. 397. It is not taken from +Firdausi, for it relates the story somewhat differently, and introduces +a love-episode of which the epic knows nothing.[182] Again, "Der in die +Stadt verschlagene Kurde," p. 229, is an anecdote which Rueckert had +already translated in the _Haft Qulzum_ (see his _Poet. u. Rhet. der +Perser_, pp. 72-74), while "Gluecksgueter," p. 233, may have been +suggested by a story of Attar which he published afterwards (1860, ZDMG. +vol. 14, p. 286). Some anecdotes of Persian princes or poets are also +utilized, e.g. "Das Kuechenfeldgeraethe des Fuersten Amer," p. 226 (d'Herb. +iv. 459; Malcolm i. p. 155), "Der Spiegel des Koenigs," p. 223 +(Deguignes, ii. 171), and the story of Jami and the mulla, p. 224 (M. +Kuka, _The Wit and Humour of the Persians_, Bombay, 1894, pp. 165, 166). +In one poem, "Ormuzd und Ahriman," p. 344, an Avestan subject is +treated, the later Parsi doctrine of _zrvan akarana_.[183] + + * * * * * + +The great majority of the poems in this collection are concerned with +India, its literature, mythology, religious customs, geography and +history, and it will be convenient for our purpose to discuss them under +these heads. + +In the first group, that which takes its material from Sanskrit +literature, we meet with the story of the flood, p. 298, from the +_Mahabharata_ (Vana Parva, 187) and the story of Rama's exploits and +Sita's love, p. 268, from the _Ramayana_. Also a number of fables from +the _Hitopadesa_ or _Pancatantra_ occur, e.g. that of the greedy jackal, +p. 249, familiar from Lafontaine (_Hit._ i. 6; _Panc._ ii. 3), and that +of the lion, the mouse and the cat, p. 250 (_Hit._ ii. 3). The story of +the ungrateful man and the grateful animals, p. 252, is found in the +_Kathasaritsagara_ (tr. Tawney, ii. pp. 103-108; cf. Pali version in +_Rasavahini_, Wollheim, _Die National-Lit. saemtlicher Voelker des +Orients_, Berl. 1873, vol. i. p. 370). "Katerstolz und Fuchses Rath," p. +243, has for its prototype the fable of the mouse changed into a girl in +_Pancatantra_ (iv. 9; cf. the story of the ambitious Candala maid in +_Kathas._ tr. Tawney, ii. p. 56). King Raghu's generosity to Varatantu's +pupil Kautsa, as narrated in the _Raghuvamsa_ (ch. v.), is the subject +of a poem on p. 402. Two famous pieces from the _Upanisad_-literature +are also offered: the story of how Jajnavalkya overcame nine contestants +in debate at King Janaka's court and won the prize consisting of one +thousand cows with gold-tipped horns, p. 247, from the _Brhadaranyaka +Up._ iii. (see Deussen, _Sechzig Upan. uebers._ Leipz. 1897, p. 428 +seq.), and the story of Naciketas' choice, p. 403, from the _Kathaka +Upanisad_. To this group belong also versions of Bhartrhari, p. 337 +(_Nitis._ 15) and p. 338 (_Nitis._ 67). + + * * * * * + +In the mythological group we have two poems telling of the history of +Krsna, as given in the great _Bhagavata Purana_. The first one, "Die +Weltliebessonne im Palast des Gottes Krischna," p. 246, gives the legend +of the god's interview with the Sage Narada (_Bhagav._ Nirnaya Sag. +Press, Bombay 1898, Lib. x. c. 69; tr. Dutt, Calcutta, 1895, pp. +298-302) with a close somewhat different from that of the Sanskrit +original. The second one narrates the romance of the poor Brahman +Sudaman, who pays a visit to the god and is enriched by the latter's +generosity (_Bhagav._ x. c. 80, 81; tr. Dutt, pp. 346-355. For the +Hindostanee version in the _Premsagar_, see Wollheim, op. cit. i. p. +421). In the Sanskrit the story is not so ideal as in Rueckert's poem. +The poor Brahman is urged on to the visit, not by affection for the +playmate of his youth, but rather by the prosaic appeals of his wife; +yet, though the motive be different, the result is the same. Besides +these, we find the legend of Kama, the Hindu Cupid, burned to ashes by +Siva's third eye for attempting to interrupt the god's penance, p. 266 +(_Ramay._ i. c. 23, _Kumaras._ iii. v. 70 seq.), and Rueckert manages to +introduce and to explain all the epithets, _Kamadeva_, _kandarpa_, +_smara_, _manmatha_, _hrcchaya_, _ananga_, which Sanskrit authors bestow +upon their Cupid. We also have legends of the cause of the eclipses of +sun and moon, p. 365, of the origin of caste, p. 347 (_Manu_ i. 87), of +the fabulous mountain Meru in Jambudvipa, p. 285, of the quarrelsome +mountains Innekonda and Bugglekonda, p. 321 (Ritter _Erdkunde_, iv. 2, +pp. 472, 473). The winding course of the Indus is explained by a typical +Hindu saint-story, p. 335, similar to that told of the Yamuna and Rama +in the _Visnu Purana_ (tr. Wilson, ed. Dutt, Calc. 1894, p. 386). + + * * * * * + +Many of the poems describe religious customs practised in India. Of such +customs the practice of asceticism in its different forms is one of the +most striking and could not fail to engage the poet's attention. Thus +the peculiar fast known as _Candrayana_, "moon-penance," is the subject +of a poem, p. 278; so also "Titanische Bussandacht," p. 283, has for its +theme the belief of the Hindus in the supernatural power conferred by +excessive penance, as exemplified by the legend of Sakuntala's birth. +The practice of _pancatapas_, "the five fires" (_Manu_, vi. 23. See +Monier Williams, _Indian Wisdom_, Lond. 1876, p. 105) is the subject of +the poem "Des Buessers Laeuterungswahn," p. 285. The selfish greed of the +Brahmans (cf. _Manu_, vii. 133, 144; xi. 40) is referred to in two poems +on p. 287. The supposed powers of _cintamani_, the Hindu wishing-stone, +suggested the poem on p. 275 (cf. Bhartrhari, _Vair._ 33). Of other +poems of this sort we may mention "Die Gottverehrung des Stammes +Karian," p. 322 (Ritter, _Erdk._ iv. 1. p. 187), "Vom Genuss der Fruechte +nach Dschainas Lehre," p. 307 (ibid. iv. p. 749), and "Die Schuhe im +Tempel Madhuras," p. 301 (ibid. iv. 2. p. 4). + + * * * * * + +Again, many poems belong to the realm of physical and descriptive +geography. Their source, in most cases, was undoubtedly the great +geographical work of Ritter. To it may be referred the majority of the +purely descriptive poems, e.g., "Das ewige Fruehlingsland der Tudas," p. +301 (op. cit. iv. 1. 951), "Das Fruehlingsland Kaschmir," p. 315 (ibid. +ii. 1142 and 630), "Die Kokospalme," p. 304 (ibid. iv. 1. 834 seq., 838, +851, 852). The sun and moon lotuses, so famous through Heine's beautiful +songs (see p. 58), are described on p. 343. Animal-life also comes in +for its share, e.g. the ichneumon in "Instinctive Heilkunde der Tiere," +p. 336. + + * * * * * + +Lastly, we come to the historical group, poems relating to the history +of India. The poem on the burning of Keteus' wife, p. 382, is evidently +inspired by the reading of Diodorus Siculus (xix. 33). On page 311 we +have a poem celebrating the valor of the Raja Pratap Singh, who held out +so bravely against Akbar in the mountain fastnesses of Citor, 1567.[184] +The heroic queen-regent of Ahmadnagar, Chand Bibi, and the romantic +story of her struggle against Akbar, in 1596, is the subject of the poem +on p. 353. Only the bright side is, however, presented; the tragic fate +which overtook the unfortunate princess three years later is not +referred to.[185] The famous battle of Samugarh, 1658, by which +Aurangzib gained the Mogul Empire, is narrated on p. 310, according to +the account of Bernier.[186] In this connection we may also mention "Das +Mikroskop," p. 370, the familiar anecdote of the Brahman who refused to +drink water, after the microscope had revealed to him the existence +therein of countless animalcules (Ritter, _Erdk._ iv. 1. p. 749). + + * * * * * + +Besides the poems falling under the groups discussed above there are +many of purely didactic or moralizing tendency, embodying general +reflections. It would take us too far, were we to attempt to discuss +them, even if their interest were sufficiently great to repay the +trouble. We must, however, point out that even the Sanskrit vocabulary +is impressed into service to furnish material for such poems. Thus the +fact that the word _pada_ may mean either "foot," "step," or "ray of +the moon or sun," is utilized for the last lines of "Vom Monde," p. 368. +The meaning of the term _bakravratin_, "acting like a crane," applied to +a hypocrite, is used for a poem on p. 363. Similarly the threefold +signification of _dvipa_ as "brahman," "bird," and "tooth" suggests +"Zweigeboren," p. 423, and more instances might be adduced. It is not to +be wondered at that such poetizing should often degenerate into the most +inane trifling, so that we get such rhyming efforts as that on p. 326 +with its pun on the similarity of _hima_ "winter" with _hema_ "gold," +_Himalaya_ and _himavat_ with _Himmel_ and _Heimat_, or that on p. 385 +with its childish juxtaposition of the Vedantic term _maya_, the Greek +name _Maia_, and the German word _Magie_. + + * * * * * + +If the poems discussed in the preceding pages were found to be largely +didactic and gnomic in character, the great collection called _Die +Weisheit des Brahmanen_ is entirely so. The poems composing this bulky +work appeared in installments during the period 1836-1839, and, while +many of them, as will be shown below, are the outcome of Rueckert's +Oriental studies, the majority simply embody general reflections on +anything and everything that happened to engage the poet's attention. +"Es muss alles hinein, was ich eben lese: vor acht Wochen Spinoza, vor +vierzehn Tagen Astronomie, jetzt Grimms ueberschwenglich gehaltreiche +Deutsche Mythologie, alles unter der nachlaessig vorgehaltenen +Brahmanenmaske...."[187] These are the author's own words and render +further detailed characterization of the work superfluous. It is well +known that the sources for the great didactic collection, even for that +part of it which is not composed of reflections on matters of +contemporary history, politics and literature, or relating to questions +of family and friendship, are more Occidental than Oriental.[188] In +fact, the Brahmanic character of the wisdom here expounded consists +mainly in the contemplative spirit of reposeful didacticism which +pervades the entire collection. Nor is there anything Oriental about +the form of the poems,--the rhymed Alexandrine reigning supreme with +wearisome monotony. + +A detailed discussion of the _Weisheit_, therefore, even if it were +possible within the limits of this dissertation, will not be attempted; +the less so, as such a discussion, so far as the Oriental side, at +least, is concerned, would be very much of the same nature as that given +of the _Brahmanische Erzaehlungen_. A general Oriental influence, +especially of the _Bhagavadgita_-philosophy or of Rumi's pantheism, is +noticeable enough in many places,[189] but particular instances of such +influence are not hard to find. We shall adduce only a few, taken from +the fifth division or _Stufe_, called _Leben_. Of these there are taken +from the _Hitopadesa_ Nos. 25 (_Hit._ i. couplet 179; tr. Hertel, 141), +26 (ib. i. 178; tr. Hertel, 140), 111 (ib. i. couplet 80; Wilkins' tr. +p. 56). From the _Gulistan_ are taken Nos. 290 (_Gul._ i. 13; K.S. dist. +p. 42), 326 (ibid. vii. 20; K.S. dist. p. 230), 366 (ibid. vii. 20; K.S. +p. 232). No. 60 was probably suggested by the fable of the ass and the +camel in Jami's _Baharistan_ (tr. K.S. p. 179). No. 476 draws a moral +from the fact that the Persian title _mirza_ means either "scribe" or +"prince," according to its position before or behind the person's name. +In No. 201 we recognize a Persian proverb: [Arabic] "little goat, do not +die; spring is coming, you will eat clover." No. 364: + + "Herr Strauss, wenn ein Kameel du bist, so trage mir!" + Ich bin ein Vogel. "Flieg!" Ich bin ein Trampeltier + +is also a Persian proverb and is absolutely unintelligible, unless one +happens to know that the Persian word for "ostrich" is [Arabic], literally +"camel-bird." + +Again, to cite from other _Stufen_, Firdausi's lines, already used by +Goethe in his _Divan_ (see p. 25 above), furnish the text for a moral +poem, p. 487 (18). The Persian notion of the peacock being ashamed of +his ugly feet (cf. _Gul._ ii. 8, _qit'ah_) is put to a similar use on p. +463 (162). Some poems are moralizingly descriptive of Indic customs, +e.g., p. 157 (11), where reverence for the _guru_ or "teacher" is +inculcated (cf. _Manu_ ii, 71, 228) and pp. 10, 11 (18, 19), where the +conditions are set forth under which the Vedas may be read (cf. _Manu_ +iv. 101-126, or _Yajn._ i. 142-151). A comparison is instituted between +the famous court of Vikramaditya and his seven gems, of which Kalidasa +was one, and that of Karl August of Weimar and his poetic circle, p. 148 +(39). + +Trivial and empty rhyming is of course abundant in such an uncritical +mass of verse, and we also meet with insipid puns, like that on the +Arabic word _din_, "religion," and the German word _dienen_, p. 498 +(48). + +These examples, we believe, will suffice for our purpose. With the +philosophical part of the _Weisheit_ we are not here concerned. + + * * * * * + +A great many Oriental poems are scattered throughout the collection +which bears the title of _Pantheon_ (vol. vii.). We may mention "Die +gefallenen Engel," p. 286, the legend of Harut and Marut, "Wischnu auf +der Schlange," p. 286, "Die nackten Weisen," p. 287, and others. Some +poems in this collection are in spirit akin to the _Oestliche Rosen_, +e.g. "Becher und Wein," p. 291, "Der Traum," p. 283, and the +"Vierzeilen," pp. 481, 482. Besides this, the _gazal_-form occurs +repeatedly, e.g. "Fruehlingshymne," p. 273. So fond does Rueckert seem to +have been of this form, that he employs it even for a poem on such an +unoriental subject as Easter, p. 189 (2). + +This collection is furthermore of interest from the biographical side, +as often giving us Rueckert's opinions. Thus we find evidence that he was +by no means onesidedly prejudiced in favor of things Oriental. Referring +to the myth of fifty-three million Apsarases having sprung from the +sea,[190] he states (p. 24), that if he were to be the judge, these +fifty-three million nymphs bedecked with jewels would have to bow before +the one Aphrodite in her naked glory. And again in "Rueckkehr," p. 51, +the poet confesses that having wandered to the East to forget his misery +and finding thorns in the rose-gardens of Persia, and demons, misshapen +gods and monkeys acting the parts of heroes in India, he is glad to +return to the Iliad and Odyssey (cf. also "Zu den oestlichen Rosen," p. +153). + +Rueckert was evidently aware of his tendency to overproduction. He offers +an explanation in "Spruchartiges," p. 157: + + Mir ist Verse zu machen und kuenstliche Vers' ein Beduerfnis, + Fehlt mir ein eigenes Lied, so uebersetz' ich mir eins. + +And again to his own question, Musst du denn immer dichten?, p. 159, he +answers: + + Ich denke nie ohne zu dichten, + Und dichte nie ohne zu denken. + +Graf von Schack has aptly applied to Rueckert's poems the famous sentence +which a Spaniard pronounced about Lope de Vega, that no poet wrote so +many good plays, but none also so many poor ones.[191] + + * * * * * + +Whatever defects it may have, Rueckert's Oriental work is nevertheless +indisputably of the greatest importance to German literature. More than +any one else he brought over into it a new spirit and new forms; and it +is due primarily to his unsurpassed technical skill that the German +language is to-day the best medium for an acquaintance, not only with +the literature of the West, but also with that of the East. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[145] See Beyer, Friedrich Rueckert, Fkft. a. M. 1868, pp. 101, 102. + +[146] Vol. v. pp. 200-237. + +[147] So Hammer himself thought at the time. See Rob. Boxberger, +Rueckert-Studien, Gotha, 1878, p. 224. Such also was the opinion of the +scholarly von Schack, Strophen des Omar Chijam, Stuttg. 1878, Nachwort, +p. 117, note. A copy of the original _divan_ of Rumi has not been +accessible to me. + +[148] Cf. for instance No. 8, in ii. with Red. p. 175, and No. 24 in ii. +p. 235, with Red. p. 188. + +[149] Vol. v. ii. 25, p. 236. + +[150] Cf. Hafid, Saqi Namah, couplets 77, 78 for the three names +mentioned above. The figure is most familiar to the English reader from +Fitzgerald's version, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Boston, 1899, p. 211, +xxxvii. See also 'Umar Xayyam ed. Whinfield, London, 1883, No. 466. + +[151] They were published in Deutscher Musenalmanach, 1838, and do not +belong properly to the collection here discussed. + +[152] See essay on this by Robert Boxberger in Rueckert-Studien, pp. +210-278. Also Beyer, Neue Mittheil. vol. i. p. 213; vol. ii. pp. 201-204 +for the date of many of these poems. + +[153] Also a few of the Vierzeilen-Sprueche, pp. 102-108, e.g. No. +30=Nitis. 31. + +[154] Friedr. Rueckert, Grammatik, Poetik u. Rhetorik der Perser, ed. W. +Pertsch, Gotha, 1874, p. 187. + +[155] Ibid. p. 360. + +[156] Fr. Wilken, Hist. Gasnevid. Berol. 1832, p. 13, Latin p. 148. + +[157] Cf. transl. of Baharistan for Kama Shastra Society, Benares, 1887, +p. 180. The Persian text of these fables appeared in 1805 in the +chrestomathy appended to Fr. Wilken's Institutiones ad Fundamenta +Linguae Persicae, Lipsiae, 1805, pp. 172-181. + +[158] This poem was mistranslated by Hammer in his Divan des Hafis, Tueb. +1812, vol. ii. p. 553. Bodenstedt has given a version in rhymed +couplets: Der Saenger von Schiras, Berl. 1877, p. 129. + +[159] For Nidami I have used a lithographed edition published at Shiraz, +A.H. 1312. In Wilberforce Clarke's transl. of the Iskandar Namah, +London, 1881, the couplet in question is the forty-third. + +[160] Cf. for Persian text Garcin de Tassy, Mantic Uttair, Paris, 1863. +Also French transl. p. 1 seq. + +[161] See Jas. W. Redhouse, The Mesnevi of Mevlana (our Lord) +Jelalu-d-din, Muhammed, er-Rumi, Lond. 1881, B. i. p. 19. For Rueckert's +source see Boxberger, op. cit. p. 224. + +[162] See H. Ethe, Neupers. Litt. in Grdr. iran. Phil. vol. ii. p. 289. + +[163] Wilh. Bacher, Nizamis Leben u. Werke, Leipz. 1871, p. 119 and n. +4. + +[164] Memoires sur divers Antiquites de la Perse, et sur les Medailles +des Rois de la dynastie des Sassanides, suivis de l'Histoire de cette +Dynastie traduite du Persan de Mirkhond par A.I. Silv. de Sacy, Paris, +1793. + +[165] Mohammedi Filii Chavendschahi vulgo Mirchondi Historia Samanidarum +Pers. ed. Frid. Wilken, Goettingae, 1808. + +Mohammedi Filii Chondschahi vulgo Mirchondi Historia Gasnevidarum +Persice ed. Frid. Wilken, Berol. 1832. + +Geschichte der Sultane aus dem Geschlechte Bujeh nach Mirchond, Wilken +in Hist. philos. Abh. der kgl. Akad. d. Wissensch. zu Berlin, Berl. +1837. (This work from 1835.) + +[166] Mirchonds Geschichte der Seldschuken, aus d. Pers. zum ersten Mal +uebers. etc., Joh. Aug. Vullers, Giessen, 1837. + +[167] A complete list of the portions of Mirchvand's work edited and +published by European scholars before 1837 may be found in Zenker's +Bibl. Orient., Nos. 871-881. Nos 874, 875 and 879 have not been +accessible to me. + +[168] A letter given by Boxberger in op. cit. p. 74 shows that Rueckert +asked for the loan of this book. + +[169] Histoire de Yemineddoula Mahmoud, tr. par A.I. Silv. de Sacy in +Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibl. Nat., tom. iv. + +[170] For a similar form of the story see Gobineau, Histoire des Perses, +Paris, 1869, vol. ii. pp. 9, 10, where the story is given on the +authority of a Parsi work, the "Tjehar-e-Tjemen" (i.e. Cahar-i-Caman, +"the four lawns"). + +[171] For the romance about this man see Th. Noeldeke, Tabari, pp. +474-478. + +[172] Lithogr. ed., p. 23. See also Malcolm, op. cit. i. 196; Red. p. +107. + +[173] Deguignes, Hist. Gen. des Huns, des Turcs, des Mogols, et des +autres Tartares occidentaux, etc. Paris, 1756-1758, vol. ii. pp. 209, +223; Malcolm, op. cit. i. pp. 211, 218. + +[174] See Elphinstone's Hist. of India, Lond., 1841, vol. ii. pp. 10-12; +also Elliot, The History of India as told by its own historians, Lond. +1867-1877, vol. ii. pp. 332-335, 337, where the story is not so romantic +as in Rueckert's poem. + +[175] Taken from Red. p. 183, where it is given as from Rumi. See above, +p. 6. + +[176] Gesta Roman. ed. Herm. Oesterly. Berl. 1872, c. 167. For +bibliography of this fable see W.A. Clouston, A Group of Eastern +Romances, 1889, pp. 563-566, pp. 448-452. + +[177] Book of the Thousand and One Nights, by John Payne, Lond. 1894, +vol. v. p. 153. + +[178] Ibid. p. 168. + +[179] Ibid. p. 199. + +[180] In Juedische Parabeln, vol. 26, p. 359; see also Bacher, Nizamis +Leben u. Werke, p. 117, n. 4. + +[181] These episodes are outlined in Hammer, Red. p. 118; see Malcolm, +op. cit. i. 55, 56. + +[182] We call attention to the fact that the fourth division of this +collection (pp. 392-439 in our edition) is made up of poems which really +belong to the Weisheit des Brahmanen. + +[183] Jackson, Die iran. Religion in Grdr. iran. Phil. ii. pp. 629, 630. + +[184] Elliot, Hist. of India, vol. v. pp. 160-175; 324-328. + +[185] Elphinstone, Hist. of India, vol. ii. pp. 229-301 and note, where +the legend of the queen firing silver balls is given on the authority of +Xafi Xan. Elliot, op. cit. vi. 99-101. + +[186] The History of the Late Revolution of the Empire of the Great +Mogul, Lond. 1671, pp. 106-131. See also Elliot, op. cit. vol. vii. pp. +220-224, and Elphinstone, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 425 seq., where a +slightly different account of the battle is given. + +[187] Letter to Melchior Meyr, Dec. 25, 1836, cited by C. Beyer in +Nachgelassene Ged. Fr. Rueckerts. Wien, 1877, pp. 210, 211. + +[188] Koch, Der Deutsche Brahmane, Breslau (Deutsche Buecherei, Serie iv. +Heft 23), p. 22. + +[189] Ibid. pp. 18-22. For Rumi's influence see esp. in vol. viii. of +the edition cited, pp. 544. 7, 566. 74 et al. + +[190] In Ramay. i. 45, where the story of their origin is briefly given, +we read that sixty _kotis_, i.e. 600,000,000 (a _koti_ being +10,000,000), came forth from the sea, not reckoning their numberless +female attendants. + +[191] Schack, Ein halbes Jahrhundert, Stuttg. Berl. Wien, 1894, vol. ii. +p. 41. See also Koch, op. cit. pp. 11-13; Rud. Gottschall, Fried. +Rueckert in Portraits u. Studien, Leipz. 1870, vol. i. pp. 163-166; Rich. +Meyer, Gesch. der Litt. des 19 Jahrh. Berl. 1890, p. 56. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +HEINE. + + Becomes Interested in India through Schlegel--Influence of + India's Literature on his Poetry--Interest in the Persian + Poets--Persian Influence on Heine--His Attitude toward the + Oriental Movement. + + +"Was das Sanskrit-Studium selbst betrifft, so wird ueber den Nutzen +desselben die Zeit entscheiden. Portugiesen, Hollaender und Englaender +haben lange Zeit jahraus, jahrein auf ihren grossen Schiffen die Schaetze +Indiens nach Hause geschleppt; wir Deutsche hatten immer das Zusehen. +Aber die geistigen Schaetze Indiens sollen uns nicht entgehen. Schlegel, +Bopp, Humboldt, Frank u. s. w. sind unsere jetzigen Ostindienfahrer; +Bonn und Muenchen werden gute Faktoreien sein." + +With these words Heine sent forth his "Sonettenkranz" to A.W. von +Schlegel in 1821.[192] These sonnets show what a deep impression the +personality and lectures of the famous romanticist made on him while he +was a student at Bonn, in 1819 and 1820. Schlegel had just then been +appointed to the professorship of Literature at the newly created +university, and to his lectures Heine owed the interest for India which +manifests itself in many of his poems, and which continued even in later +years when his relations to his former teacher had undergone a complete +change. + +He never undertook the study of Sanskrit. His interest in India was +purely poetic. "Aber ich stamme aus Hindostan, und daher fuehle ich mich +so wohl in den breiten Sangeswaeldern Valmikis, die Heldenlieder des +goettlichen Ramo bewegen mein Herz wie ein bekanntes Weh, aus den +Blumenliedern Kalidasas bluehen mir hervor die suessesten Erinnerungen" +(_Ideen_, vol. v. p. 115)--these words, with some allowance perhaps for +the manner of the satirist, may well be taken to characterize the +poet's attitude towards India. Instinctively he appropriated to himself +the most beautiful characteristics of Sanskrit poetry, its tender love +for the objects of nature, for flowers and animals and the similes and +metaphors inspired thereby, and he invests them with all the grace and +charm peculiar to his muse. Some of his finest verses owe their +inspiration to the lotus; and in that famous poem "Die Lotosblume +aengstigt,"--so beautifully set to music by Schumann--the favorite flower +of India's poets may be said to have found its aesthetic apotheosis. As +is well known, there are two kinds of lotuses, the one opening its +leaves to the sun (Skt. _padma_, _pankaja_), the other to the moon (Skt. +_kumuda_, _kairava_). Both kinds are mentioned in _Sakuntala_ (Act. V. +Sc. 4, ed. Kale, Bombay, 1898, p. 141): _kumudanyeva sasankah savita +bhodhayati pankajanyeva_ "the moon wakes only the night lotuses, the sun +only the day lotuses."[193] It is the former kind, the nymphaea +esculenta, of which Heine sings, and his conception of the moon as its +lover is distinctively Indic and constantly recurring in Sanskrit +literature. Thus at the beginning of the first book of the _Hitopadesa_ +the moon is called the lordly bridegroom of the lotuses.[194] + +The splendor of an Indic landscape haunts the imagination of the poet. +On the wings of song he will carry his love to the banks of the Ganges +(vol. i. p. 98), to that moonlit garden where the lotus-flowers await +their sister, where the violets peep at the stars, the roses whisper +their perfumed tales into each other's ears and the gazelles listen, +while the waves of the sacred river make sweet music. And again in a +series of sonnets addressed to Friederike (_Neue Ged._ vol. ii. p. 65) +he invites her to come with him to India, to its palm-trees, its +ambra-blossoms and lotus-flowers, to see the gazelles leaping on the +banks of the Ganges, and the peacocks displaying their gaudy plumage, to +hear Kokila singing his impassioned lay. He sees Kama in the features of +his beloved, and Vasanta hovering on her lips; her smile moves the +Gandharvas in their golden, sunny halls to song. + + * * * * * + +Allusions to episodes from Sanskrit literature are not infrequent in +Heine's writings. The famous struggle between King Visvamitra with the +sage Vasistha for example is mockingly referred to in two stanzas (vol. +i. p. 146).[195] His own efforts to win the favor of a certain Emma +(_Neue Ged._ ii. 54) the poet likens to the great act of penance by +which King Bhagiratha brought down the Ganges from heaven.[196] + + * * * * * + +Heine's prose-writings also furnish abundant proofs of his interest in +and acquaintance with Sanskrit literature. In the opening chapters of +the _Buch Le Grand_ (c. 4, vol. v. p. 114) he brings before us another +vision of tropical Indic splendor. In his sketches from Italy (_Reiseb._ +ii. vol. vi. p. 137) he draws a parallel between the priesthood of Italy +and that of India, which is anything but flattering to either. It is +also not correct; he notices, to be sure, that in the Sanskrit drama (of +which he knows only _Sakuntala_ and _Mrcchakatika_) the role of buffoon +is assigned invariably to a Brahman, but he is ignorant of the origin of +this singular custom.[197] In his essay on the Romantic School, when +speaking of Goethe's godlike repose, he introduces by way of +illustration the well-known episode from the Nala-story where Damayanti +distinguishes her lover from the gods who had assumed his form by the +blinking of his eyes (vol. ix. p. 52). In the same essay (ibid. pp. 49, +50), he bestows enthusiastic praise on Goethe's _Divan_, and this brings +us to the question of Persian influence upon Heine. + + * * * * * + +Starting as he did on his literary career at the time when Goethe's +_Divan_ and Rueckert's _Oestliche Rosen_ had inaugurated the Hafizian +movement in German literature, it would have been strange if he had +remained entirely outside of the sphere of its influence. As a matter of +fact, he took some interest in Persian poetry almost from the outset of +his poetical activity, as his letters clearly show. As early as 1821, he +mentions Sa'di with the epithet _herrlich_, calls him the Persian Goethe +and cites one of his couplets (_Gul._ ii. 48, _qit'ah_; K.S. p. 122) in +the version of Herder.[198] In April, 1823, he writes from Berlin that +during the preceding winter he has studied the non-Semitic part of +Asia,[199] and the following year in a letter to Moser[200] he speaks of +Persian as "die suesse, rosige, leuchtende Bulbulsprache," and goes on to +imagine himself a Persian poet in exile among Germans. "O Firdusi! O +Ischami! (sic for Jami) O Saadi! Wie elend ist euer Bruder! Ach wie +sehne ich mich nach den Rosen von Schiras." Such a rose he calls in one +of his _Nordsee_-poems "die Hafisbesungene Nachtigallbraut" ("Im Hafen," +vol. i. p. 218). + +Yet, judging from the familiar epigrams of Immermann, which Heine cites +at the end of _Norderney_ (_Reiseb._ i. vol. v. p. 101) as expressive of +his own sentiments, he seems to have held but a poor opinion of the +West-Eastern poetry that followed in the wake of Goethe's _Divan_. He +certainly never attempted anything like an imitation of this poetry, and +Oriental form appealed to him even less. In the famous, or rather +infamous, passage of the _Reisebilder_ (vol. vi. pp. 125-149), where he +makes his savage attack on Platen, he ridicules that poet's _Ghaselen_ +and speaks derisively of their formal technique as "schaukelnde +Balancierkuenste" (ibid. p. 136). It is probable, however, that he judged +the _gazal_ form not so much on its own merits as on the demerits of his +adversary. It is certain at any rate that he has nowhere made use of +this form of versification. + +Persian influence is not noticeable in his earlier poems;[201] his _Buch +der Lieder_ shows no distinctive traces of it. His later poems, _Neue +Gedichte_ (1844) and _Romanzero_ (1851), on the other hand, show it +unmistakably. The Persian image of the rose and the nightingale is of +frequent occurrence. In a poem on Spring (_Neue Ged._ vol. ii. p. 26) we +read: + + Und mir selbst ist dann, als wuerd' ich + Eine Nachtigall und saenge + Diesen Rosen meine Liebe, + Traeumend sing' ich Wunderklaenge--. + +The image recurs repeatedly in the _Neue Gedichte_, e.g. _Neuer +Fruehling_, Nos. 7, 9, 11, 20, 26; _Verschiedene_, No. 7, and in +_Romanzero_ (vol. iii.), pp. 42, 178, 253. Even in the prose-writings it +is found, e.g. _Florentinische Naechte_ (vol. iii. p. 43), _Gedanken und +Einfaelle_ (vol. xii. 309). + +Again, when Heine speaks of pearls that are pierced and strung on a +silken thread ("Kluge Sterne," _Neue Ged._ vol. ii. p. 106), he is +intensely Persian; still more so when he calls Jehuda ben Halevy's +verses (_Romanz._ vol. iii. p. 136): + + Perlenthraenen, die, verbunden + Durch des Reimes goldnen Faden, + Aus der Dichtkunst gueldnen Schmiede + Als ein Lied hervorgegangen. + +The Persian fancy of the moth and candle-flame seems to have been in his +mind when he wrote ("Die Libelle," vol. ii. p. 288): + + Knisternd verzehren die Flammen der Kerzen + Die Kaefer und ihre liebenden Herzen.... + +Still another Persian idea, familiar to us from a preceding chapter, is +the peacock ashamed of his ugly feet ("Unvolkommenheit," _Romanz._ vol. +iii. p. 103). + + * * * * * + +The Persian manner is even employed, and very cleverly, for humorous +effect, for instance, in the poem "Jehuda ben Halevy," cited before. In +this Heine asks Hitzig for the etymology of the name Schlemihl, but +meets with nothing but evasive replies until: + + Endlich alle Knoepfe rissen + An der Hose der Geduld, + +and the poet begins to swear so profanely that the pious Hitzig +surrenders unconditionally and hastens to supply the desired +information. This image of the "trousers of patience" reminds us +strikingly of such Persian phrases as [Arabic] "the cowl of +meditation" (_Gul._ ed. Platts, p. 4), [Arabic] "the carpet of desire" +(ib. p. 113), etc., which are a particular ornament of the highly +artificial rhymed prose, employed in works like the _Gulistan_ and +_Baharistan_. In the latter, for instance, we read of a youth whose +mental equilibrium had been impaired by the charms of a handsome girl: +[Arabic] "he tore the garment of prudence and put on the rags of +disgrace."[202] + +The description of a countess in words like those which Heine puts into +the mouth of a Berlin chamber-musician: "Cypressenwuchs, +Hyacinthenlocken, der Mund ist Ros' und Nachtigall zu gleicher Zeit," ... +(_Briefe aus Berlin_. No. 3, vol. v. p. 205) furnishes another instance +in point. + +And lastly, we must mention one of the best known of Heine's poems, the +trilogy "Der Dichter Firdusi," the subject of which is the famous legend +of Mahmud's ingratitude to Persia's greatest singer and his tardy +repentance. We may add that scholars are not inclined to accept this +legend as historical in all its parts; certainly not in its artistic and +effective ending. This, of course, has nothing to do with the literary +merit of the poem, which is deservedly ranked as one of Heine's happiest +efforts.[203] + + * * * * * + +After all, however, it is clear that Heine is in no sense an +orientalizing poet or a follower of the Hafizian tendency which became +the vogue under the influence of Goethe, Rueckert and Platen. With him +the Oriental element never was more than an incidental feature, strictly +subordinated to his own poetic individuality, and never dominating or +effacing it, as is the case with most of the professedly "Persian" +singers,--those "Perser von dem Main, der Elbe, von der Isar, von der +Pleisse"--who thought, as has justly been remarked, that they had +penetrated into the Persian spirit by merely mentioning _guls_ and +_bulbuls_. Heine had no use for such trivial superficiality. The singer +of the "Loreley" sang as he felt, and in spite of so many apparently +un-German sentiments in his writings he had a right to say (_Die +Heimkehr_, vol. i. p. 131): + + Ich bin ein deutscher Dichter, + Bekannt im deutschen Land; + Nennt man die besten Namen, + So wird auch der meine genannt. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[192] Printed as Nachwort in the Bemerker, No. 10, Suppl. to +Gesellschafter, No. 77. See also H. Heines Leben u. Werke, Ad. +Strodtmann, Hamb. 1883, vol. i. p. 78. + +[193] Similarly Bhartrhari, Nitis. 74. + +[194] _Atha kadacid avasannayam ratrav astacalacudavalambini bhagavati +kumudininayake candramasi_.... (ed. Bomb. 1891, p. 7). "Once upon a time +when the night was spent and the moon, the lordly lover of the lotuses, +was reclining on the crest of the western mountain...." Of other +allusions to this lotus we may cite Vikramorvasi, Act 3. ed. Parab and +Telang, Bomb. 1888, p. 79; Sak. Act iii. ed. Kale, p. 81, and Act iv. +ib. p. 96. + +[195] The episode occurs in Ramay. i. 51-56. It had been translated as +early as 1816 by Bopp in his Conjugationssystem der Sanskritsprache. + +[196] Mahabh. iii. 108, 109; Ramay. i. 42, 43; Markandeya Pur. and other +works. Heine's acquaintance was due undoubtedly to Schlegel's +translation in Indische Bibliothek, 1820. (Aug. Schlegel, Werke, iii. +20-44.) + +[197] See article on this subject by M. Schuyler, Jr., in JAOS. vol. xx. +2. p. 338 seq. + +[198] Letter to Friedr. Steinmann, Saemmtl. Werke, Hamb. 1876, vol. xix. +No. 7, p. 43. + +[199] Ibid. No. 15, p. 80. + +[200] Ibid. No. 38, pp. 200, 201. + +[201] One poem of his earliest period, Die Lehre (vol. iii. p. 276), +published in Hamburgs Waechter, 1817 (Strodtmann, op. cit. i. 54), does +seem to show it. In this the young bee, heedless of motherly advice, +does not beware of the candle-flame and so "Flamme gab Flammentod." We +at once recognize a familiar Persian thought, and are reminded of +Goethe's fine line, "Das Lebend'ge will ich preisen das nach Flammentod +sich sehnet." (Selige Sehnsucht, ed. Loeper, iv. 26.) + +[202] O.M. v. Schlechta-Wssehrd, Der Fruehlingsgarten von Mewlana +Abdurrahman Dschami, Wien, 1846. Persian text, p. 38. + +[203] For a discussion of the legend see Noeldeke in Grdr. iran. Phil. +vol. ii. pp. 154, 155, 158. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +BODENSTEDT. + + Lieder des Mirza Schaffy--Are Original Poems--Nachlass--Aus + Morgenland und Abendland--Sakuntala, a Narrative Poem. + + +The Hafid tendency was carried to the height of popularity by Friedrich +Martin Bodenstedt, whose _Lieder des Mirza Schaffy_ met with a +phenomenal success, running through one hundred and forty editions in +Germany alone during the lifetime of the author, besides being +translated into many foreign languages.[204] These songs have had a +remarkable career, which the author himself relates in an essay appended +to the _Nachlass_.[205] + +According to the prevailing opinion, Mirza Schaffy was a great Persian +poet, a rival of Sa'di and Hafid, and Bodenstedt was the translator of +his songs. Great, therefore, was the astonishment of the European, and +particularly the German public, when it was discovered that the name of +this famous poet was utterly unknown in the East, even in his own native +land. As early as 1860, Professor Brugsch, when in Tiflis, had searched +for the singer's grave, but in vain; nobody could tell him where a +certain Mirza Schaffy lay buried. At last, in 1870, the Russian +counsellor Adolph Berge gave an authentic account of the real man and +his literary activity.[206] Two things were clearly established: first, +that such a person as Mirza Safi' had really existed; second, that this +person was no poet. On this second point the few scraps of verse which +Berge had been able to collect, and which he submitted in the essay +cited above, leave absolutely no doubt. So, in 1874, when Bodenstedt +published another poetic collection of Mirza Schaffy, he appended an +essay wherein he explained clearly the origin and the nature of the +original collection bearing that name. + +According to his own statements, these poems are not translations. They +are entirely his own,[207] and were originally not an independent +collection, but part of the biographical romance _Tausend und ein Tag im +Orient_.[208] This should be kept in mind if we wish to estimate them at +their true value. + +Nevertheless the poems are genuinely Oriental and owe their existence to +the author's stay in the East, particularly in Tiflis, during the winter +1843-44. But for this residence in the Orient, so Bodenstedt tells +us,[209] a large part of them would never have seen the light. + +In form, however, they are Occidental--the _gazal_ being used only a few +times (e.g. ii. 135, or in the translations from Hafid in chap. 21: ii. +70=H. 8; ii. 72=H. 155, etc.) In spirit they are like Hafid. "Mein +Lehrer ist Hafis, mein Bethaus ist die Schenke," so Mirza Schaffy +himself proclaims (i. p. 96), and images and ideas from Hafid, familiar +to us from preceding chapters, meet us everywhere. The stature like a +cypress, the nightingale and the rose, the verses like pearls on a +string, and others could be cited as instances. Other authors are also +laid under contribution; thus the comparison of Mirza Schaffy to a bee +seems to have been suggested by a maxim of Sa'di (_Gul._ viii. No. 77, +ed. Platts; K.S. p. 268), where a wise man without practice is called a +bee without honey, and the thought in the last verse of "Die Rose auch" +(vol. ii. p. 85), that the rose cannot do without dirt and the +nightingale feeds on worms, is a reminiscence of a story of Nidami which +we had occasion to cite in the chapter on Rueckert (see p. 43). In one +case a poem contains a Persian proverb. Mirza Schaffy criticises the +opinions of the Shah's viziers in the words: "Ich hoere das Geklapper +einer Muehle, doch sehe ich kein Mehl" (i, 85), a literal rendering of + + [Arabic] + +Of course the _mullas_ and hypocrites in general are roundly scored, +especially in chapter 27, where the sage, angered by the reproaches +which the _mustahid_ has made to him for his bad conduct and irreligious +poetry, gives vent to his sentiments of disgust in a number of poems +(vol. ii. p. 137 seq.). Bodenstedt undoubtedly had in mind the +persecutions to which Hafid was subject, culminating in the refusal of +the priests to give him regular burial and giving rise to the famous +story of the _fatva_. + +The tavern and the praise of wine are, of course, bound to be prominent +features. In the same _credo_ where Mirza Schaffy proclaims Hafid as +his teacher he also proclaims the tavern as his house of prayer (i. p. +96), and so he celebrates the day when he quit the mosque for the +wine-house (i. p. 98; cf. H. 213. 4). The well known poem "Aus dem +Feuerquell des Weines" (i. p. 106) is in sentiment exactly like a +quatrain of 'Umar Xayyam (Bodl. ed. Heron-Allen, Boston, 1898, No. 78; +Whinfield, 195); the last verse is based on a couplet of Sa'di (_Gul._ +i. 4, last _qit'ah_, Platts, p. 18) which is cited immediately after the +poem itself (i. p. 107). + +A collection of Hafizian songs would scarcely be complete without a song +in praise of Shiraz. This we get in vol. ii. p. 48, where Shiraz is +compared to Tiflis; and just as the former was made famous through +Hafid, so the latter will become famous through Mirza Schaffy. Little +did the worthy sage of Ganja dream that this would come literally true. +Yet it did. The closing lines of the poem-- + + Beruehmt ist Tiflis durch dein Lied + Vom Kyros bis zum Rhein geworden-- + +are no empty boast; they simply express a fact. + +None of Bodenstedt's later poetic publications ever attained the success +of the Mirza Schaffy songs, and, it may be added, none of them equalled +those songs in merit. In 1874 the author resolved once more to try the +magic of that name and so he launched forth a collection called _Aus dem +Nachlasse Mirza Schaffy's_, and to emphasize the Persian character of +these poems the Persian translation of the title, [Arabic], appeared +on the title-page. In spite of all this, however, the Orientalism in +these poems is more artificial than natural; it is not felt as something +essential without which the poems could not exist. The praise of wine, +which is the main theme of the second book,--for the collection +is divided into seven books,--is certainly not characteristically +Persian; European, and especially German poets have also been very +liberal and very proficient in bibulous verse. The maxims that make +up the third and a portion of the fourth book are for the most +part either plainly unoriental, or else so perfectly general, and, we +may add, so hopelessly commonplace, as to fit in anywhere. Some, +however, are drawn from Persian sources. Thus from the _Gulistan_ we +have in the third book, Nos. 8 (_Gul._ Pref. p. 7, last _qit'ah_), 9 +(ibid. p. 6, first three couplets), 12 (ibid. iii. 27, _math_. p. 89) and +36 (saying of the king in _Gul._ i. 1, p. 13). No. 31 is from the +introduction to the _Hitopadesa_ (third couplet).[210] "Die Cypresse," +p. 103, is suggested by _Gul._ viii. 111 (K.S. 81). + +The Oriental stories which form the contents of the fifth book are of +small literary value. Some of them read like versified lessons in +Eastern religion, as, for instance, "Der Sufi," p. 111, which is a +rhymed exposition of a Sufistic principle,[211] and "Der +Wuestenheilige," which enunciates through the lips of Zoroaster himself +his doctrine that good actions are worth more than ascetic +practices.[212] On p. 121 Ibn Yamin is credited with the story of the +poet and the glow-worm, which is found in Sa'di's _Bustan_ (ed. Platts +and Rogers, Lond. 1891, p. 127; tr. Barbier de Meynard, Paris, 1880, p. +163). The famous story of Yusuf and Zalicha, as related by Jami and +Firdausi, is the subject of the longest poem in the book and is told in +a somewhat flippant manner, p. 135 seq. The stories told of Sa'di's +reception at court and his subsequent banishment through the calumny of +the courtiers, pp. 123-128, seem to be pure invention; at least there is +nothing, as far as we know, in the life or writings of the Persian poet +that could have furnished the material for these poems.[213] + +In 1882, still another collection of Bodenstedt's poems, entitled _Aus +Morgenland und Abendland_, made its appearance. Like the _Nachlass_ it +also has seven divisions, of which only the second, fourth and sixth are +of interest for us as containing Oriental material.[214] + +One poem, however, in the first book, "An eine Kerze," p. 5, should be +mentioned as of genuinely Persian character. The candle as symbolical of +the patient, self-sacrificing lover is a familiar feature of Persian +belles-lettres (cf. H. 299. 4; 301. 5; or Rueckert's "Die Kerze und die +Flasche," see above, p. 43). The last line reminds us of a verse of +Jurjani, cited by Jami in the _Baharistan_ (ed. Schlechta-Wssehrd, p. +111), exhorting the ruler to be like a flame, always pointing upwards. + +The second book brings another contribution of sententious wisdom, most +of which is neither new nor Oriental. Of Oriental sources the _Gulistan_ +is best represented. From it are taken Nos. 8 (_Gul._ ii. 4, last +couplet), 9 (ibid. i. 1), 41 (ibid. i. 21, prose-passage before the +_math_. p. 33; K.S. p. 55), 43 (ibid. i. 17, coupl. 4, p. 29; K.S. p. +49), 52 (ibid. i. 29, coupl. 2; K.S. p. 66). No. 47, which is credited +to Ibn Yamin, is from the _Baharistan_ (tr. K.S. p. 46; _Red._ p. 338). +No. 49 is a very free rendering of a quatrain of 'Umar Xayyam (Whinf. +347; _Red._ p. 81).[215] + +The fourth book offers stories, all of which, except the first two, are +from Persian sources. Thus from the _Gulistan_ are "Die Berichtigung" +(_Gul._ i. 31; K.S., p. 67) and "Der Koenigsring" (_Gul._ iii. 27, last +part, p. 92; K.S. p. 157). "Nachtigall und Falk" is from Nidami, as was +pointed out before (see above, p. 43). "Das Paradies der Glaeubigen" is +from Jami (_Red._ p. 324; given there as from the _Subhat ul-abrar_) and +"Ein Bild der Welt" is from Ibn Yamin (_Red._ p. 236).[216] The longest +story of the book is "Dara und Sara," which gives the legend of the +discovery of wine by King Jamsid, told by Mirchvand in his _Raudat +us-safa_.[217] Besides changing the name of the king to Dara, in +order to make the poem more romantic, we find that Bodenstedt has made +some decided alterations and has considerably amplified the legend. Thus +in his version the motive of the lady's attempt at suicide is despised +love, while in the original it is only a prosaic nervous headache. In +both cases, however, the sequel is the same. + +Finally, the sixth book offers very free paraphrases of poems by Rumi, +Sa'di, Amir Mu'izzi and Anvari, who, oddly enough, are termed "Vorlaeufer +des Mirza Schaffy." The source for most of these poems was evidently +Hammer's _Geschichte der schoenen Redekuenste Persiens_. To realize with +what freedom Bodenstedt has treated his models, it is only necessary to +compare some of the poems from Rumi with Hammer's versions, e.g. "Glaube +und Unglaube" (_Red._ p. 175), "Der Mensch und die Welt" (ibid. p. 180), +"Des Lebens Kreislauf" (ibid. p. 178), "Wach' auf" (ibid. p. 181). "Die +Pilger," p. 188, attributed to Jami, is likewise from Rumi (_Red._ p. +181; cf. Rueckert, _Werke_, vol. v. p. 220). The poems from Sa'di can +mostly be traced to the _Gulistan_; they are so freely rendered that +they have little in common with the originals except the thought. No. 1 +is _Gul._ ii. 18, _qit'ah_ 1, to which the words of Luqman are added; +no. 2 is from _Gul._ iii. 10, couplet (p. 76; K.S. p. 129); no. 3 is +_Gul._ iii. 27, _math_. (p. 89; K.S., p. 151); no. 4 is _Gul._ iii. 27, +_qit'ah_ (p. 91; K.S., p. 154) and no. 5 is _Gul._ i. 39, _math_. The +poem "Heimat und Fremde" is taken from Amir Mu'izzi,[218] the court-poet +of Malak Shah, who in turn took it from Anvari. It is cited in the _Haft +Qulzum_ to illustrate a kind of poetic theft.[219] "Unterschied" is from +Jami (_Red._ p. 315, given as from _Subhat ul-abrar_), "Warum" from Ibn +Yamin (_Red._ p. 235); "Die Sterne" and "Die Zeit" are both from Anvari +(_Red._ pp. 98, 99). + + * * * * * + +So far, Bodenstedt had taken the material for his Oriental poems from +Persia, but now he turned to India and in 1887 appeared _Sakuntala_, a +romantic epic in five cantos. In the main it follows the story of +Kalidasa's famous drama, but the version in the _Mahabharata_ is also +used, and a considerable number of episodes are invented. Even where the +account of the drama is followed, changes of a more or less sweeping +nature are frequent. We cannot say that they strike us as so many +improvements on Kalidasa; they certainly often destroy or obliterate +characteristic Indic features. Thus in the drama the failure of the king +to recognize Sakuntala is the result of a curse pronounced against the +girl by the irascible saint Durvasas, whom she has inadvertently failed +to treat with due respect, and the ring is merely a means of breaking +the spell. All this is highly characteristic of Hindu thought. In +Bodenstedt's poem, however, remembering and forgetting are dependent on +a magic quality inherent in the ring itself,--a trait that is at home in +almost any literature.[220] + + * * * * * + +There are, besides, many minor changes. The _vidusaka_, or fun-making +attendant of the king, is left out, and so the warriors express the +sentiments that he utters at the beginning of Act 2. Dusyanta does not +bid farewell to his beloved in person, but leaves a letter. Again, after +he has failed to recognize her, she returns to the hermitage of Kanva, +whereas in the drama she is transported to that of Kasyapa on the +Hemakuta mountain. So, of course, the aerial ride of the king in Indra's +wagon is also done away with. + +In many places, on the other hand, the poem follows the drama very +closely. For instance, the passage in the first canto describing the mad +elephant (pp. 14, 15)[221] is a paraphrase of the warning uttered by one +of the holy men in Act 1. Sc. 4 (ed. Kale, p. 40). The discourse of +Sakuntala with her friends (pp. 37, 38), the incident of the bee and +Priyamvada's playful remark (pp. 38-40) are closely modelled after the +fourth scene of Act 1. Many passages of the poem are in fact nothing but +translations. Thus the words which the king on leaving, writes to +Sakuntala (p. 78): + + Doch mein Herz wird stets zurueckbewegt, + Wie die wehende Fahne an der Stange, + Die man vollem Wind entgegentraegt-- + +are a pretty close rendering of the final words of the king's soliloquy +at the end of Act 1: + + _gacchati purah sariram dhavati pascad asamstutam cetah cinamsukam + iva ketoh prativatam niyamanasya_ + + "my body goes forward; the mind not agreeing with it flies backward + like the silken streamer of a banner borne against the wind." + +A large part of the whole poem is pure invention, designed to make the +story more exciting by means of a greater variety of incident. Such +invented episodes, for instance, are the gory battle-scenes that take up +the first part of the fourth canto, the omen of the fishes in the fifth, +and the episodes in which Bharata plays the chief role in that canto. +Some of the things told of this boy, how he knocks down the gate-keeper +who refuses to admit his mother, how he strikes the queen Vasumati who +had insulted her, and how he slays the assassin whom this jealous queen +had sent against him, are truly remarkable in view of the fact that the +hero of all these exploits cannot be more than six years of age (see pp. +112, 113). The account in the _Mahabharata_, to be sure, tells of +equally fabulous exploits performed by the youth, but there we move in +an atmosphere of the marvelous. In Bodenstedt's poem, however, the +supernatural has been almost completely banished, and we cannot help +noticing the improbability of these deeds. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[204] Hebrew by Jos. Choczner, Breslau, 1868; Dutch by van Krieken, +Amst. 1875; English by E. d'Esterre, Hamb. 1880; Italian by Giuseppe +Rossi, 1884; Polish by Dzialoszye, Warsaw, 1888. See list in G. Schenk, +Friedr. Bodenstedt, Ein Dichterleben in seinen Briefen, Berl. 1893, pp. +246-248. + +[205] Aus dem Nachlasse Mirza Schaffys, Berl. 1874, pp. 191-223. + +[206] In ZDMG. vol. xxiv. pp. 425-432. + +[207] With few exceptions, pointed out by Bodenstedt himself, e.g. +"Mullah rein ist der Wein" is from the Tartaric. Nachlass, p. 208. + +[208] Friedr. Bodenstedts Gesammelte Schriften, Berlin, 1865, 12 vols. +Vols. i and ii. All references to the Lieder des M.S. are to this +edition. + +[209] Nachlass, p. 193. + +[210] Or else a saying of Muhammad exactly like it, cited by Prof. +Brugsch in Aus dem Morgenlande, Lpz. Recl. Univ. Bibl. 3151-2, p. 57. + +[211] Cf. Bodenstedt's remarks on Sufism in Nachtrag, p. 198 seq. + +[212] See my article on Religion of Ancient Persia in Progress, vol. +iii. No. 5, p. 290. + +[213] A complete history of Sa'di's life, drawn from his own writings as +well as other sources, is given by W. Bacher, Sa'di's Aphorismen und +Sinngedichte, Strassb. 1879. On the relation of the poet to the rulers +of his time, see esp. p. xxxv seq. + +[214] We cite from the third edition, 1887. + +[215] Translated more closely by Bodenstedt in Die Lieder und Sprueche +des Omar Chajjam, Breslau, 1881, p. 29. + +[216] Schlechta-Wssehrd, Ibn Jemins Bruchstuecke. Wien, 1852, pp. 138, +139. + +[217] Tr. David Shea, Hist. of the Early Kings of Persia, Lond. 1832, +pp. 102-104; Malcolm. i. p. 10, note b. + +[218] Ethe in Grdr. iran. Phil. ii. p. 260; Pizzi, Storia, vol. i. pp. +88, 215. + +[219] Rueckert, Gram. Poet. u. Rhet. der Perser, p. 363. + +[220] Cf. the story of Charlemagne and the magic stone given to him by a +grateful serpent. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, 1. 130. + +[221] We cite from an edition publ. at Leipzig, no date. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE MINOR ORIENTALIZING POETS. + + SOME LESS KNOWN POETS WHO ATTEMPTED THE ORIENTAL MANNER. + + +To enumerate the names of all the German poets who affected the Oriental +manner would be to give a list of the illustrious obscure. Most of them +have only served to furnish another illustration of Horace's famous +_mediocribus esse poetis_. A bare mention of such names as Loeschke, +Levitschnigg, Wihl, Stieglitz and von Hermannsthal will suffice.[222] +The last mentioned poet gives a striking illustration of the inanity of +most of this kind of work. He uses the _gazal_ form for stories about +such persons as the Gracchi and Bluecher,[223] and, what is still more +curious, for tirades against the Oriental tendency.[224] A poet of +different calibre is Daumer, whose _Hafis_ (Hamb. 1846) for a long time +was regarded as a translation, whereas the poems of the collection are +in reality original productions in Hafid's manner, just like Rueckert's +_Oestliche Rosen_.[225] Their sensuous, passionate eroticism, however, is +not a genuine Hafid quality, as we before have seen. The same criticism +applies even much more forcibly to Schefer's _Hafis in Hellas_ (Hamburg, +1853).[226] Special mention is due to the gifted, but unfortunate, +Heinrich Leuthold, whose _Ghaselen_ deserve to be placed by the side of +Platen's. Like Platen and Rueckert, he too proclaims himself a reveller: + + Zur Gottheit ward die Schoenheit mir + Und mein Gebet wird zum Ghasel.-- + +But these _Ghaselen_ do not attempt to be so intensely Persian as to +reproduce the objectionable features of Persian poetry. Thus Leuthold +sings: + + Vor allem ein Lebehoch dem Hafis, dem Patriarchen der Zunft!-- + D'rum bringe die liebliche Schenkin das Gold gefuellter Becher + hinein![227] + +Evidently the poet sees no necessity for retaining the _saqi_, but makes +the poem more acceptable to Western taste by substituting a "Schenkin" +for Platen's "Schenke." + +The Oriental story was cultivated by J.F. Castelli. Many of the subjects +of his _Orientalische Granaten_ (Dresden, 1852) had already been used by +Rueckert. Another Oriental storyteller in verse is Ludwig Bowitsch, whose +_Sindibad_ (Leipzig, 1860) contains mostly Arabic material. Friedrich +von Sallet has written a poem on _Zerduscht_[228] which gives the +Iranian legend of the attempt made by the sorcerers to burn the newborn +child.[229] It would, however, lead us too far were we to mention single +poems on Oriental subjects or of Oriental tendency. + + * * * * * + +Head and shoulders above all these less known poets towers the figure of +Count von Schack, who, like Rueckert, combined the poetic gift with the +learning of the scholar, and who thus stands out a worthy successor of +the German Brahman as a representative of the idea of the +_Weltlitteratur_. A discussion of his work is a fitting close for this +investigation. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[222] On these see Paul Horn, Was verdanken Wir Persien, in Nord u. Sued, +Heft 282, p. 386 seq. + +[223] Ghaselen, Leipz. Recl. Univ. Bibl. No. 371, pp. 96, 99. + +[224] Ibid. pp. 49-54. An einen Freund. + +[225] See von Schack, Strophen des Omar Chijam, p. 117. + +[226] Horn in article cited, p. 389; Emil Brenning, Leopold Schefer, +Bremen, 1884, p. 135. + +[227] Gedichte, Frauenfeld, 1879, p. 144 (xvi). + +[228] Gesammelte Gedichte, Leipz. Reclam. Nos. 551-3, p. 128. + +[229] See Jackson, Zoroaster, p. 29. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +VON SCHACK. + + His Fame as Translator of Firdausi--Stimmen vom + Ganges--Sakuntala compared with the Original in the + Mahabharata--His Oriental Scholarship in his Original + Poems--Attitude towards Hafizian Singers. + + +As an Orientalist, von Schack's scholarship is amply attested by his +numerous and excellent translations from Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit. +His _Heldensagen des Firdusi_, as is well known, has become a standard +work of German literature. In fact, we may say that his reputation rests +more upon his translations than upon his poems. + +Though we have consistently refrained from discussing translations, it +is felt that the _Stimmen vom Ganges_, which is a collection of Indic +legends from various sources, especially from the _Puranas_, cannot be +left entirely out of consideration.[230] In many respects these poems +have the charm of original work. The models moreover are used with great +freedom. To cite von Schack's own words: "Fuer eigentliche Uebertragungen +koennen diese Dichtungen in der Gestalt, wie sie hier vorliegen, nicht +gelten, da bei der Bearbeitung bald groessere bald geringere Freiheit +gewaltet hat, auch manches Stoerende und Weitschweifige ausgeschieden +wurde; doch hielt ich es fuer unstatthaft, am Wesentlichen des Stoffes +und der Motive Aenderungen vorzunehmen. In Gedanken und Ausdruck haben, +wenn nicht der jedesmal vorliegende Text, so doch stets Indische Werke +zu Vorbildern gedient."[231] + +A brief comparison of any one of these poems with the Sanskrit original +will show the correctness of this statement. Let us take, as an +illustration, the second, which gives the famous legend of Sakuntala +from the _Mahabharata_ (i. 69-74; Bombay ed. i. 92-100). + +Schack leaves out unnecessary details and wearisome repetitions. Thus +the elaborate account of the Brahmans whom the king sees on entering the +hermitage of Kanva and their different occupations (_Mbh_. 70, 37-47) is +condensed into fourteen lines, p. 36. Again, in the original, when +Sakuntala tells the story of her birth, the speech by which Indra urges +Menaka to undertake the temptation of Visvamitra is given at some length +(_Mbh_. 71, 20-26); so also the reply of the timid nymph (ibid. 71, +27-42); the story of the temptation itself is narrated with realistic +detail in true Hindu fashion (ibid. 72, 1-9). All this takes up +thirty-three _slokas_. Schack devotes to it barely five lines, p. 38; +the speeches of Indra and Menaka he omits altogether. Again, when the +king proposes to the fair maid, he enters into a learned disquisition on +the eight kinds of marriage, explaining which ones are proper for each +caste, which ones are never proper, and so forth; finally he proposes +the Gandharva form (_Mbh_. 73, 6-14). It is needless to say that in +Schack's poem the king's proposal is much less didactic and much more +direct, pp. 40, 41. + +On the other hand, to see how closely the poet sometimes follows his +model we need but compare all that follows the words "Kaum war er +gegangen," p. 42, to "Dem sind nimmerdar die Goetter gnaedig," p. 47, with +the Sanskrit original (_Mbh_. 73, 24-74, 33). + +Minor changes in phrases or words, advisable on aesthetic grounds, are +of course frequent. Similes, for instance, appealing too exclusively to +Hindu taste, were made more general. Thus in Sakuntala's reply to the +king, p. 51, the faults of others are likened in size to sand grains, +and those of himself to glebes. In Sanskrit, however, the comparison is +to mustard-grains and bilva-fruits respectively. A few lines further on +the maid declares: + + "So ueberragt mein Stamm denn + Weit den deinen, wisse das, Duschmanta!" + +which passage in the original reads: _avayor antaram pasya meru +sarsapor iva_, "behold! the difference between us is like that between +a mustard-seed and Mount Meru." In the same speech of Sakuntala the +Sanskrit introduces a striking simile which Schack omits as too +specifically Indic: + + _murkho hi jalpatam pumsam srutva vacah subhasubhah + asubham vakyam adatte purisam iva sukarah + prajnas tu jalpatam pumsam srutva vacah subhasubhah + gunavad vakyam adatte hamsah ksiram ivambhasah_ + (_Mbh_. 74. 90, 91.) + + "The fool having heard men's speeches containing good and evil + chooses the evil just as a hog dirt; but the wise man having heard + men's speeches containing good and evil chooses the worthy, just + as a swan (separates) milk from water."[232] + +We believe that these illustrations will suffice to give an idea of the +relation which Schack's poems bear to the originals. + + * * * * * + +His fondness for things Oriental finds also frequent expression in his +own poems. In _Naechte des Orients_ (vol. i. p. 7 seq.),[233] like Goethe +before him, he undertakes a poetic Hegira to the East: + + Entfliehen lasst mich, fliehn aus den Gewirren + Des Occidents zum heitern Morgenland! + +So he visits the native towns of Firdausi and Hafid and pays his +respect to their memory, and then penetrates also into India, where he +hears from the lips of a Buddhist monk an exposition of Nirvana +philosophy, which, however, is unacceptable to him (p. 111). The +Oriental scenes that are brought before our mind, both in this poem as +well as in "Memnon" (vol. vii. p. 5 seq.), are of course portrayed with +poetic feeling as well as scholarly accuracy. The _haji_ who owns the +wonderful elixir,--which, by the way, is said to come from India (p. +33),--and who interprets each vision that the poet lives through from +the standpoint of the pessimistic sceptic, shows the influence of 'Umar +Xayyam. In fact he indulges sometimes in unmistakable reminiscences of +the quatrains of the famous astronomer-poet, as when he says: + + Wie Schattenbilder, die an der Laterne, + Wenn sie der Gaukler schiebt, voruebergleiten, + So zieht die bloede, willenlose Herde, + Die Menschheit mein' ich, ueber diese Erde. (p. 55.) + +This is very much the same thought as in the following quatrain of 'Umar +(Whinf. 310; Bodl. 108): + + [Arabic] + [Arabic] + [Arabic] + [Arabic] + +which stands first in Schack's own translation of the Persian poet and +is thus rendered: + + Fuer eine magische Laterne ist diese ganze Welt zu halten, + In welcher wir voll Schwindel leben; + Die Sonne haengt darin als Lampe; die Bilder aber und Gestalten + Sind wir, die d'ran vorueberschweben.[234] + +In his _Weihgesaenge_ (vol. ii. p. 149) Schack sends a greeting to the +Orient; in another one of these songs he sings the praises of India +(ibid. p. 232), and in still another he apostrophizes Zoroaster (ibid. +p. 133). A division of this volume (ii.) bears the title _Lotosblaetter_. +The sight of the scholar's chamber with its Sanskrit manuscripts makes +him dream of India's gorgeous scenery and inspires a poem "Das indische +Gemach" (vol. x. p. 26). + +Oriental stories and legends are also offered, though not frequently. +"Mahmud der Gasnevide" (vol. i. p. 299) relates the story of the great +sultan's stern justice.[235] "Anahid" (vol. vii. p. 209) gives the +famous legend of the angels Harut and Marut, who were punished for their +temptation of the beautiful Zuhra, the Arabic Venus.[236] Schack has +substituted the old Persian name of Anahita (mod. Pers. _nahid_) for +the Arabic name, and has otherwise also altered the legend considerably. + +Schack never attempted to write original poems in Oriental form. The +Hafizian movement did not excite his enthusiasm, and for the trifling of +the average Hafizian singer he had no use whatever. In a poem by which +he conveys his thanks to the sultan for a distinction which the latter +had conferred on him he says: + + Waer ich, so wie Firdusi, paradiesisch, + Ich bohrte dir die Perlen der Kaside + Und schlaenge dir das Halsband der Ghasele; + Allein wir Deutschen singen kaum hafisisch, + Und wenn wir orientalisch sind im Liede, + Durchtraben wir die Wuesten als Kamele. (Vol. x. p. 106.) + +Even for Bodenstedt's Mirza Schaffy songs he has no great admiration: + + Gar viel bedeutet's nicht, mich duenkt! + Dem nur, was Rueckert laengst schon besser machte + Und Platen, bist du keuchend nachgehinkt. (Vol. x. p. 47.) + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[230] Stimmen vom Ganges. Eine Sammlung Indischer Sagen, 2 Auflage, +Stuttgart, 1877. The first edition appeared in 1857. There the eleventh +story was Yadu's Meerfahrt (from Harivamsa). In the second edition this +was omitted and an imitation of the Nalodaya substituted as an appendix. +The sources for each poem are given by the author himself in Nachwort, +p. 215, note. + +[231] Op. cit. p. 216. + +[232] See Lanman, The Milk-drinking Hansas of Sanskrit Poetry, JAOS. +vol. 19. 2, pp. 151-158. Goose would be a better translation of the word +_hamsa_ than swan. + +[233] We cite from the edition mentioned on p. vii. + +[234] Strophen des Omar Chijam, Stuttg. 1878. The translation itself +dates from an earlier period than the year of publication. The author, +speaking of the delay in bringing it before the public, states that +Horace's nonumque prematur in annum could be applied in threefold +measure to this work (p. 118). Hence the translation was made about +1850, or a little later. + +[235] Herder, Briefe zur Befoerderung der Humanitaet, x, ed. Suphan, vol. +18, p. 259; Deguignes, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 172; Francis Gladwin, The +Persian Moonshee, Calcutta, 1801, Pers. and Engl. pt. ii. p. 3. + +[236] See Hammer, Fundgruben, vol. i. pp. 7, 8. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +CONCLUSION. + + +Now that we have come to the end of our investigation, it may be well to +survey briefly the whole field and to summarize the results we have +reached. + +We have seen that to mediaeval Europe India and Persia were lands of +magic and enchantment; their languages and literatures were utterly +unknown. Whatever influence these literatures exerted on that of Europe +was indirect and not recognized. Nor did the Portuguese discoveries +effect an immediate change. It was only by slow degrees that the West +obtained any knowledge of Eastern thought. The _Gulistan_ and _Bustan_ +of Sa'di, some maxims of Bhartrhari and a few scattered fragments were +all that was known in Europe of Indic or Persian literature before the +end of the eighteenth century. + +Then the epoch-making discoveries of Sir William Jones aroused the +attention of the Western world and laid the foundations of a new +science. New ideas of world-wide significance presented themselves to +the European mind. Nowhere were these ideas welcomed with more +enthusiasm than in Germany, the home of philological scholarship. Herder +pointed the way, and by means of translations and imitations tried to +introduce the treasures of Oriental thought into German literature. That +he did not meet with unqualified success was due, as we have seen, to +his one-sided didactic tendency. To him, however, belongs the credit of +the first impulse. Then Friedrich Schlegel founded the study of Sanskrit +in Germany, while at the same time Hammer was busily at work spreading a +knowledge of the Persian poets in Europe. The effect of the latter's +work was instantaneous, for, as has been pointed out, it was his +translation of Hafid that inspired the composition of Goethe's _Divan_ +and thus started the Oriental movement in Germany. + +We have examined the share which Rueckert, Platen, Bodenstedt and Schack +had in this movement and have touched briefly on the work of some of the +minor lights. It will be noticed that the Persian tendency found a far +greater number of followers than the Indic. And this is but natural. It +was far more easy to sing of wine, woman and roses in the manner of +Hafid, such as most of these poets conceived this manner to be, than to +assimilate and reproduce the philosophic and often involved poetry of +India. Add to this the charming form and the rich rhyme of Persian +poetry and we can readily understand why it won favor. But we can also +understand readily enough why most of the so-called Hafizian singing is +of very inferior quality. Those men who did the most serious work for +the West-Eastern movement in Germany, men like Rueckert and Schack, were +not one-sided in their studies. It was their earnest intention to offer +to their countrymen what was best in the literatures of both India and +Persia, and that they have carried out this intention nobly no one who +has followed this investigation will be disposed to deny. + + * * * * * + +It only remains to say a few words on the question of the value of this +Oriental movement to German literature. We are not inclined to put too +high an estimate on the poetry that arose under its influence. In fact, +we do not think that it has produced what may be called really great +poetry. It is significant that the fame of most of the poets considered +in this investigation does not rest on that part of their work which was +inspired by Oriental influence. We cannot possibly agree with the view +that would place Goethe's _Divan_ side by side with the master's best +productions. We do not believe that he ever would have become famous +through that. Platen's _Ghaselen_ have neither the merit nor the +reputation of his sonnets or his ballads. Even among the _Ghaselen_ and +_Oestliche Rosen_ of Rueckert, the finest poems, such as "Sei mir +gegruesst" and "Du bist die Ruh," both immortalized by the genius of +Schubert, are precisely those that are least Oriental, and we think it +is safe to say that the _Liebesfruehling_ exceeds in fame any one of +Rueckert's Oriental collections, including the _Weisheit des Brahmanen_. +The exception to the rule is Bodenstedt. His reputation rests almost +solely on the Mirza Schaffy songs; but it will scarcely be pretended +that this is great poetry. + +From what has been said it may be inferred that the chief value of the +Oriental movement does not consist in its original contributions to +German literature, but rather in the reproductions and translations it +inspired. For it was through these that the treasures of Eastern thought +were made the literary heritage, not of Germany alone, but of Europe. As +far as the literature of Germany itself is concerned, this movement was +of the greatest significance, in that it introduced the Oriental element +and thereby helped powerfully to impart to German letters the spirit of +cosmopolitanism for which men like Herder and Goethe had so earnestly +striven. The great writers of ancient Greece and Rome had long since +been familiar to the German people; Shakespere, Dante and Calderon had +likewise won a place by the side of the German classics through the +masterly work of the Romanticists; and now the spirit and form of a new +literature--light from the East--was brought in by the movement which +has been the subject of this investigation and assumed its place as a +recognized element in the literature of Germany. The fond dream of a +_Weltlitteratur_ thus became a reality, and the German language became +the medium of acquaintance with all that is best in the literature of +the world. The Oriental movement is the clearest proof of that spirit of +universality, which is at once the noblest trait and the proudest boast +of German genius. + +[Illustration] + + +Transcriber's Notes + +There are many spelling and capitalization inconsistencies in the +original of this text. These have been retained in this version, except +those noted below. + + Page vi: Changed Beharistan to Baharistan. + Page 2: Added marker for Footnote 2. + Page 6: Changed fourteeth to fourteenth. + Page 7: Changed "ferren India" to "fernen India." + Page 44: Changed "Iskandarnamah" to "Iskandar Namah" in Footnote 159. + Page 52: Changed "Pratap Sinh" to "Pratap Singh." + Changed "d' herb" to "d'herb" where it occurs. + Normalized spelling for "Hafid" throughout the text. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Influence of India and Persia on +the Poetry of Germany, by Arthur F. J. 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