The Influence of India and Persia on the Poetry of Germany Part 4

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 fur allemal, Keine Bestien in dem Gottersaal!

Die leidigen Elephantenrussel, Das umgeschlungene Schlangengenussel, Tief Urschildkrot' im Weltensumpf, Viel Konigskopf' auf einem Rumpf, Die mussen uns zur Verzweiflung bringen, Wird sie nicht reiner Ost verschlingen.[98]

Goethe cla.s.sed Indic antiquities with those of Egypt and China, and his att.i.tude towards the question of their value is distinctly expressed in one of his prose proverbs: "Chinesische, Indische, Aegyptische Altertumer sind immer nur Curiositaten: 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 repet.i.tion. It is given with great detail in the editions prepared by von Loeper and Duntzer.[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 H_afi?, 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 H_afi?'s longer poems bear the t.i.tles ???? ????? ???? ????, 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 a.n.a.logous 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 H_afi? as the direct impulse to the composition of the _Divan_. It was also the princ.i.p.al 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 "uber meines Liebchens augeln," p. 55, where the first stanza is a version of H_. 221. 1, all the others being free invention. Other Persian poets besides H_afi? also furnished material.

Thus the opening pa.s.sage 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 ?A??ar, 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 H_afi? relates the _fatva_ or judgment which a famous _mufti_ of Constantinople p.r.o.nounced 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 H_afi? 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 "Hatt' 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 Zali?a, 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 H_afi?, 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 ill.u.s.trations 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 _?azal_ 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 _?azal_, 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 att.i.tude 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 S_ufi-doctrine, man rises to ultimate union with the G.o.dhead he calls follies.[111]

Therefore to him H_afi? 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 H_afi?, 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 Ruckert, Platen and Bodenstedt carried to its culmination.

These later Hafizian singers remembered gratefully what they owed the sage of Weimar. Ruckert pays his tribute to him in the opening poem of his _ostliche 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 vernuchtern, Du selbst, du hast's in uns erregt: So nimm hier, was ein Jungling schuchtern In eines Greisen Hande legt.[115]

The poetic spirit of the Orient had been brought into German literature; it was reserved for Ruckert and Platen to complete the work by bringing over also the poetic forms.

FOOTNOTES:

[86] Asia, Oder: Ausfuhrliche Beschreibung, etc. See Benfey, Orient u.

Occident, i. p. 721, note.

[87] See Duntzer, Goethes Faust, Leipz. 1882, p. 68.

[88] This information is given by Duntzer 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 Duntzer 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] Nir?. 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] Nir?. 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] Spruche in Prosa, vol. 19, p. 112.

[100] See also Konrad Burdach, Goethe's West-ostlicher 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 schonen Redekunste 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. x.x.xiv.

[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 Duntzer, Goethes Faust, Leipz., 1882, ii. p.

216.

[109] In tausend Formen, p. 169; Sie haben wegen der Trunkenheit, p.

178.