The Influence of India and Persia on the Poetry of Germany Part 3

[74] See Jackson, Zoroaster, pp. 127-132.

[75] Rud. Furst, Die Vorlaufer 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 t.i.tle Die Reise der Sohne Giaffers. Ed. by Herm.

Fischer and Joh. Bolte (BLVS, vol. 208), Tub. 1895.

[77] Furst, op. cit. p. 52. The name is derived from the 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] Furst, op. cit. p. 154.

CHAPTER III.

HERDER.

Herder's Interest in the Orient--Fourth Collection of his Zerstreute Blatter--His Didactic Tendency And Predilection For Sa?di.

The epoch-making work of the English Orientalists, and above all, of the ill.u.s.trious 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-ostliche 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 Blatter_, 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. Four books of translations, more or less free, of maxims from the _Gulistan_, ent.i.tled _Blumen aus morgenlandischen Dichtern gesammlet_. 2.

Translations from the Sanskrit consisting of maxims from the _Hitopadesa_ and from Bhart?hari and pa.s.sages from the _Bhagavadgita_ under the name of _Gedanken einiger Bramanen_. 3. A number of versions from Persian, Sanskrit, Hebrew and Arabic poets given in the Suphan edition as _Vermischte Stucke_.

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, H_afi?

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 Bhart?hari 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 pa.s.sages 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 _?azal_ 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

"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 ill.u.s.trate or to emphasize some particular point of the story. Then again a story may be considerably shortened, as in "Die Luge" (_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; Bohtl. 6781) the first three lines are evidently inspired by the last line of the Sanskrit proverb: _praye?a 'dhamamadhyamottamagu?a? sa?sargato jayate_ "in general the lowest, the middle and the highest quality arise from a.s.sociation," 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 H_afi? and caused him to proclaim Sa?di as the model most worthy of imitation.[85]

Yet it was H_afi?, 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 H_afi? became the dominating influence and the guiding star of the _west-ostliche 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 Duntzer 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 Duntzer and Loeper. The former's notes are in his Goethe-edition in the Kurschner-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 pa.s.sages 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 = Bohtl. 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 Gesangen 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 Blute des fruhen," 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 h.o.e.re, de welcke hy heeft willen beproeven of sy oock ghetrouw was. Hy accordeert met haer, ende gaf haer een goet h.o.e.ren 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 h.o.e.re 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 n.o.bler 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 subst.i.tutes Mahadeva, i.e. Siva, for Dewendre[90] and a.s.signs to him an incarnation, though such incarnations are known only of Vi??u.

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-G.o.ddess 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 Re?uka, 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 Pura?a_, Bk. ix. c. 16,[94] though here the harshness of the original version is somewhat softened.[95]

The second story is found in the _Vetalapancavi?s'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 G.o.ddess 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 n.o.ble idea. Both the Indic ballads are a fervent plea for the innate n.o.bility of humanity.