The Influence of India and Persia on the Poetry of Germany Part 5

[110] Noten u. Abhandlungen, p. 260.

[111] Ibid. p. 264.

[112] That Goethe knew of the mystic interpretation to which H_afi? 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. Sud, Sept.

1900, p. 389.

[114] Ruckert'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 ill.u.s.trious 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 "Alpenjager," 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-du?t_, "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 a.s.sume 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 Wurttembergs, XL. pp. 297-304. Against this view Ernst Muller in Zeitschr. fur 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, Sindu?t, Sh. N. tr. Mohl i. p. 192 et pa.s.sim; Purandu?t, daughter of Xusrau Parviz, Mir?vand tr. Rehatsek, vol. i. p. 403.

[121] See Ethe, Gesch. der pers. Litt. in Grdr. d. iran. Phil. ii. p 242.

[122] See Albert Koster's essay on Turandot in Schiller als Dramaturg, Berl. 1891, p. 201.

[123] Koster, 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_, _Ramaya?a_ 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 Bhart?hari;[128] August likewise translated from the same works, as well as from the Epics and Pura?as.[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 ill.u.s.trious contemporaries, Bopp and Ruckert. Those against the former (ii. 234) are of no special interest here. With those against Ruckert, however, the case is different. It is worth while noting that towards the distinguished scholar-poet Schlegel a.s.sumed a patronizing att.i.tude. To Ruckert's masterly renderings from Sanskrit literature he referred slightingly as "Sanskritpoesiemetriknachahmungen" (ii. 235). But when he hailed the younger poet as

Aller morgenland'schen Zaune Konig, Wechselsweise zeisigkranichtonig! (ii. 218),

he came much nearer to the truth than he imagined at the time. For, while it will be conceded that Ruckert 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 antic.i.p.ate 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, Munchen, 1869, pp. 361-369.

[126] The _sloka_, the _tri??ubh_ 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 _tri??ubh_, 22 syllables to the line. Quant.i.ty of course is ignored.

[127] See Benfey, op. cit. pp. 379-405.

[128] Friedr. Schlegel, Sammtliche Werke, Wien, 1846. vol. ii. p. 82 seq.

[129] Aug. W. Schlegel, Sammtliche 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.