The Influence of India and Persia on the Poetry of Germany Part 6

PLATEN.

His Oriental Studies--Ghaselen--Their Persian Character--Imitation of Persian Form--Translations.

The first to introduce the _?azal_ in its strict form into German literature[132] was Ruckert, who in 1821 published a version of a number of _?azals_ 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 _?azals_ of this poet were really the first professedly original poems of this form to appear in Germany (Ruckert's claiming to be versions only), and also because they const.i.tute 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 _?azals_ of Ruckert and also to his _ostliche 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 Ruckert in 1820 at Ebern, and again at Nurnberg, 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 t.i.tle _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 _?azals_ arose later, some being published as late as 1836 and 1839.[136]

We shall confine our discussion to those _?azals_ 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 H_afi?, and, to use the poet's own words "dem Hafis nachgefuhlt 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 H_afi?. Thus in 13[138] we read: "Schenke! Tulpen sind wie Kelche Weines," evidently a parallel to some such line as H_. 541. 1:

"_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:

"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:

"the sorrowful heart of H_afi?, 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:

"there is no one who has not been snared by that doubled tress," and for the second line compare H_. 470. 1:

"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:

"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 Schonheit,

remind us of H_. 561. 7:

"thine eye causes the arrow (lit. poplar) to pa.s.s 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 H_afi?. We cite only 318. 1:

"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 ???? ?? "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 ???? ???? (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:

"like a string of l.u.s.trous pearls is thy clear verse, O H_afi?." 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 a.s.signed 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 pa.s.sage of the _Reisebilder_.[140]

Otherwise Platen, like Goethe, ignores the mystic side of H_afi?, and infuses into his _Ghaselen_ a thoroughly baccha.n.a.lian spirit, taking frequent occasion to declaim against hypocrisy, fanaticism and the precepts of the _Quran_. The _credo_ of these poems is the opening _?azal_ in _Spiegel des Hafis_ (64), where the line "Wir schworen 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 G.o.d 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 H_afi? takes issue with the expounders of the sacred book, he discreetly refrains from a.s.sailing the book itself.

But perhaps the chief significance of these _Ghaselen_, as well as those of Ruckert, 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 H_afi?, 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 _?azal_ that the author's name must appear in the final couplet.

Besides the _?azal_ Platen has also attempted the _ruba?i_ or quatrain, in which form he wrote twelve poems (_Werke_, ii. pp. 62-64), and the _qa_sidah_. Of this there is only one specimen, a panegyric (for such in most cases is the Persian _qa_sidah_) on Napoleon, and, as may therefore be imagined, of purely Occidental content.[141]

Of Platen's translations from H_afi? we need not speak here. But we must call attention to the attempt which he made to translate from Ni?ami'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 p.r.o.nounced fairly successful. It is also faithful, as a comparison with the original shows. We cite the first two couplets from the Persian:

"O G.o.d, world-sovereignty is Thine! From us comes service, G.o.dhead 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 "Pa.r.s.enlied,"

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]