Translations Of German Poetry In American Magazines 1741-1810 Part 1

Translations of German Poetry in American Magazines 1741-1810.

by Edward Ziegler Davis.

PREFACE.

The present study is an extension of a thesis, presented to the Faculty of the Department of Philosophy of the University of Pennsylvania in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The object has been to treat the material in the early American magazines which gave readers information about Germany and other Teutonic countries. While the primary aim has been to discuss the translations of poetry and the original poems bearing on the subject, all relevant prose articles have also been listed.

Since many of the magazines used are extremely rare and almost unique, the texts from them are here reprinted in order to make such information accessible. As some of the translations and poems, however, have been traced to Thomas Campbell, Sir Walter Scott, William Wordsworth, Thomas Gray and others, whose works are to be found in almost any library, reprinting was unnecessary in these cases. M. G. Lewis' _Tales of Terror and Wonder_ has had, besides many early imprints, a recent edition by Henry Morley in 1887 and the poems from it that appeared in the American magazines are here mentioned by t.i.tle only, the one exception being _The Erl-King_, which is included because of several variants. Long poems like _The Wanderer of Switzerland_ (which itself would make a small book) are not reprinted.

Parts II to V are arranged chronologically, so as to show the gradual growth of the German influence. Translations and poems are therefore reprinted under the date of their first appearance; later publications of them in the magazines are here recorded simply by t.i.tle, with a note giving the earliest date. The texts are reprinted exactly as they appeared in the early American periodicals, thus presenting the information about Germany in the same form in which readers of a century ago received it. Mistakes are often interesting as ill.u.s.trative of an ignorance about German names and words. Only the most evident typographical errors have been corrected, such as "spweep" for "sweep," "bilssful" for "blissful," and "fustain" for "sustain." Differences due to eighteenth century orthography are retained.

The subject has been investigated to the end of the year 1840, but this volume treats only the period ending with 1810. Often for the sake of complete lists, however, poems of a later date are mentioned.

Throughout Parts II to V, notes by the present author, except mention of sources from which the reprints are made, are inclosed in brackets.

The courtesy and a.s.sistance rendered in obtaining the magazines make me indebted to the attendants in the various libraries visited, particularly to Mr. Allan B. Slauson, of the Library of Congress. I wish to thank Professor Daniel B. Shumway, of the University of Pennsylvania, for helpful criticism, and Professor John L. Haney, of the Philadelphia Central High School, for valuable information about the German literary influence in England during the period under discussion and for improvements suggested in the preparation of the Introduction.

I am especially indebted to Professor Marion D. Learned, of the University of Pennsylvania, at whose suggestion and under whose inspiration the present investigation has been carried on.

EDWARD Z. DAVIS.

PHILADELPHIA, January, 1905.

INTRODUCTION.

The important influence which German literature has exercised on American culture and literature extends from the early part of the nineteenth century. This influence was, in a measure, a continuation of the interest and activity that had existed in England during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Prior to 1790, numerous translations from Gellert, Wieland, Klopstock, Lessing, Goethe and Schiller appeared from time to time, but it was not until William Taylor of Norwich began to write, that the movement, which culminated in the works of Coleridge, Carlyle and others, a.s.sumed definite form.[1]

[Footnote 1: John L. Haney, _German Literature in England before 1790_, in the _Americana Germanica_, IV, No. 2.

Cf. also, Dr. Haney's monograph, _The German Influence on Samuel Taylor Coleridge_, Philadelphia, 1902.

Georg Herzfeld, _William Taylor von Norwich_, Halle a. S.

1897.]

American literature at this time was still subservient to that of England and it is not surprising that the new literary impulse from Germany should have found reflection on this side of the Atlantic.

This foreign influence was further aided by direct contact with Europe. By the second or third decade of the last century the studies of American scholars abroad became an important factor in our intellectual development. In 1819 Edward Everett returned from Europe to become professor of Greek at Harvard University. He had studied at the University of Gottingen, where he had become enthusiastic for the methods of German scholarship. While in Europe he secured for Harvard College a large number of German books, which soon proved to be a stimulus to the students of the inst.i.tution. In 1823 W. E. Channing in his _Remarks on National Literature_ advocated the study of French and German authors, so that our literature might attain a position of independence from that of England.[2] Two years later, in 1825, Karl Follen entered upon his duties at Harvard College as instructor in German.[3]

[Footnote 2: _The Works of William E. Channing_, Boston, 1849. Geo. D. Channing. Vol. I-277.

Cf. also, the remark of Francis Hopkinson, p. 194.]

[Footnote 3: As early as 1754 William Creamer (or Cramer) was appointed Professor of the French and German Languages, at the University of Pennsylvania, which position he held for twenty-one years. In 1780 a German Professorship of Philology was established in the same inst.i.tution. J. C. Kunze, the first appointee, lectured in German on Latin and Greek. After 1784, his successor, J. H. C. Helmuth, carried out the same policy.

Cf. M. D. Learned, _Address at the Opening of the Bechstein Library_, University of Pennsylvania, March 21, 1896.]

Before Edward Everett went abroad to study, however, American scholars had begun to seek wider cultural advantages at the centres of learning in Europe.[4] They were mostly theological students, or men more or less closely connected with the diplomatic service. The most prominent among the latter cla.s.s was John Quincy Adams, who spent several years in Europe. His interest in German literature is shown by the fact that he translated Wieland's _Oberon_, which however was not published, because Sotheby's translation had just appeared in London.[5]

[Footnote 4: Benjamin Franklin's visit to the University of Gottingen is described in the _Gottingische Anzeigen_ for Sept. 13, 1766, which states that the session of the Royal Society of Sciences held on the 19th of the preceding July was more impressive than usual. "The two famous English scholars, the royal physician, Mr. Pringle, and Mr. Benjamin Franklin, from Pennsylvania, who happened to be at that time in Gottingen on a trip through Germany, took their seats as members of the society."

Cf. the account by Dr. E. J. James (_The Nation_, Apr. 18, 1895, p. 296), reprinted in B. A. Hinsdale's article _Foreign Influence upon Education in the United States_, published in the _Report of the Commissioner of Education_, 1897-98. Vol.

I, pp. 604-607.

Cf. also, L. Viereck, _German Instruction in American Schools_, ibid., 1900-1901. Vol. I, p. 543.]

[Footnote 5: Adams wrote also an account of his journey to Silesia in July, 1800. This was in the form of twenty-nine letters to his brother, written during the trip, and thirteen more added after his return to Berlin. Although they were private communications, the editor of the _Port Folio_ secured them for his magazine and printed them anonymously, without suppressing personal references, as the author would have done, had he known of the publication.

"Whether these pa.s.sages ever came under the observation of the persons affected is not certain. So long as they remained confined to the columns of an American publication of that day, the probabilities would favor the negative. But they were not so confined. Again, without the knowledge or consent of the author, an individual, unknown to him, but fully aware of the facts in the case nevertheless took the collection from the _Portfolio_ to London, and there had them printed for his own benefit, in an octavo volume, in the year 1804.

From this copy they were rendered into German, and published at Breslau the next year, with notes, by Frederick Albert Zimmerman; and in 1807 a translation made into French, by J.

Dupuy, was published in Paris by Dentu.

"Thus it happened that these letters, originally intended as purely familiar correspondence, obtained a free circulation over a large part of Europe without the smallest agency on the part of the author, or any opportunity to correct and modify them as he certainly would have done had he ever possessed the power."

_Memoirs of John Quincy Adams_, Edited by Charles Francis Adams. 12 vols., Philadelphia, 1874. Vol. I, 240-241.

The American publication began in the _Port Folio_, I-1, Jan.

3, 1801, Phila. For a review of the English edition, cf. _The Monthly Review or Literary Journal_, XLV-350, December, 1804, London.]

A little later, in 1809, Alexander Hill Everett went to Russia as secretary to the legation and spent several years in different cities on the continent.[6] George Ticknor visited Germany in 1815 to prepare for his duties as professor of modern languages at Harvard; and George Bancroft, after graduating from college in 1817, studied for five years at Gottingen, Heidelberg and Berlin. Henry E. Dwight was at Gottingen from 1824-1828 and in the next year published in New York _Travels in the North of Germany, 1825-6_. It was about this time that James Fenimore Cooper began his European travels, which lasted from 1826 to 1833.[7] Thus, American scholars had been acquiring German thought and culture at first hand, before Longfellow or Emerson went abroad for the first time. With these two the German influence in America reached its height--Longfellow in literature, and Emerson in his transcendental philosophy.

[Footnote 6: "He [A. H. Everett] had probably studied German while he was a.s.sociated with John Quincy Adams in St.

Petersburg, where German influence was strong and the study of the language and literature could be pursued under the most favorable conditions. The _United States Magazine and Democratic Review_, New York, Vol. X (N. S.) 1842--p. 461, states that he studied at St. Petersburg, among other things, the modern languages."

Frederick H. Wilkens, _Early Influence of German Literature in America_ in the _Americana Germanica_, III, No. 2, p.

155.]

[Footnote 7: M. D. Learned, _German as a Culture Element in American Education_, Milwaukee, 1898.]

This was the second channel by which German literature became known in this country. The first, as has already been indicated, came indirectly through England. There, considerable activity in this line had been manifest since 1790. Books of translations were published and the magazines contained many fugitive pieces from the German. It is chiefly a reflex of this interest that we find in American periodicals to the end of 1810.

In America, likewise, German literature was made known to English readers by means of translations either in book form or in the magazines. The subject of translations in book form has been treated in the recent article by Wilkens already mentioned. He discusses German drama, fiction, poetry, philosophy, theology and pedagogy, and gives in an appendix "A List of the Translations of German Literature that were printed in the United States before 1826." These books, however, were not the first means of introducing German authors to American readers. The first mention of this foreign literature we find, as a rule, in the magazines. Here are numerous accounts of the lives of German writers, criticism of their books, notices of editions (English or American) and besides these, many translations of poetry and the shorter prose works. These articles or translations do not, of course, antedate the earliest appearance of the same works in England, but it is safe to say that whatever information on German literature was offered in the American magazines reached the American public sooner than the copies of an English book sent over here to be sold.

Many readers learned to know foreign literature through the medium of the periodicals who would not think of purchasing all the books, of which they had read reviews or selections. This was especially true of the poetry. The prose works were usually too long for republication in the magazines and could be announced only through critiques or abstracts. Even here, however, some of the longer pieces appeared, such as _The Apparitionist_ (Schiller's _Geisterseher_) in the _N. Y.

Weekly Mag._, I-16, etc., 1795, N. Y., and in the same magazine II-4, etc., Tsc.h.i.n.k's _Victim of Magical Delusion_, while _The Mirror of Taste and Dramatic Censor_, I, 1810, contains _Emilia Galotti_, translated by Miss f.a.n.n.y Holcroft. These prose pieces, being long, were continued from number to number, but for the poetry this was not necessary. Poems of the size of Klopstock's _Messiah_ or Gessner's _Death of Abel_ appeared in the magazines only in selections or extracts, while on the other hand most of the lyric poems, being short, could very easily be reprinted entire in translation. With hardly an exception, the short poems of German authors appeared in America in the periodicals some time before they were issued in book form; for example, the earliest publication of Gessner's _Idyls_ mentioned by Wilkens was in 1802,[8] whereas single idyls had been translated for the magazines in 1774, 1775, 1792, 1795, 1798, 1799, two in 1793, three in 1796 and five in 1801. Similarly, the first American imprint of M. G. Lewis' _Tales of Wonder_ was issued in New York in 1801, while five selections in it had already appeared in the _Weekly Mag._, 1798-9, Phila.[9] In addition to these there were found in the American magazines before 1811, ten translations from Burger, eight from Gellert, five from Lessing, four from Haller, three from Goethe, two each from Jacobi, Klopstock, Matthisson and Schickaneder, and one each from "Adelio," Burde, Kotzebue, Patzke, "Sh.e.l.ler," and "Van Vander Horderclogeth," together with several translations, for which the name of the original author was not given. None of these were printed in book form before 1826.[10]

[Footnote 8: _New Idyls_, by S. Gessner. Philadelphia, 1802.]

[Footnote 9:

Burger, _Leonora_ [Wm. Taylor--some variants], Vol. I-221.

Burger, _The Chase_ [Sir Walter Scott], Vol. II-413.

----, _The Water King_ [M. G. Lewis], Vol. III-92.

Goethe, _The Erl-King_ [M. G. Lewis], Vol. III-93.

----, _The Erl-King's Daughter_ [M. G. Lewis], Vol. III-94.

The last three, however, were also in Lewis' _Ambrosio or the Monk_, Philadelphia, 1798.]

[Footnote 10: Wilkens' _List_. Two selections from Burger and two from Goethe appeared in Lewis' collections, but no editions of their poems exclusively were issued. Klopstock's _Messiah_ was published three times before 1811, but not his shorter poems.]