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A BOOK OF GERMAN LYRICS ***
E-text prepared by David Starner, Thomas Berger, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
A BOOK OF GERMAN LYRICS
Selected And Edited With Notes And Vocabulary
By
FRIEDRICH BRUNS Assistant Professor Of German, University Of Wisconsin
[Illustration: Ricordo di Tivoli, by Anselm Feuerbach]
PREFACE
In compiling this Anthology my aim has been not so much to acquaint the student with individual great poems as with the poets themselves. With this end in view I have made the selections as full and as varied as possible and included in the Notes short introductory sketches of the poets. Since the book is intended for the work of fourth and fifth semester German in College (or third and fourth year High School), pedagogic considerations imposed certain limitations not only as to individual poems but also as to poets. Thus I felt that I must exclude Novalis, Hölderlin, Brentano, Annette von Droste, Nietzsche and Dehmel. My standard of difficulty--aside from matters purely linguistic--was: Could a similar poem in English be read and appreciated by the same class of students? Moreover I tried out in a class of fourth semester German all poems that seemed to offer special difficulties and have made use of the experience thus acquired.
Some of my readers will undoubtedly be surprised at finding only two poems of Schiller included in the collection. May I point to the length of these two poems, 270 lines? Even to Goethe I have given only 362 lines. Why did I choose these two poems? The lighter lyric verse of Schiller is not representative of the poet nor would it have enriched the Anthology with a new note. _Das Lied von der Glocke_ is too long for this small volume and is readily accessible in three different school editions. Schiller is at his best in his philosophical lyrics: as Goethe has said, in this field he is absolutely supreme. Poems like _Das Ideal und das Leben_ or _Der Spaziergang_ are far too difficult for our younger students. _Das verschleierte Bild zu Sais_, however, offers a philosophical problem which the younger mind can grasp without special training in philosophy. A few introductory remarks, such as I have given in the notes, will prepare the way. Both poems, furthermore, exemplify Schiller's ethical idealism. Certainly no other poems available at this stage could do more.
I have often been asked by teachers: How do you teach lyric poetry? An answer is found in my Notes to a number of the poems. The chief prerequisite is a warm love for the poets: nowhere is enthusiasm more contagious. A few introductory remarks will open the world of the poem to the student. The teacher must, of course, develop in the students their latent rhythmical sense both by example and precept. Aside from this lyric poetry teaches itself.
As to the use of the book I should suggest spending two or three weeks on one or two poets--I should begin with Goethe--and after that spend one hour a week for a semester or even a year. Some poems could be assigned for outside reading and then a group of poems be discussed in class.
On the whole I have limited myself to those poets that to-day stand out as preëminent. A possible exception is the once famous Rückert. I could not resist the temptation of including his _Aus der Jugendzeit_, a poem of consummate beauty, Rückert's one perfect lyric. Time has been relentless in its winnowing process. But if Geibel, Wilhelm Müller and Bodenstedt have given way to Mörike, Keller and Hebbel, we assuredly have no reason for lament. If this little book help to win in our schools for these three and for Storm, C. F. Meyer, and Liliencron the recognition they deserve, I shall feel richly repaid for this labor of love.
_Spring of_ 1921,
Madison, Wisconsin.
FRIEDRICH BRUNS.
CONTENTS
Goethe
1. Willkommen und Abschied 2. Mailied 3. Auf dem See 4. Heidenröslein 5. Wanderers Nachtlied 6. Ein gleiches 7. Hoffnung 8. Erinnerung 9. Gefunden 10. Mignon 11. Harfenspieler 12. Der König in Thule 13. Der Fischer 14. Erlkönig 15. Gesang der Geister über den Wassern 16. Grenzen der Menschheit 17. Lied des Türmers
Schiller
18. Die Kraniche des Ibykus 19. Das verschleierte Bild zu Sais
Uhland
20. Die Lerchen 21. Des Knaben Berglied 22. Schäfers Sonntagslied 23. Die Kapelle 24. Morgenlied 25. Frühlingsglaube 26. Lob des Frühlings 27. Das Schwert 28. Die Rache 29. Der Wirtin Töchterlein 30. Der gute Kamerad 31. Taillefer 32. Des Sängers Fluch
Eichendorff
33. Der frohe Wandersmann
E-text prepared by David Starner, Thomas Berger, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
A BOOK OF GERMAN LYRICS
Selected And Edited With Notes And Vocabulary
By
FRIEDRICH BRUNS Assistant Professor Of German, University Of Wisconsin
[Illustration: Ricordo di Tivoli, by Anselm Feuerbach]
PREFACE
In compiling this Anthology my aim has been not so much to acquaint the student with individual great poems as with the poets themselves. With this end in view I have made the selections as full and as varied as possible and included in the Notes short introductory sketches of the poets. Since the book is intended for the work of fourth and fifth semester German in College (or third and fourth year High School), pedagogic considerations imposed certain limitations not only as to individual poems but also as to poets. Thus I felt that I must exclude Novalis, Hölderlin, Brentano, Annette von Droste, Nietzsche and Dehmel. My standard of difficulty--aside from matters purely linguistic--was: Could a similar poem in English be read and appreciated by the same class of students? Moreover I tried out in a class of fourth semester German all poems that seemed to offer special difficulties and have made use of the experience thus acquired.
Some of my readers will undoubtedly be surprised at finding only two poems of Schiller included in the collection. May I point to the length of these two poems, 270 lines? Even to Goethe I have given only 362 lines. Why did I choose these two poems? The lighter lyric verse of Schiller is not representative of the poet nor would it have enriched the Anthology with a new note. _Das Lied von der Glocke_ is too long for this small volume and is readily accessible in three different school editions. Schiller is at his best in his philosophical lyrics: as Goethe has said, in this field he is absolutely supreme. Poems like _Das Ideal und das Leben_ or _Der Spaziergang_ are far too difficult for our younger students. _Das verschleierte Bild zu Sais_, however, offers a philosophical problem which the younger mind can grasp without special training in philosophy. A few introductory remarks, such as I have given in the notes, will prepare the way. Both poems, furthermore, exemplify Schiller's ethical idealism. Certainly no other poems available at this stage could do more.
I have often been asked by teachers: How do you teach lyric poetry? An answer is found in my Notes to a number of the poems. The chief prerequisite is a warm love for the poets: nowhere is enthusiasm more contagious. A few introductory remarks will open the world of the poem to the student. The teacher must, of course, develop in the students their latent rhythmical sense both by example and precept. Aside from this lyric poetry teaches itself.
As to the use of the book I should suggest spending two or three weeks on one or two poets--I should begin with Goethe--and after that spend one hour a week for a semester or even a year. Some poems could be assigned for outside reading and then a group of poems be discussed in class.
On the whole I have limited myself to those poets that to-day stand out as preëminent. A possible exception is the once famous Rückert. I could not resist the temptation of including his _Aus der Jugendzeit_, a poem of consummate beauty, Rückert's one perfect lyric. Time has been relentless in its winnowing process. But if Geibel, Wilhelm Müller and Bodenstedt have given way to Mörike, Keller and Hebbel, we assuredly have no reason for lament. If this little book help to win in our schools for these three and for Storm, C. F. Meyer, and Liliencron the recognition they deserve, I shall feel richly repaid for this labor of love.
_Spring of_ 1921,
Madison, Wisconsin.
FRIEDRICH BRUNS.
CONTENTS
Goethe
1. Willkommen und Abschied 2. Mailied 3. Auf dem See 4. Heidenröslein 5. Wanderers Nachtlied 6. Ein gleiches 7. Hoffnung 8. Erinnerung 9. Gefunden 10. Mignon 11. Harfenspieler 12. Der König in Thule 13. Der Fischer 14. Erlkönig 15. Gesang der Geister über den Wassern 16. Grenzen der Menschheit 17. Lied des Türmers
Schiller
18. Die Kraniche des Ibykus 19. Das verschleierte Bild zu Sais
Uhland
20. Die Lerchen 21. Des Knaben Berglied 22. Schäfers Sonntagslied 23. Die Kapelle 24. Morgenlied 25. Frühlingsglaube 26. Lob des Frühlings 27. Das Schwert 28. Die Rache 29. Der Wirtin Töchterlein 30. Der gute Kamerad 31. Taillefer 32. Des Sängers Fluch
Eichendorff
33. Der frohe Wandersmann
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