GOETHE`S "CHINESE-GERMAN BOOK OF SEASONS AND HOURS

GOETHE'S "CHINESE-GERMAN BOOK OF SEASONS AND HOURS"
AND
'WORLDLITERATURE*
U. C. Fischer
In 1827, at the age of seventy eight and five years before his death, Goethe
was about to complete the second part of his '"Faust", the drama, that had
accompanied him, as he writes to Wilhelm von Humboldt, for over sixty years.
A by-product of his work are the "Chinesisch-Deutsche Jahres-und Tageszeiten"
or "The Chinese-German Book of Seasons and Hours", the composition of
which can be dated to the same year.
I.
The poems.
Though being near to the "Faust" in time, these fourteen poems of various
length have nothing in common with the eternal striving and redemption that is
the theme of the play. This may already be seen from a representative selection:
I. Sag', was konnt' uns Mandarinen,
satt zu herrschen, mud zu dienen,
sag, was konnt' uns ubrig bleiben,
als in solchen Fruhlingstagen
uns des Nordens zu entschlagen
und am Wasser und im Grunen
frohlich trinken, geistig schreiben,
Schal'auf Schale, Zug in Zugen?
Tell me, what there is left to us Mandarins
satiated with our rule and tired of our service,
tell me, what could there be left to us
in these days of Spring,
but to reject the North,
and near by the waterside, with the green everywhere,
to drink gaily bowl after bowl
and to write wittily one line after the other?
II. Weiss wie Lilien, reine Kerzen,
Sternen gleich, bescheidner Beugung,
leuchtet aus dem Mittelherzen
rot gesaumt die Glut der Neigung.
So fruhzeitige Narzissen
bluhen reihenweis' im Garten.
Mogen wohl die Guten wissen,
wen sie so spaliert erwarten.
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White as lilies, pure candles
starlike, with modest bow:
from the middle of their hearts shines forth
the red rimmed glow of love.
Such early narcissi
bloom in rows in the garden.
Perhaps these brave ones know
whom, in this array, they are expecting.
IV.
Der Pfau schreit hasslich, aber sein Geschrei
erinnert mich ans himmlische Gefieder,
so ist mir auch sein Schreien nicht zuwider.
Mit indischen Gansen ist's nicht gleicherlei, •
sie zu erdulden ist unmoglich :
die hasslichen, sie schreien unertraglich.
The peacock screams in an ugly way, but his voice
reminds me of his heavenly plumes,
and therefore his screaming does not affect me.
With Indian geese it is not likewise,
and I find it impossible to tolerate them:
those ugly animals, they scream unbearably
V. Entwickle deiner Luste Glanz;
der Abendsonne goldnen Strahlen,
lass deines Schweifes Rad und Kranz
kuhn-augelnd ihr entgegen prahlen.
Sie forscht, wo es im Grunen bluht,
im Garten, uberwolbt vom Blauen;
ein Liebespaar, wo sie's ersieht,
glaubt sie das Herrliche zu schauen.
Unfold the radiance of your lust
in the last golden rays of the evening sun,
let the fan of your tail
boast towards her boldly with many eyes.
She searches for something unfolding itself in the green,
in the garden with its blue cupola;
a. couple in love, when she has made it out,
is the most glorious thing to her.
VIII. Dammrung senkte sich von oben,
schon ist alle Nahe fern;
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doch zuerst emporgehoben
holden Lichts der Abendstern!
Alles schwankt ins Ungewisse,
Nebel schleichen in die Hoh';
schwarzvertiefte Finsternisse
widerspiegelnd ruht der See.
Nun am ostlichen Bereiche
ahn' ich Mondenglanz und Glut,
schlanker Weiden Haargezweige
scherzen auf der nachsten Flut.
Durch bewegter Schatten Spiele
zittert Luna's Zauberschein,
und durchs Auge schleicht die Kuhle
sanftigend ins Herz hinein.
Dusk has settled from above,
all that was new is now far away;
but first was lifted up
the evening star, shining gently!
Everything floats away into uncertainty,
mists creep upwards,
the lake is at rest and only reflects
black depths of darkness.
Now in the eastern range
I have a presentiment of the moon's glow and radiance,
the hairlike branches of gracious willows
stroke playfully over the water near me.
Lunar magic tremors through the moving shadows,
and through the eye a calming coolness
steals into the heart.
IX. Nun weiss man erst, was Rosenknospe sei,
jetzt da die Rosenzeit vorbei;
ein Spatling noch am Stocke glanzt
und ganz allein die Blumenwelt erganzt.
Only now, the blossom time of roses having passed,
one realizes what a rosebud means;
a late one still gives a gloss to the rose-tree
and completes out of her own right the world of flowers.
XI. 'Mich angstigt das Verfangliche
im widrigen Geschwatz,
wo nichts verharret, alles flieht,
— 29
wo schon verschwunden, was man sieht;
und mich umfangt das bangliche,
das graugestrickte Netz.'—
Getrost! Das Unvergangliche,
es 1st das ewige Gesetz,
wonach die Ros' und Lilie bluht.
'I fear the entanglement
into idle talk,
where nothing stays, and everything flees away,
where that what you see, has already vanished;
and the grey-spun net
surrounds me in a frightening way.'—
Take courage! That which is imperishable
is the eternal law
according to which the rose and the lily blossom.
XIV. 'Nun denn! Eh' wir von hinnen eilen,
hast noch was Kluges mitzuteilen?'—
Sehnsucht ins Feme, Kunftige zu beschwichtigen,
beschaftige dich hier und heut im Tuchtigen.
'Now! Before we hurry on,
is there any wise word, that you want to tell us ?'—
Soothe your yearning for things far away and in the future,
and be good, here and now, at what is required.
2.
A possible Chinese source.
The question arises as to whether Goethe had, according to the title of the
sequence, a Chinese source, and how much he took from it.
The well known "Talks with Goethe", written by Eckermann, the secretary
and intimus of the poet, can give a hint. Under the date of January 31, 1827,
the entry runs as follows: "At Goethe's table. 'During these days, since I
have not seen you', he said,' I have read a great deal, and of various kind,
especially a Chinese novel, that still is in my mind, and which seems to me a
very curious work.' Chinese novel? I said, that will probably be something
very strange. 'Not as much as one should believe1, Goethe said. 'The thoughts,
actions, and sentiments of people over there are almost the same as ours, and
very soon one feels to be similar to them, only with the difference, that with
them everything seems to be clearer, more cleanly, and more moral. Everything they do is reasonable, civil, without great passions or poetic impetus and
has therefore much in common with my ''Hermann und Dorothea", as well as
with the English novels written by Richardson. The difference is to be found
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in the circumstance, that with them nature always lives together with human
beings. The goldfish can be heard making splashes in the ponds, the birds are
continuously singing on their branches, the day is always serene and sunny, the
night always clear; the moon is mentioned frequently, but she does not change
the landscape, because her light is thought to be as clear as daylight. And the
interior of the houses are as pleasant and graceful as their drawings. For example : "I heard the lovely girls laugh, and when I saw them, they sat on fine
cane-chairs". There you have a delightful situation, because cane-chairs cannot be imagined without thinking of them as being light and graceful. And
then there is a great number of legends that always accompany the story and
are used in an almost proverbial way. For example, the talk goes of a girl,
whose feet were as light and graceful, that she could keep her balance on a
flower without breaking her. Or of a young man, who was so well-behaved and
brave that on his thirtieth birthday he had the honour to talk with the emperor.
And of couples being after a long time engaged still in such chaste love, that
when once it was necessary that they stayed together in a room over night—they
did not touch each other, but talked, and watched in this way until the night was
over. And thus a lot of legends., which all consider of what is moral and proper
to do. But just by means of such a strict restraint in everything the Chinese
Empire had the great force to maintain its existence since thousands of years,
and in this way will continue to exist also in the future.' " 2)
In order to be better informed on the novel Goethe has read, the secretary
Eckermann asks the poet whether the book could be considered one of the more
outstanding ones. The answer of Goethe is: "Not at all. The Chinese have
thousands of these novels and already had them, when our ancestors were still
living in the forests." 3)
We have in this colloquy a clear indication at least to one possible Chinese
source of inspiration for Goethe: the novel. Nothing is said about translations
from Chinese poetry, though we know that Goethe has read some of them as well.
A novel of the kind mentioned by Goethe is "The Affectionate Pair or the
History of Sung-Kin" 4). The translator, Peter Perring Thorns, was a printer
in the service of the China department of the East India Company, living in 1817
at Macao. It is known that the library of Goethe at Weimar contained English
translations done by Thorns.
The story is one of a collection of forty ancient and modern wonderful tales,
all of them of a moral tendency, as Thorns mentions. The History of Sung-Kin,
late son of a brave couple, describes an occurence in low life, and is interesting
for the customs and manners described. It is a tale in three parts, dealing with
the upbringing, the period of trial for the hero, and the bestowment of a price
for worthy conduct, the observance of old customs, perseverance, and conjugal
fidelity being the values exalted.
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Inserted into the text, and giving an atmosphere to it, are some poems that
for their descriptive and symbolic qualities are in some ways near to the poems
of Goethe:
When the moon dips and the clouds
are filled with frost, the birds twitter.
When reclining, how pleasant to see from the
bridge the fisherman's fragrant fires:
on the cold hill, without the city Koo-soo,
stands the lonely temple:
half the night over the sound of its
bell visits each stranger's boat. 5)
The falling showers fade the blooming flower,
and the grass by hoar frost is nipt of its verdant hue.
6)
When men's affairs take a prosperous change,
they are lightly and sprightly;
and the moon, when she reaches the autumnal
solstice, shines with resplendent lustre. 7)
By mentioning this novel and comparing it with the poems of Goethe, it is
not intended to say, that the story of Sung-Kin was a direct source of inspiration.
As a matter of fact, the sign-like, almost proverbial quality that can be noticed
with the prose text as well as with the inserted poems, is something not to be
found with Goethe's poems. The similarity stands in the unlyrical way of a
very natural, detached, and objective description, as well as in the didactic
application of some medium size wisdom, where more subtle wisdom can be
supposed in the background. It is also likely that Goethe took some of his
themes from the novels he read.
3. Themes.
The first impression of the "Chinesisch-Deutsche Jahres-und Tageszeiten" is
that of a collection of stray poems or afterthoughts following the edition of the
"West—ostlicher Divan", a collection of two hundred and fifty poems divided
into twelve books 8), in which the poet turns for the first time his eyes toward
the Orient, i.e. to Persia.
This impression is, however, erroneous. The sequence is well-knit, starting
with an introduction, where a Chinese court official retires from the forthcoming
hot season to the waterside, where he sips his wine, meditates, and writes
(strophe I). The same mandarin can be found at the end, when a company of
young people come to him, asking his counsel.
Into this frame is inserted one long meditation on the various forms of love
(II-XI), only interrupted by a description of a nightscape in moonlight (VIII).
— 32 —
Up to this intersection we have a contrast between heavenly (lilies, pure candles,
central heart, glow of sympathy, paradise) and earthly love (peacock as an
allegory, peacock's tail as a symbol of manly potency, couple united in love,
cuckoo and nightingale) together with the memory of a beautiful lady who
approaches the poet to show him her love (VII).
The second part of the sequence, after the landscape description, contains
a reflection: what a rose really is, can be known only after the time of roses, i.e.
youth and love have passed. Not this particular rosebud raises the interest
of the poet, but the eternal law by which the rose and the lily blossom (XI).
Goethe expounds here an idea that he had made his possession after returning from his voyage to Italy. He tried to show by his own research that the
structure in microcosm as well as in macrocosm is governed by an organic rule,
and that all appearances in outward nature are only a reflection of this general
rule, or, as he calls it here, 'eternal law'.
\
That is the result of the mandarin's meditation, the mandarin being nobody
else than the poet himself. But when the young people come to ask him, he
does not tell them his thoughts, but gives them a practical advice for their
daily life.
4.
Poetical treatment.
Evidently Goethe in his "Chinese-German Book of Hours and Seasons" has
overcome the kind of verse he used during his classical period. Hexameter,
ionic, and choriambic verse are left for an irregular measure running up to
twelve lines and rhyming either in couples or alternatively. The language
material is treated with extreme firmness and audacity, the tools being new
combinations of words, syntactic eliminations, dislocations, and contractions.
The result is en astonishing flexibility and smoothness.
Other, more contenutistical tools are nature symbols, such as 'lily' and
'rose', approaching allegory, and allegory itself with the peacock being an
emblem for man's lust. It is significant that Goethe in his old age takes allegory
as a new means for abbreviation and concentration, turning in this way to a
certain degree of hermetism not to be found in the poems of his earlier periods.
5.
Conclusion.
"The Chinese—German Book of Seasons and Hours" is a small sequence
of poems with an unlyrical, objective, moralizing, and didactic approach, that is
most likely to have been inspired, by the English translations of Chinese novels
read by Goethe. Apart from the insertion of strophe VIII, where description
comes near to the character of an ink-drawing, there is nothing especially
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Chinese, "China" and the "mandarin" being used as a sort of disguise for what
Goethe has to tell us. The main confrontation between heavenly and earthly
love is an old one and common to the tradition of Western literature and art
since the time of Renaissance. The reflection following it uses Goethe's guiding
principle of an organic structure being reflected in all particular appearances of
nature. The distinction between the "West—Ostlicher Divan" and the
"Chinesisch—Deutsche Jahres-und Tagezeiten" following to some extent the
earlier poems in their strophic and metric form, as well as their mode of rhyming,
stands in the well-knit composition and the unity of thought.
But another circumstance has to be mentioned. The colloquy, reported by
Eckermann, with Goethe's judgment on Chinese novels, contains also the following passage: "I (therefore) like to look around, in order to know what is going on
with other nations and advise everyone to do the same. At the point where we
are, national literature does not mean very much; the epoch of world literature
has to come about, and everyone should work now to accelerate the forthcoming
of this epoch." 9)
It is, after all, this aspect that is significant for the above poems, merging
the East and the West as before in the "West—Ostlicher Divan". Thus, besides
the composition of the poems, it is the concept of literature developed at the
same time by Goethe, that has to be considered, a concept gradually followed
by only today.
Notes.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7
)
8)
9)
Goethe, Samtliche Werke. Vollstandige Ausgabe in 15 Banden. Stuttgart
1872. 1. Band, pp 392-95.
Tempel Klassiker. Eckermann: Gesprache mit Goethe. Berlin, Darmstadt 1958. pp 233-34.
Eckermann. p 235.
London 1820.
The History of Sung-Kin. p 11
„
„
„
p 34
„
,,
„
P 66
First edition, Stuttgart 1819
Eckermann, p 235.
Other books used:
E. Reisinger. Goethe.
3. Anflage. Munchen 1958
The translations from the "Chinesisch-Deutsche Jahresund Tageszeiten and
from the "Gesprache mit Goethe" have been done by the author of this article.
— 34 —