Graf von Loeben and the Legend of Lorelei: From "Modern Philology" vol. 13 (1915)Porterfield, Allen Wilson
General
Graf von Loeben and the Legend of Lorelei: From "Modern Philology" vol. 13 (1915)
Porterfield, Allen Wilson
Legends -- Germany; Loeben, Otto Heinrich, Graf von, 1786-1825
[24] "Der Abend" reminds one strongly of Hölderlin's "Die Nacht,"
while "Tag und Nacht" goes back undoubtedly to Novalis' "Hymnen an
die Nacht," W. Schlegels sonnet on the sonnet stood sponsor for
"Das Sonett," and Goethe and Tieck also reoccur in changed
dress. The poems on Correggio (73), Ruisdael (75), Goethe (137),
Tieck (138-39), and Novalis (141) sound especially like
W. Schlegel's poems on other poets and artists.
[25] In his _Geschichte des Sonettes in der deutschen
Dichtung_.'Leipzig, 1884. Heinrich Weltl (pp. 210-17) criticizes
Loeben's sonnets most severely from the point of view of content;
and as to their form he says: "Blos die Form, oder gar die blosse
Form der Form ist beachtenswert." This is unquestionably a case of
warping the truth in order to bring in a sort of pun.
[26] The triolett is worth quoting as a type of Loeben's prettiness:
Galt es mir, das süsse Blicken
Aus dem hellen Augenpaar?
Unter'm Netz vom goldnen Haar
Galt es mir das süsse Blicken?
Einem sprach es von Gefahr,
Einen wollt' es licht umstricken;
Galt es mir, das süsso Blicken
Aus dem hellen Augenpaar.
[27] An idea as to Loeben's temperament can he derived from the
following passage in a letter to Tieck: "Gott sei mit Ihnen und
die heilige Muse! Oft drängt es mich, niederzuknien im Schein, den
Albrecht Dürers und Novalis Glorie wirft, im alten frommen
Dom. dann denk' ich Ihrer und ich lieg' an Ihrer Seele. Ich fühle
Sie in mir, wie man eine Gottheit fühlt in geweihter
Stunde. 'Liebe denkt in sel'gen Tönen, denn Gedanken stehn zu
fern." The quotation should read "süssen" instead of "sel'gen."
See _Briefe an Tierk._ edited by Holtei, II, 266.
[28] As a corrective to the monographs of Pissin on Loeben and
H. A. Krüger on Eichendorff. one should read Wilhelm Kosch's
article in _Euphorion_ (1907, pp. 310-20). Kosch. contends
that Pissin and Krüger have vastly overestimated Loeben's
influence on Eichendorff, and that Loeben in general was "eine
bedeutungslose Tageserscheinung."
[29] The complete title is _Godwi, oder das steinerne Bild der
Mutter. Ein verwilderter Roman von Maria_. The very rare first
edition of this novel, in two volumes, is in the Columbia
Library. Friedrich Wilmans was the publisher.
[30] Cf. Alfred Kerr, _Godwi. Ein Kapitel deutscher
Romantik_. Berlin, 1898, p. 2.
[31] Cf. Wilhelm Hertz, "Über den Namen Lorelei," _Sitzungsberichte
der k.b. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München_, Jahrgang
1886, pp. 217-51. For the etymologist, this is an invaluable
study.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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