The Poems of Goethe, Translated in the Original MetresGoethe, Johann Wolfgang von
General
The Poems of Goethe, Translated in the Original Metres
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
German poetry -- Translations into English; Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749-1832 -- Translations into English
It contains opinions and sentiments on the East, expressed in a
series of rich cantos and stanzas full of sweetness and spirit,
and all this as enchanting as a harem emitting the most delicious
and rare perfumes, and blooming with exquisitely-lovely nymphs
with eyebrows painted black, eyes piercing as those of the
antelope, arms white as alabaster, and of the most graceful and
perfectly-formed shapes, while the heart of the reader beats and
grows faint, as did that of the happy Gaspard Debaran, the clown,
who, when on the highest step of his ladder, was enabled to peep
into the Seraglio of Constantinople--that recess concealed from
the inspection of man. Sometimes also the reader may imagine
himself indolently stretched on a carpet of Persian softness,
luxuriously smoking the yellow tobacco of Turkistan through a
long tube of jessamine and amber, while a black slave fans him
with a fan of peacock's feathers, and a little boy presents him
with a cup of genuine Mocha. Goethe has put these enchanting and
voluptuous customs into poetry, and his verses are so perfect, so
harmonious, so tasteful, so soft, that it seems really surprising
that he should ever have been able to have brought the German
language to this state of suppleness. The charm of the book is
inexplicable; it is a votive nosegay sent from the West to the
East, composed of the most precious and curious plants: red
roses, hortensias like the breast of a spotless maiden, purple
digitalis like the long finger of a man, fantastically formed
ranunculi, and in the midst of all, silent and tastefully
concealed, a tuft of German violets. This nosegay signifies that
the West is tired of thin and icy-cold spirituality, and seeks
warmth in the strong and healthy bosom of the East."
Translations are here given of upwards of sixty of the best
Poems embraced in the Divan, the number in the original exceeding
two hundred.
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I. MORGAGNI NAME.
BOOK OF THE MINSTREL.
TALISMANS.
GOD is of the east possess'd,
God is ruler of the west;
North and south alike, each land
Rests within His gentle hand.
-----
HE, the only righteous one,
Wills that right to each be done.
'Mongst His hundred titles, then,
Highest praised be this!--Amen.
-----
ERROR seeketh to deceive me,
Thou art able to retrieve me;
Both in action and in song
Keep my course from going wrong.
1819.*
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THE FOUR FAVOURS.
THAT Arabs through the realms of space
May wander on, light-hearted,
Great Allah hath, to all their race,
Four favours meet imparted.
The turban first--that ornament
All regal crowns excelling;
A light and ever-shifting tent,
Wherein to make our dwelling;
A sword, which, more than rocks and walls
Doth shield us, brightly glistening;
A song that profits and enthrall,
For which the maids are list'ning!
1814.
-----
DISCORD.
WHEN by the brook his strain
Cupid is fluting,
And on the neighboring plain
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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