Goethe's "Wandrers Nachtlied" in the Mirror of Longfellow's Translation

7/23/2019 Goethe's "Wandrers Nachtlied" in the Mirror of Longfellow's Translation

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GOETHE'S "WANDRERS NACHTLIED" VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF LONGFELLOW'STRANSLATION

WANDRERS NACHTLIED

Der du von dem Himmel bis t,

Alles Leid und Schmerzen stillst,

Den, der doppelt elend ist,

Doppelt mit Erquickung fllest,

Ach, ich bin des Treibens mde,

Was soll all der Schmerz und Lust?

Ser Friede, Komm, ach komm in meine Brust!

EIN GLEICHES

ber allen Gipfeln

Ist Ruh,

In allen Wipfeln

Sprest du

Kaum einen Hauch,

Die Vgelein schweigen im Walde.

Warte nur, balde

Ruhest du auch.

WANDERERS NIGHT-SONGS (AFTER GOETHE) - H. W.Longfellow

I

Thou that from the heavens art,

Every pain and sorrow stilles t,

And the doubly wretched heart

Doubly with refreshment fillest,

I am weary with contending!

Why this rapture and unrest?

Peace descending

Come ah, come into my breast!

II

O'er all the hill-tops Is quiet now,

In all the tree-tops

Hearest thou

Hardly a breath;

The birds are asleep in the trees:

Wait; soon like these

Thou too shalt rest.


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The Question of how to translate "Wand(e)rer" into English

When translating Goethe's "Wandrers Nachtlied" into English, Henry WadsworthLongfellow, a scholar versed in German literature as well as a celebrated poet,rendered its title as "Wanderer's Night-Songs". His choice of the word"Wanderer" raises an interesting question. Anyone who has learned a foreignlanguage is likely to be familiar with the concept of "false friends" - words indifferent languages which share a similar outward form but which convey quitedifferent meanings, e.g. English "deception" and French "dception". Whenlocated in a non-fictional text, the German "Wanderer" is as likely to find itsEnglish equivalent in "traveller," "wayfarer," "migrant" or even "hiker" as it is in"wanderer". The translator's choice of word will reflect his or her assessment ofthe General sense of the passage in question. In the case of "WandrersNachtlied", however, it is not possible to determine which particular meaning of"Wandrer" has precedence over others. The two short poems which singly orjointly bear the title of "Wandrers Nachtlied" evoke the sentiments of a pilgrim onlife's journey. The second poem in this pair depicts a nocturnal scene witnessedby a speaker that the reader might imagine to be a traveller or rover. The poemsare also "songs", expressions of a poetic or artistic vision. The only English wordto convey a comparable range of associations is "wanderer". Its quality ofambiguity and vagueness, which might disqualify it as a precise logical term,commends itself to use in poetry. In the course of ensuing discussion we shallconsider which ways in Longfellow's translation significantly departs from the

original, as these divergences throw much light on matters concerning theinterpretation of "Wandrers Nachtlied". The first divergence we encounter isfound in the poems title.

Implications of Divergences between Longfellowss Translation and theGerman Original

"Night-Songs" does not correspond to "Nachtlied" in number. Goethe's use of thesingular emphasises the unity evinced by the two poems. Longfellow's use ofthe plural emphasises their respective singularity. The question of the poems'unity is best elucidated by reference to the time and circumstances of their origin.The first "Night-Song" was written in l776, when Goethe was still a newcomer tothe court in Weimar. We note a correspondence between the mood of the first"Night- Song" and the young poets situation in that year. He was then stillrecovering from the trauma of his Sturm und Drang years when he had felthimself to be a Cain-like fugitive.

By 1776, Goethe was afforded the promise of relief from his woes by theconsoling influence of Frau von Stein. By 1780, largely as a result of beingsubject to this influence, Goethe had acquired the virtues of self-possession,patience and a sense of the objectivity inculcated by the contemplation ofphysical nature and works of art. As a minister charged with responsibility for thesupervision of mines, he frequently visited Ilmenau, and it was in the closevicinity of this town that he wrote the second "Night-Song" and inscribed its wordsinto the boards of a wayfarer's hut set in the hills. The most probable date of thisevent was the 6th of September 1780.

When Goethe approached the end of his life, he returned to this hut. On readingthe second "Night-Song" carved in the boards of a wall, Goethe could not help

weeping, so deeply was the poem connected with his memories of Frau vonStein. Goethe himself set the precedent for having the poems appear eitherseparately or together.

If the poems appear singly, each bears the title of "Wandrers Nachtlied"; iftogether, only the first is thus entitled, while the poem of 1780 bears the title "EinGleiches"", (meaning here "a poem of the same kind"). Let us now go on toconsider words found in the poems and difficulties Longfellow faced whentranslating them.

The words "Sprest du" in the second "Night-Song" are rendered by Longfellowas "Hearest thou". Any English translation of the German "du" in a poetic textcannot quite convey the force of the German pronoun. The English "you" neitherspecifies a reference to only one person, nor does it in itself indicate that there is

a close or familiar relationship between the speaker and the person addressed."Thou" corresponds to "du" in terms of number and familiarity, but carriespossibly unwanted associations with certain biblical and literary traditions. Anevocation of tradition may well be cons istent with the lofty tones of the first "Night-Song" so reminiscent of the Lord's Prayer in the King James Bible. However, theself-same tone loses something of the intimate feeling conveyed by "du" in thesecond "Night-Song".


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The German verb "spren" has meanings in the range "to trace", "to sense", "tomake out" and "to discern under difficult conditions". Why did Longfellow renderthis verb using "to hear"? It seems unlikely that the answer will be found in anyneed to make concessions to demands of metre. "Spren" does not suggestwhich of the five senses allows one to be aware of some object. In the givencontext Longfellow's choice of the verb "to hear" suggests that the speaker reliesexclusively on the auditory channel of perception when detecting the slightestmovement in the tree-tops to which he refers. Common sense tells us thatdespite the advent of darkness it is often possible to see objects at night. Even ifwe allow that the speaker can attune his hearing to movements in tree-tops (as

opposed to those in their lower branches), we still have to consider the hill-topsreferred to in the poem. Longfellow establishes by the very use of the verb "tohear" that the reader records his physical perceptions. To suggest that the visionof the hills is not physical in character, but rather some projection of theimaginative faculty is to deny the unity and consistency of the poem itself. Weface none of these objections if we accept that the second night-song depicts anocturnal landscape as seen by the speaker. Professor E.M. Wilkinson suggestsin an appreciation of the poem that the speaker sees what he describes by thetwilight of evening. 2 The only other source of light capable of illuminating thehills and trees to which the speaker refers is that of the moon. When faced withtwo equally plausible explanations, even a rigorously objective critic may find itappropriate to consider one poem in the light of another written by the author,preferably at about the same time.

In one of the draft versions of "Wandrers Nachtlied" the opening line runs "berallen Gefilden" ("Above every field"). 6 This evinces a s trong simi larity with wordsfound in "An den Mond," which Goethe dedicated to Frau von Stein.

Here is the second s trophe of this poem :

Breitest ber mein Gefild

Lindernd deinen Blick

Wie der Liebsten Auge, mild

ber mein Geschick.

You s pread over my pasturesYour s oftening glance

Like the eyes of the deares t one, mildly

Over my destiny.

If we concede that "An den Mond" evinces a deep affinity with the poems thatshare the title of "Wandrers Nachtlied", it follows that the second person pronounsituated in the first line of"Wandrers Nachtlied" (1776) contains the same dualreference. As the poems entitled "Wandrers Nachtlied" form a unity, we have abasis for inferring that the speaker describes a m oon-lit landscape in the poemof 1780. But if this is the case, why should this poem contain no explicitreference to the moon? I offer an explanation of this absence at a later juncture in

this section. However, I now briefly submit reasons why the poem's implicitsuggestions concerning the effect of moon-light are compatible with the deeppsychological influences which Professor Willoughby discusses in associationwith Goethe's use of the word "Wanderer."

In poetic usage the English and German words sharing the form "Wanderer"arouse identical or similar associations, among them those of the "Wanderer"and the moon. Indeed, Shelley's "Lines written in the Bay of Lerici" begins with anapostrophe to the moon with the words "Bright wanderer". In my view there is animplicit association of the "Wanderer" and the moon in Coleridge's The Rime ofthe Ancient Mariner. In his article entitled "Romanticism and 'Anti-Self-Consciousness"'. 4 G.H. Hartman identifies the Mariner as the "Wanderer" or"Wandering Jew". The Mariner is finally released from the curse that he broughtupon himself when he blesses sea-serpents he sees by the light of the moon.

Parallel treatments of the associated themes of the Wanderer and the moon inGerman and English poetry cannot be readily explained in terms of adherence tosome convention or well-established tradition. In my view an explanation of thisphenomenon must be sought in the deep levels of the psyche. Dr. C. G. Jungconstantly elucidated his theories by referring to the archetypal wanderers thatappear in ancient mythologies. 5 In this connection he pointed to "solar" heroesdriven by a libidinal impulse to achieve union with that aspect of the


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consciousness that gives rise to the image of a goddess of the night,sometimes the moon, representing the anima, the female aspect of the self,sought by the libido.

In an article to which I have already referred G.H. Hartman interprets poems thatpresent the theme of a journey as expressions of the imaginative process whenengaged in the composition of poetry. I continue this discussion exploring waysin which words and images encountered in "Wandrers Nachtlied" mirror thequality and nature of the poems themselves. Let us once more consider aspectsof "Wandrers Nachtlied" in the light of Longfellows translation. Longfellow'srendering of "Vgelein" as "birds" in the second "Night-Song" does not convey

the diminutive force of the suffix indicating "liitle birds". What is lost by thisinaccuracy? We are surely not considering here some aspect of ornithogy but areflection of an internal aspect of the poem itself. I find corroboration for thisconclusion in a word that also implies a reference to poetry and poeticinspiration, namely in "Hauch" ("breath"), which immediately precedes the linebeginning "Die Vgelein", for the words "die Vgelein" and "kaum einen Hauch"share the feature of denoting a s light measure.These intimations are consonantwith the tone of the second "Night-Song" with its quality of reticence and lack ofany superfluous word or image. It is the bare economy of language evident in thepoem, with its tendency to stress the minimal or negative aspects of what itdescribes, which lends the poem its specially vibrant qualities and its density ofassociations. Again the line "Die Vglein schweigen im Walde" will serve toillustrate this point. In the normal way it should be translated as "The little birdsare silent in the wood". Longfellow's translation of this line offers one possible

explanation of the birds' silence, but forfeits the stark simplicity of the original,which stresses absence and negation. If, as I earlier argued, a perception of lightis implied by the speaker s reference to inaudible objects, the absence of anyreference to a source of light again reflects the poet's avoidance of anysuperfluous s tatement.

The minimalism that characterises "Wandrers Nachtlied" enhances thesugges tive power those few words that compose it, making us unusually awarethat words exist in their own right and are not merely subservient to a concisereferential and designating role. This is nowhere more clearly evident than in thecase of the word "Wanderer". In the introduction of this inquiry I focussed onpossible reasons why Longfellow chose the word "Wanderer" as the appropriatetranslation of "Wandrer". No Synonym of "Wanderer," whether "wayfarer","pilgrim", or "itinerant artist" covers the full range of meaning that inheres in

"Wanderer", and no dramatic or contextual setting foregrounds one sense of"Wanderer" at the expense of another. Any resultant ambiguity does not lead toconfusion or contradiction, as interpretations of the poem based on a regard forone of its meanings complement and enhance alternative interpretations basedon another understanding of the word's possible meaning. This ambiguitycomes to light if we reflect on the nature of the "rest" that is finally promis ed to theWanderer. This might be construed as physical rest on a traveller's return tohome and family after the rigours of a long journey. It could betoken the rest of abeliever after life's journey is over, or a release from tensions that assail thepoet's peace of mind. In recognition of what Goethe called "Wiederspiegelung",the interaction of art and life, we gather that all the aspects of "wandering" justmentioned colour the full meaning of the word "Wanderer". We should notconsider this word only in terms of its power to define subject-matter. It impliesstructure, contrast, relationships and reciprocity. This is clearly evident in theantithesis of "Wanderer" and "rest" in "Wandrers Nachtlied," or indeed, within thegeneral context of Goethe's poetic works, as Professor L.A. Willoughbyconvincingly demonstrates in his article "The Image of the 'Wanderer' and the'Hut' in Goethe's Poetry".

If, as I suggested earlier, the associations of "Wanderer" and other forms derivedfrom the verbs "wandern" and "to wander', harbour the same wealth ofimplications, we should expect to discover similar themes and antitheses inpoems in which such forms occur. Certain similarities of this kind may be theresult of "influence". As I noted in another connection, according to JonathanWordsworth, his renowned forebear, William Wordsworth, was deeply impressedby Goethe's "Der Wandrer" as mediated to him by a translation of this poem byWilliam Taylor of Norwich. 7 In entitling the translation "The Wanderer", Tayloranticipated Longfellows choice of the same word in the title "Wanderer's Night-Songs". In Jonathan Wordsworth's view, Goethe's influence gave rise to the figureof the Wanderer in The Excursion. It is, however, in a comparison of "WandrersNachtlied" and "I wandered lonely as a cloud" that I believe we are able todiscover the deepest affinities s hared by Goethe and Wordsworth. In both poemswe witness a vision of natural objects which effects a perfect balance ofsubjectivity and objectivity. The communion of the observer and the observed


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springs from a harmony of the self-conscious and the unconscious operationsof the poet's mind. The merging of these modes of consciousness does notresult in either poem in an obliteration of references to recalled experience.Indeed, we can even assign precise dates to the experiences which promptedGoethe and Wordworth to write these poems. However, the poems also evincethat power which transcends the normal individual or personal consciousness,the power the Romantics called "the imagination".

Professor E. .M. Wilkinson observes in connection with the second "Night-Song"that the poem reveals the essential order of language itself. 8 I believe a similarclaim can be made for "I wandered lonely as a cloud", for reasons that should

become clear in the following discussion. It is noteworthy that both poems beginwith the word "Wanderer" or a declined form of the verb "to wander", therebytypifying a trait in the poetry of their age. A conspicuous number of celebratedpoems written by Goethe and his Romantic contemporaries contain the word"Wanderer" in their titles. The frequency of this occurrence is so conspicuous thatone might be misled into concluding that the word "Wanderer" is limited infunction to serving as some conceit or convention. One finds occurrences of theverb "to wander" at the beginning of English Romantic poems which echotraditional evocations of the "wandering" Muse.9 If we discover essentially thesame phenomenon reflected in occurrences of the word "Wanderer" in Germanpoetry and those of the less conspicuous but no less significant appearances ofthe verb "to wander" in Romantic English poetry, we have cause to ponderwhether the Muse has truly departed from modern poetry. In my view no prevalentinfluence or convention, and least of all coincidence, provides a full explanation

for the affinities and shared associations noted in this discussion.

ANNOTATIONS

1. The background of the poem is discussed by Erich Trunz in his commentaryon "Ein Gleiches" Goethe DieGedichte, ed. Erich Trunz (Munich, 1929).

2. We pointed to the immediacy with which language here conveys the hush ofevening ber allen Gipfel ist Ruh. In the long of Ruh and in the evening pausewe detect the perfect stillness that descends upon nature with the coming oftwilight. Professor E.M. Wilkinson, "Goethe's Poetry", German Life and Letters ,pp. 316-329.

3. Hand-written copies were in the possession of Herder and Luise vonGchhausen.

4. In: Romanticism and Consciousness Essays in Criticism , ed. Harold Bloom(New York, 1970

5 . "The nature of wandering in psychological terms is discussed in the fifthchapter ofPsychology of the Unconscious . I cite a passage from this chapter astranslated by Beatrice M. Hinkle:The wandering is a representation of longing, of the ever-restless desire, whichnowhere finds its object, for unknown to itself, it seeks the lost mother, thewandering association renders the Sun comparison easily intelligible, also.under this aspect, the heroes resemble the wandering Sun, which seems tojus tify the fact that the myth of the hero is a sun myth. But the myth of the hero,however, is, as it appears to me, the myth of our own suffering unconscious,

which has an unquenchable longing for all the deepest sources of our ownbeing."

6. in: Etudes Germanique July-Dec 1951.

7. Jonathan Wordsworth, The Music of Humanity (New York / Evanston, 1969).

8. ln the article cited in the second footnote above: Here, in this lyrical poem, his[Goethe's] experience of natural process has been so completely assimilatedinto the forms of language, that it is communicated to us directly by the order ofthe words.

9. Most noticeably in Byron's Childe Harold' s Pilgrimage and Blake's Milton.

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Goethe's "Wandrers Nachtlied" in the Mirror of Longfellow's Translation