Part 8 (1/2)

In ”Zum neuen Jahr” (p. 260) the last lines:

Trag der Schonheit Koran im offenen Angesicht, Und ihm diene das Lied Hafises zum Kommentar

are a parallel to H_. 10. 6:

”Thy beautiful face by its grace explained to us a verse of the _Quran_; for that reason there is nothing in our commentary but grace and beauty.”

The opening lines of ”Schmuck der Welt” (p. 260):

Nicht bedarf der Schmink' ein schones Angesicht.

So bedarf die Liebste meiner Liebe nicht

are distinctly reminiscent of H_. 8. 4:

”Of our imperfect love the beauty of the beloved is independent.

What need has a lovely face of l.u.s.tre and dye and mole and line?”

Like H_afi? (H_. 358. 11; 518. 7 et pa.s.sim) Ruckert also boasts of his supremacy as a singer of love and wine (”Vom Lichte des Weines,” p.

273). Finally in ”Frag und Antwort” (p. 258) he employs the form of the dialogue, the lines beginning alternately _Ich sprach_, _Sie sprach_, just as H_afi? does in Ode 136 or 194. The ”Vierzeilen” (p. 361), while they have the _ruba?i_-rhyme, are not versions. Only a few of them have an Oriental character. Completely unoriental are the ”Briefe des Brahmanen” (p. 359), dealing with literary matters of contemporary interest.[151]

The Oriental studies which Ruckert continued to pursue with unabated ardor were to him a fruitful source of poetic inspiration. They furnished the material for the great ma.s.s of narrative, descriptive and didactic poems which were collected under the t.i.tles _Erbauliches und Beschauliches aus dem Morgenlande_, and again _Morgenlandische Sagen und Geschichten_, furthermore _Brahmanische Erzahlungen_, and lastly _Weisheit des Brahmanen_. We shall discuss these collections in the order here given.

The first collection _Erbauliches und Beschauliches_ (vol. vi.) consists of poems which were published between the years 1822 and 1837 in different periodicals. They appeared in collected form as a separate work in 1837.[152] The material is drawn from Arabic and Persian sources, only one poem, ”Die Schlange im Korbe,” p. 80, being from the Sanskrit of Bhart?hari (_Nitis_. 85).[153]

With the Arabic sources, the _Quran_, the chrestomathies of de Sacy and Kosegarten, and others, we are not here concerned. Among the Persian sources the one most frequently used is the _Gulistan_, from which are taken, to give but a few instances, ”Sadi an den Furstendiener,” p. 57 (_Gul._ i. distich 3), ”Mitgefuhl,” p. 52 (_Gul._ i. 10, _Ma?navi_), ”Kein Mensch zu Haus,” p. 52 (_Gul._ vii. 19, dist. 6, Platts, p. 139), ”Gewahrter Anstand,” p. 55 (_Gul._ iv. _Ma?_. 5, Platts, p. 96), as well as many of the proverbs and maxims, pp. 102-108. The poem ”Die Kerze und die Flasche,” p. 82, is a result of the poet's studies in connection with his translation of the _Haft Qulzum_, a fragment of Amir ahi[154]

being combined with a pa.s.sage cited from Asadi.[155] ”Eine Kriegsregel aus Mirchond,” p. 73, is a paraphrase of a _ma?navi_ from Mir?vand's _Rau?at-us_s_afa_.[156] In ”Gottesdienst,” p. 52, the first two lines are from Amir Xusrau (_Red._ p. 229); the remaining lines were added by Ruckert. The fables given on pp. 87-96 as from Jami are taken from the eighth chapter or ”garden” of that poet's _Baharistan_; they keep rather closely to the originals, only in ”Die Rettung des Fuchses” the excessive naturalism of the Persian is toned down.[157] One of these fables, however, ”Falke und Nachtigall,” p. 89, is not from Jami, but from the _Ma?san-ul-asrar_ of Ni?ami (???? ?? ??? ????? ed. Nathan.

Bland, London, 1844, p. 114; translated by Hammer in _Red._ p. 107).

Some of the poems in this collection are actual translations from Persian literature. Thus ”Ein Spruch des Hafis,” p. 59, is a fine rendering of _qi??ah_ 583 in the form of the original.[158] Then a part of the introduction to Ni?ami's _Iskandar Namah_ is given on p. 65. The translation begins at the fortieth couplet:[159]

”Who has such boldness that from fear of Thee he open his mouth save in submission to Thee?”

This is well rendered:

Wer hat die Kraft, in deiner Furcht Erbebung, Vor dir zu denken andres als Ergebung?

As will be noticed, Ruckert here has not attempted to reproduce the _mutaqarib_, as Platen has done in his version of the first eight couplets (see p. 36).

Some of the translations in this collection were not made directly from the Persian, but from the versions of Hammer. Thus ”Naturbetrachtung eines persischen Dichters,” p. 62, is a free rendering of Hammer's version of the invocation prefixed to A??ar's _Mantiq-u? ?air_ (_Red._ p. 141 seq.) and Ruckert breaks off at the same point as Hammer.[160] So also the extract from the _Iyar-i-Dani?_ of Abu'l Fa?l (p. 68) is a paraphrase of the version in _Red._ p. 397.

A number of poems deal with legends concerning Rumi, or with sayings attributed to him. Thus the legend which tells how the poet, when a boy, was transported to heaven in a vision, as told by Aflaki in the _Manaqibu'l ?Arifin_,[161] forms the subject of a poem, p. 37. A saying of Rumi concerning music prompted the composition of the poem, p. 54 (on which see Boxberger, op. cit. p. 241), and on p. 62 the great mystic is made to give a short statement of his peculiar S_ufistic doctrine of metempsychosis.[162] In ”Alexanders Vermachtnis,” p. 61, we have the well-known legend of how the dying hero gives orders to leave one of his hands hanging out of the coffin to show the world that of all his possessions nothing accompanies him to the grave. In Ni?ami's version, however, the hand is not left empty, but is filled with earth.[163]

Finally there are a few poems dealing with Oriental history, of which we may mention ”Hormusan,” p. 25, the subject being the same as in Platen's more famous ballad. It may be that both poets drew from the same source (see p. 37).

In the same year (1837) as the _Erbauliches und Beschauliches_ there appeared the _Morgenlandische Sagen und Geschichten_ (vol. iv.) in seven books or divisions. In general, the contents of these divisions may be described as versified extracts from Oriental history of prevailingly legendary or anecdotal character. Their arrangement is mainly chronological. Only the fourth, fifth and seventh books call for discussion as having Persian material. The most important source is the great historical work _Rau?at u_s-_safa_ of Mir?vand, portions of which had been edited and translated before 1837 by scholars like de Sacy,[164] Wilken,[165] Vullers[166] and others.[167]

Other sources to be mentioned are d'Herbelot's _Bibliotheque Orientale_,[168] de Sacy's version of the _Tari?-i-Yamini_[169] and Hammer's _Geschichte der schonen Redekunste Persiens_.