Chapter 7 PLATEN.

His Oriental Studies-Ghaselen-Their Persian Character-Imitation of Persian Form-Translations.

The first to introduce the γazal in its strict form into German literature132 was Rückert, who in 1821 published a version of a number of γazals from the dīvān of Rūmī.133 Chronologically, therefore, he ought to have the precedence in this investigation. If we, nevertheless, take up Platen first, we do so because the γazals of this poet were really the first professedly original poems of this form to appear in Germany (Rückert's claiming to be versions only), and also because they constitute almost the only portion of his poetic work that comes within the sphere of this discussion. Moreover, the remarks which we shall make concerning their content, imagery, and poetic structure, apply largely to the γazals of Rückert and also to his ?stliche Rosen, if we except the structure of the latter.

Platen became interested in the East through the work of Hammer, and still more through the influence of Goethe's Divan. He at once set to work studying Persian, and his zeal was increased when, on meeting Rückert in 1820 at Ebern, and again at Nürnberg, he received encouragement and instruction from that scholarly poet. Above all, the appearance of the latter's versions from Rūmī gave him a powerful stimulus, and in 1821 the first series of his Ghaselen appeared at Erlangen. Others followed in rapid succession. The same year a second series appeared at Leipzig;134 a third series, united under the title Spiegel des Hafis, appeared at Erlangen the next year;135 and, lastly, a series called Neue Ghaselen appeared in the same place in 1823. A few γazals arose later, some being published as late as 1836 and 1839.136

We shall confine our discussion to those γazals that date from the years 1821 and 1822, the last series being Persian in nothing but form.

The Ghaselen are not at all translations. Like the Divan-poems they are original creations, inspired by the reading of Hāfi?, and, to use the poet's own words "dem Hafis nachgefühlt und nachgedichtet."137 They follow as closely as possible the Persian metrical rules, and make use throughout of Persian images and metaphors, so much so that we can adduce direct parallels from the poems of Hāfi?. Thus in 13138 we read: "Schenke! Tulpen sind wie Kelche Weines," evidently a parallel to some such line as H. 541. 1:

???? ??? ?? ?? ??? ???? ?? ?? ? ??

"sāqī, come! for the tulip-like goblet is filled with wine." In 75 the words "Weil ihren goldnen Busen doch vor euch verschliesst die Rose" are an echo of H. 300. 2:

?????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ????

"like the rose-bud, how can its inward secret remain concealed?" (cf. also H. 23. 3). And again in 85 "Und nun ... entrinnet dem Herzen das Blut leicht, das sonst mir den Odem benahm" is to be compared with H. 11. 9:

?? ?????? ???? ?? ??????? ?? ???

"the sorrowful heart of Hāfi?, which through separation from thee is full of blood." Furthermore in 81 we read:

Du fingst im lieblichen Trugnetz der Haare die ganze Welt,-

Als spiegelhaltende Sklavin gewahre die ganze Welt!

For the first line compare H. 102. 1:

?? ???? ?? ??????? ?? ??? ???? ????

"there is no one who has not been snared by that doubled tress," and for the second line compare H. 470. 1:

? ????? ???? ??? ???? ??

"O, thou of whose beauty the sun is the mirror-holder!" In 86 the idea of the young men slain like game by the beauty of the beloved is evidently inspired by H. 358. 6:

???? ??? ?? ?? ?? ?????

???? ?? ?????? ???? ?? ????

"in every nook thine eye has a hundred slain ones fallen like me," and the following lines in the same poem 86:

O welche Pfeile strahlt zu mir dein Antlitz,

Und es befreit kein Schild von deiner Sch?nheit,

remind us of H. 561. 7:

??? ?? ???? ?? ??? ??? ??????

"thine eye causes the arrow (lit. poplar) to pass through the shield of life."

* * *

Again and again we meet with allusions to the famous image of the love of the nightingale for the rose (35, 75, etc.) so common in Persian poetry, especially in Hāfi?. We cite only 318. 1:

??? ???? ??? ???? ?? ?? ?? ???? ?? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ??? ?? ????

"the whole thought of the nightingale is that the rose may be his beloved; the rose has in her thought how she may show grace in her actions." In 302. 1 the nightingale is called ???? ?? "the rose's bride."

Besides this, the poems teem with characteristic Persian metaphors: the moth longing for the flame (37, H. 187. 7); the tulip-bed glowing like fire (67, H. 288. 1); the tulip-cheek ???? ???? (whence Moore's Lalla Rookh), ???? ??? (70, H. 155. 2); the musk-perfumed hair ???? ????? (73, H. 33. 4); the garden of the face (73, H. 33. 4); the pearl of Aden ??? ??? (77, H. 197. 10 and 651); wine as a ruby in a golden cup (82, H. 204. 8 ??? ?? ??? ???? ??? ????? "O thou, the golden cup is made full of ruby"); the eye-brows like the crescent-moon (82, H. 470. 5 ????? ????? ???? "brow like the new moon"); the dust on his love's threshold (83, H. 497. 10 ??? ?? ???); the sky playing ball with the moon (14, inspired by some such couplet as H. 409. 7); and the verses like pearls (43). For this compare H. 499. 11:

?? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ??? ??????

"like a string of lustrous pearls is thy clear verse, O Hāfi?." We might multiply such parallels, but those given bear out our statement in regard to the imitation of Persian rhetorical figures on the part of Platen.

In the eagerness to be genuinely Persian, the poet was not content, however, with imitating only what was striking or beautiful; he introduces even some features which, though very prominent in Eastern poetry, will never become congenial to the West. Thus the utter abjectness of the Oriental lover, who puts his face in the path of his beloved and invites her (or him) to scatter dust on his head (H. 148. 3), is presented to us with all possible extravagance in these lines of 87:

Sieh mich hier im Staub und setze deine Ferse mir auf's Haupt,

Mich, den letzten von den letzten deiner letzten Sklaven, sieh!139

To the sāqī is assigned a part almost as prominent as that which is his in the Persian original. It was the introduction of this repulsive trait (e.g. 82) that gave to Heine the opportunity for the savage, scathing onslaught on Platen in the well known passage of the Reisebilder.140

* * *

Otherwise Platen, like Goethe, ignores the mystic side of Hāfi?, and infuses into his Ghaselen a thoroughly bacchanalian spirit, taking frequent occasion to declaim against hypocrisy, fanaticism and the precepts of the Qurān. The credo of these poems is the opening γazal in Spiegel des Hafis (64), where the line "Wir schw?ren ew'gen Leichtsinn und ew'ge Trunkenheit" may be taken to reflect the sentiment of the revelling Persian poet, who begs the sūfī not to forbid wine, since from eternity it has been mingled with men's dust (H. 61. 4); who claims to have been predestined to the tavern (H. 20. 4); who asks indulgence if he turns aside from the mosque to the wine-house (H. 213. 4); who drinks his wine to the sound of the harp, feeling sure that God will forgive him (H. 292. 5); who is above the reproach of the boasters of austerity (H. 106. 3); and who, finally, asks that the cup be placed in his coffin so that he may drink from it on the day of resurrection (H. 308. 8). But when Platen flings away the Qurān he certainly is not in accord with his Persian model, for, while Hāfi? takes issue with the expounders of the sacred book, he discreetly refrains from assailing the book itself.

But perhaps the chief significance of these Ghaselen, as well as those of Rückert, lies in the fact that they introduced a new poetic form into German literature. It is astonishing to see how completely Platen has mastered this difficult form. The radīf or refrain, so familiar to readers of Hāfi?, he reproduces with complete success, as may be seen, for instance, in 8, where the words "du liebst mich nicht" are repeated at the end of each couplet, preceded successively by zerrissen, wissen, beflissen, gewissen, vermissen, Narzissen, exactly in the style of such an ode as H. 100. In those odes called Spiegel des Hafis the name Hafis is even regularly introduced into the last couplet, in accordance with the invariable rule of the Persian γazal that the author's name must appear in the final couplet.

Besides the γazal Platen has also attempted the rubā?ī or quatrain, in which form he wrote twelve poems (Werke, ii. pp. 62-64), and the qasīdah. Of this there is only one specimen, a panegyric (for such in most cases is the Persian qasīdah) on Napoleon, and, as may therefore be imagined, of purely Occidental content.141

* * *

Of Platen's translations from Hāfi? we need not speak here. But we must call attention to the attempt which he made to translate from Ni?āmī's Iskandar Nāmah in the original mutaqārib-metre. The first eight couplets of the invocation are thus rendered, and in spite of the great difficulty attending the use of this metre in a European language, the rendering must be pronounced fairly successful. It is also faithful, as a comparison with the original shows. We cite the first two couplets from the Persian:

????? ???? ??????? ?????

??????? ???????? ?????

"O God, world-sovereignty is Thine! From us comes service, Godhead is Thine. The Protection of high and low Thou art! Everything is nonexistent; whatever is, Thou art."142

Of other Oriental poems, not translations, we notice "Parsenlied," dating from the year 1819, when Goethe's Divan appeared, and it is quite possible that the Parsi Nameh of that work suggested to Platen the composition of his poem.143 His best known ballad, "Harmosan," written in 1830, has a Persian warrior for its hero. The source for the poem is probably Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (chap. li.)144

FOOTNOTES:

132 We might say into European literature. The only previous attempts, as far as we know, to reproduce this form were made by Jones, who translated a ghazal of Jāmī (Works, vol. ii. p. 501) into English, and by a certain Tommaso Chabert, who translated several ghazals of Jāmī into Italian (Fundgruben, vol. i. pp. 16-19).

133 In Taschenbuch für Damen, which was already published in 1820, thus establishing Rückert's priority over Platen. See C. Beyer, Neue Mittheilungen über Friedrich Rückert, Leipz. 1873, p. 14; also letter to Cotta, ibid. pp. 113, 114.

134 Published in Lyrische Bl?tter.

135 In Vermischte Schriften.

136 Platens Werke (Cotta), vol. ii. See p. 7, note, where information is given as to place and date of these poems.

137 Dedication of Spiegel des Hafis to Otto von Bülow, vol. i. p. 265.

138 We cite the Ghaselen by the number in vol. ii. of the edition here used.

139 Goethe protested against this Oriental feature. See Noten u. Abh. to his Divan, vol. iv. p. 273 seq.

140 Heines S?mtliche Werke, ed. Born (Cotta), vol. vi. pp. 130 seq. Goethe in his comments on his Saki Nameh (op. cit. p. 307) emphasizes the purely pedagogical side of this relation of sāqī and master.

141 Kasside, dated February 3, 1823, ii. p. 60.

142 Lith. ed., Shīrāz, A.H. 1312.

143 The Divan appeared August, 1819. Platen's poem is dated Oct. 28, 1819.

144 See Studien zu Platen's Balladen, Herm. Stockhausen, Berl. (1898), pp. 50, 51, 53, 54.

* * *