A New Synthetic Treatment of Contemporary Western Lyricism

Author(s): Leo Spitzer

Source: Modern Language Notes, Vol. 72, No. 7 (Nov., 1957), pp. 523-537
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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total eradication) of emotions,he miiaywell lhaveborrowedit froml

Piccolomini,who expressesthe same concept. The same may be said
of Luzan's interpretation
of the actualizationof catharsisby way of
blabituation
andlexample. Finally,in his attemipt
to extendthe genus
of tragedyto includefictionalplots,Luzaindeviseswhat he thinksis
an originalthreefold
classification
oftragedy,
whichin realityis merely
a borrowingfromPiccolomini.
Pennsylvania

FLORINDO

State University

V. CERRETA

A New SyntheticTreatment
of ContemporaryWesternLyricism
Hugo Friedrich'snew book,Die Strukturder modernten
Lyrikvon
Baudelaxirebis zur Gegenwart,1
is intendedas one link in a chain of
publicationsof "Rowohlts Deutsche Enzyklopadie,"destinedto enlightenthegeneralGermanpublicaboutthepresentstatusof research
in the different
fieldsof scholarship. While easily readable for a
public of high intellectualcapacities,it representsalso a scholarly
in its ownright,as we migbthave expectedit fromHugo
achievement
Friedrichwbo, now that death lhasclaimed Ernst RobertCurtius,is
unquestionably
thegreatestGermanliterarycriticin Romance. Having
begunwitha comparativestudy(Abbe Prevostin Deutschland,1929),
he conqueredone Romanceliteratureafterthe other,writingabout
aniti-romantic
thoughtin France (1.935), Descartes (1937), Stendhal,
Balzac and Flaubert (1939), later branchingout into Italian (Die
der Gittlichen Komi6die,1941) and then into
Rechtsmetaphysile
Spanish literature(Der frem)zde
Calderon,1955). His great master
workis his Mlontaigne(1949) whichseemsto me the mostintelligent
comprehensive
appraisal of thcatelusivephilosopherwhichI know.
At theend of a slhort
vita appenidedto the presentvolume,Professor
Friedrichcharacterizeshis whole activityas showing" predilection
for unsentimentalpoets" and aversion against the method called
Erlebnis und Dichtung. The same sympathyand the same aversion
lhaveinspiredtheauthorin thisbook. WVhoever
is awareofthedangers
of emotionalism
and intuitionism
forGermanliteraryscholarshipwill
I (HTamburg, Rowohlt,

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523

appreciatethe workof a scholarwho, by his choice both of subject

with the intellectualismof
matterand method,showsa deep affinity
Romanceliteratureand Romanceliterarycriticism. A bookof Friedrich's is always distinguishedby clear concepts,elegant definitions,
serenejudgmentand terse,unemotionalwriting. He showssimilar
equipoise in the skilfuldosage of the historicaland the descriptive
approach: in his Montaigne,for instance,all the possible 'sources'
usedbytheessayistare dulydisplayedand gauged,but theprotagonist
of the bookremainsMontaignein his uniqueness. This tendencyhas
led to seriousdisagreementwith Curtiuswhose inclination,growing
with the years,towarddissolvingthe great literaryfiguresby what
" metwithhis strongopposition.
Friedrichcalls " Kontinuitatsdenken
The titleofthebookunderdiscussionfirstfilledme withmisgivings:
giventhe manifoldanarchictendenciesof modernlyricism,would it
be possiblefora criticto succeedin the attemptto masterthe chaos
and to discoverthatintellectualunityimpliedbytheterm" structure
"?
But in fact, Friedrich'swork splendidlyfulfillsthe promiseof his
title. Indeed,undisturbedby labels such as Expressionism,
Dadaism,
Futurism,Unanimism,Hermetism,Surrealism,etc., Friedrichconvincinglyshows,as only a literaryhistorianof his widthof horizon
could have done, a relativeunity in all these movements-a unity
whichcan be tracedback to only one particularperiod and country
in whichthe archetypeof contemporary
lyricsfirstappeared. Thus
Friedrichhas done for European poetrysomethingsimilar to what
was achievedby Diez forthe Romancelanguages: the reconstruction,
on the basis of a comparativestudyof the existingvariants,of their
historicalarchetype(only here the archetypecan be grasped more
easily because,contraryto Vulgar Latin, it exists in the clear light
of history) whose milieu Friedrich definesas the late nineteenth
centuryin France. Thus it was Francethatin thenineteenthcentury
established,so to speak,the lyricalmothertonguefor Europe just as
it had providedthe " epictongue" parexcellencein the twelfth
century.
It would be possibleto reworda famousadage by saying (au XIXe
siecle) le FranSais a la tete lyrique. Such a discoverywill displease
in certaincountries,
thechauvinistlitterateurs
especiallythe Spaniards
who,accordingto Friedrich,are onlytoo readyto asserttheirnational
independence(or dependenceonly on the Spaniard Gongora). But
Friedrichhas shownbeyonddoubtthat the triangle
Mallarm6
2Rimbaud
524

Baudelair e <

mb

ModernLangiuageNotes

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in nuce containsall subsequentdiscoveriesand experimentsas they

poetryof England (America), Spain,
appearin thetwentieth-century
Italy, G-ermany.
Friedrich'smethodconsistsin working,as it were,frombothends
towardthe middle; thus he will, in the chapterson the threegreat
thattheyhave initiatedwhile
anticipatethe developments
Frenchmen,
Westernlyricismtaken
in the crowningchapteron twentieth-century
as a whole,he remindsus of what it owes to that French ancestry.
As forthe antecedentsof Baudelaire,Rousseau,Diderot,Novalis,and
chapter,whereasBaudeotherromanticsare treatedin an introductory
to Poe is wovenintothe chapteraboutthe former.
laire's indebtedness
Since Friedrichexcludesfromhis bookall poetrythatis not" modern"
in his sense (that is poetryasking for the consensusof the reader,
a Goetheanor Hugoesque traditionwhich survivesin Germany,for
instance,in George,lofmannsthal and the early Rilke, in Italy in
the oratoryof D'Annunzio), Baudelaire comes to a position,comparableto thatof Goethein his time,as the initiatorof all " modern"
" lyrics),theparallelism
lyrics(and thistermincludes" contemporary
withFlaubert'sinfluenceon European prosefictionbeingduly noted.
The stupideXIXe siecleprovesafterall notto have been as " stupid"
as its amateurishdetractorswishedit to be: this is one of the insights
one gains fromFriedrich'sbook. FromBaudelaireas a startingpoint,
therebranchoffthentwo main directionsembodiedin Mallarmeand
destroyerof the thingsof the
Rimbaud,the one the form-respecting
contrasts,tensions),
outwardworld (whichhe replacesby attractions,
destroyerof all aggregatesof things
the otherthe form-destroying
(who delightsin " sensuousirrealism"), bothhavingin common,with
each otherand withtheirancestor,theprofoundhatredagainstthingsreflection
and things-as-they-are-commonly-represented-a
as-they-are
technical,
of the isolationof the poetin themidstof levelingpolitical,
and rationalizingprocessesin the societyaroundhim. The poetsof
todaywhogenerally,and oftento a higherdegree,sharethissituation,
and the attitudetowardit, with theirpredecessorsfall into the two
main categoriesof Mallarmeismor Rimbaudism. Also in modernart,
points
whoseconnectionswith modernpoetryFriedrichconsistently
out,we witnessthe sametwomain tendencieswhichhave been defined
" and " the
by Kandinskyas thestrivingtoward" thegreatabstraction
greatreality." ProfessorFriedrichhas foundan ingeniousdevicein
orderto make the readergrasp the basic unitybetweenthe " French
lyricism:he offersin each of the three
triangle" and contemporary
vo

I.XX[,

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. 525

firstchapterssubdivisionsentitledaccordingto thoseabidingfeatures
that will characterizethe lyricsto come and conversely,
in the final
chapteron contemporary
lyrics,subdivisionsand titlesthatto a certain
degreerecapitulatethoseof theprecedingchapters. Thus we are able
to gauge the unityof the lyricismof the last hundredyearsby comparing the subehaptersof the section on Baudelaire (the poet of
modernity-concentration
and awarenessofform-lyricismandmathematics-modernityas an end-product-thearistocraticpleasure of
displeasing-precariousChristianity-voididealism-magic of language-creative imagination-decompositionand deformation-abstractionand arabesque) withsome of the subehaptersof the chapter
on twentieth-century
lyricism(feast of the intellect,collapse of the
intellect-incongruent
styleof the new lyricallanguage- Apollo,not
Dionysos-twofoldrelationshiptoward modernityand the literary
heritage-dehumanization-isolationand anguish-magic of language
and suggestion-alogical poetry-reality-dictatorialimaginationfusiontechniqueand metaphors).
" of the titlesin the latterchapter
One will noticethe " twofoldness
(whichcomprehends
Mallarmeismand Rimbaudism)whileBaudelaire
appears moreunified. It must be also notedthat formand content
are takentogetherin bothseriesof titles. Certaintitlesare perhaps
traditional(Ortega!), othersare coinagesof Friedrichhimself(for
instance,the title "void idealism" ably characterizesBaudelaire's
enmityagainstthe givenworldwhichis, however,not coupledwitha
method
positivecreed). In additionto his anticipative-recapitulative
and to his fusionof formand contentFriedrichresortsin all chapters
to explicationde texteas illustrationforhis characterization
of general
trends. In thelast chapterthathas to deal withthe enormousmasses
of contemporary
internationallyricismwe findin the titles of subdivisionsnamesof greatpoets (which I have leftout in the diagram
quoted above) alternatingwiththe definitions
of generaltendencies:
Apollinaireand Garcia Lorca (obviouslya diptychthat reproduces
the previousdiptychRimbaud-Mallarme);Paul Valery-Jorge Guillen-Garcifa Lorca again (exemplificationby one poem, Romance
sonadmbuto)-T.S. Eliot-Saint-John Perse. (No Germanor Italian
poet of todayreceivesfromFriedrich'shands the honorof a separate
subehapter.) Thus with Friedrich,historical treatmentdoes not
crowd out the great poetic individualities. Neither are the latter
subordinatedto national categories (only the Spaniards are seen
within their particular national framework). The commentson
526

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all the poets are based on the originaltexts (gelnerallyaccompanied

by translations)which are found either in the text of the author
or in an appendix. The last two lines of the work reveal Friedrich's general attitude toward modern lyrics: " One may love it
or rejectit, but this mustbe a love or a rejectionbased on an intelmodernlyrics
lectual act " (Erkennen). Mr. Friedrichhas erkcannt
and has in the end not come out with a rejection,an attitudeto be
his statementat the beginningof his
highlypraisedif we remeember
by principle" and feels" moreat
bookthat he is no " avant-guardist
home" with Goethethan with T. S. Eliot. It was then not with
emotionalbias, but with intellectualempathythat he has been able
to studywithso much love and labor thosephenomenawhichat first
thatpoetryhas everproduced. When
sightare themostdisconcertilng
his-torical
treatmentof contemporary
faced with so unprejudiceda
subject matter,we cannot withholdfromthe author our deep-felt
lhomage. He may serveas an exampleof " personalculturewithout
resentments,"
especiallyto us in this countrywhereI so oftenfeel
that scholarsstudy,forexample,the medievalliteraturebecausethey
side of the
like its theocraticthoughtand dislike the free-thinking
studyRenaissanceliteraturebecause they
Renaissanceor, conversely,
beingin otherwords,notequippedto study
dislikemedievaltheocracy,
boththe Middle Ages and the Renaissancebecauseof somefanaticism
(pro or con) lurkingbehindtheirscholarlyendeavors.
Veryhelpfulindexes(particularlya mostwelcomeindexof subject
a bibliomatterwhichsometimessuggeststo us new rapprochements),
graphyreducedto the most essenitialdata and a chronologicaltable
(with such wittyjuxtapositionsas: " 1885 Death of Victor Hugo in
Paris "-" 1885 birthof Ezra Pound in Haily, U. S. A.," or " 1926
Rilke'sdeathin Val-Mont,Switzerland"-" 1927 T. S. Eliot becomes
an English citizen") concludethe volume,so slight in appearance,
so strongin impact.
This does howevernot implythattheworkis beyondcriticism. As
to materialincluded,an Anglo-Saxonpublic will be surprisedto find
missingsuch great names as G. M. Hopkins (with his " realismof
disrealization") or Walt Whitman(the discovererof what I called
in a book mentionedin Friedrich'sbibliography" chaoticenumeration"). Furthermore,
amongthe ancestorsof " sensuousirrealism"
surelyRabelais, Quevedo and Gracian would have deservedan outstandingplace. It is also regrettablethat,for reasonsprobablyconnectedwith publisher'seconomies,not all the poems commentedon

VOL. LXXII,

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527

in detail can be read in the appendix and, conversely,that not all

the poems printedin the appendix have been commentedupon in
the text (and also thatno poemof the late Rilke has been analyzed).
A more essentialweaknessof our book is due to the occasional
inabilityof the author,as of so manyliterarycriticsendowedwitha
keen senseforlinguisticinnovation,to presenthis pertinentobservationswithinthe properlinguisticframework.For example,Friedrich
infers(p. 129) fromthe finalline of GottfriedBenn's poem "Welle
der Nacht": " die weissePerle rolltzuruickins Meer" that since no
pearlhad beenmentionedbefore,rathera generalmovement
ofrolling,
the definitearticle is meant to be " a phoneticsign of the absolute
movement"(of the rollingback) and to give this "determinant" an
" indeterminate,"mysteriousconnotation. But if we considerthe
wholestanza:
Welle der Nacht-, zwei Muscheln miterkoren,
die Fluten str6men sie, die Felsen her,
dann Diadem und Purpur mitverloren,
die weisse Perle rollt zuruickins Meer,

we see the forwardrollingmovement(" miterkoren

") embodiedin
two (worthless)shells,while we lose to the recedingwaves " diadem
and purple" as well as " the whitepearl"-the idea obviouslybeino
that the wave takes back much more than it brings to the shore.
' Diadem and purple" are the insignia of past grandeur (of the
Istrian palace now vacant,mentionedin stanza 1-the wholepoemis
centeredon the wave-likepassing of majesty)-a grandeurclimaxed
by the finalmentionof the whitepearl. " Diadem and purple" are
in this contextas unexpected (or mysterious)as the pearl. The
definitearticlethat accompaniesthe latter,just as in expressionslike
'the best,the top,' may thus be consideredas the articleof superlativity(the finalpositionof the pearl also servesthe visual effectof
whitenessin the night).
In the poem " Genazzano" by M.-L. Kaschnitz:

528

Genazzano am Abend
Winterlich
Gliisernes Klappern
Der Eselshufe
Steilauf die Bergstadt.
Hier stand ich am Brunnen
Hier wusch ich mein Brauthemd
Hier wusch ich mein Totenhemd
Mein Gesicht lag weiss

Modern Language Notes

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10 Unterm schwarzen Wasser

Im wehenden Laub der Platanen.
Meine Hiinde waren zwei Klumpen Eis
Fiinf Zapfen an jeder
Die klirrten

Friedrichfindsthat while the firstfivelines with theirnominalsentencescontain " somethinglike a real event" in " empirical time"
the followingverbs,in the preterite,renderunreal,dreamlikeevents
and sincesomeoftheseare futureeventsthepreterite
becomesin truth
a " supratemporal
tense" thatignoresthe" Zeitstufen." This analysis
leaves out line 6 whichshowsa preteriteexpressinga real eventand,
in its pivotalrole,must influenceour understandingof the meaning
both of what precedesand of what followsit: by the preteritehier
standichwe understandretroactively
thatthe upwardmovement
which
lhascometo an end in line 6 (Klappern der Eselshufesteilauf. . .)
must have been nmeant
to be in the preterite(= die Eselshufeklappertensteilauf. . .). Again, line 6 ushersin also the visionwhich
has forthepoetthesamereality(therefore
thepreterite)as thefactual
standingat the well (witnessthe anaphorahierthatsimilarlybridges
the gap betweenrealityand dream). The followingpreteritesdo not
include a future (of planned suicide) nor are theymeant "supratemporally,"but theyindicate a past that was lived throughin the
dream. The effectof the poem residesin the gradual passage froma
realitythatincludescold of winterand glasslikeclatterto a visionof
deaththatcontainssimilarelements:cold and clatteringice. Between
thesetwo statesstandsthe well,the end of the journeyin reality,the
of death in the dream. Death movesinto realityimperpotentiality
ceptiblyor magically-and the uninterrupted
preteritesrenderpreciselythisgradualinvasion.
At timesFriedrichmay stressa linguisticpointoverlymuchwhile
omittingone a linguistwould findall-important. In Benn's poem
"Bilder," accordingto Friedrich,the articulationachievedis due, not
to syntax,butto variationofemphasisor tone: he is led to thenegative
part of his statementby what he calls the "veiled" characterof the
hypothetic
period. But in realitythe periodthat takesup the whole
poemis mostclearlyarticulatedbysyntacticmeans: thethricerepeated
siehstdu . . . (11. 1, 13, 15) is as clearlya hypothetic
clause as the
du siehstis a clear apodosis,forthe feelingof a German,and the use
of the same wordmaterial,siehstdu-du siehst,ratherenhancesthe

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529

of the conclusiondrawn (cf. the even more identicaland

stringency
thereforeeven more conclusivewordingin Chamisso: "Dut fragest
nach den Riesen, du /indestsie nicht mehr"). In contrastto his
on the hypothetic
overemphasis
period,Friedrichsays nothingof the
extraordinary
syntacticalfactthatin thelist of thefeaturesof old age
(depicted in modernpaintings) two are clearcut nominatives,not
accusativesas theverbsiehstdu wouldnormallyrequireit: ... kcasiger
Bart . . . ein Lebensabend. . . : it is as thoughthe ugly things
paintedemancipatedthemselvesfromthe syntactictexture,achieving
a kindof destructive
autonomyas theyoftenappear to the bewildered
beholdersof modernpaintings,while, on the contrary,the firmly
organizedperiodsiehstdu-du siehstpresentsa framework(syntactical, as well as mental) bywhichorder(in thiscase the correctevaluation of pictures,howeverugly, as worksof the "great genius") is
re-established.
Mr. Friedrichseemsat timesfascinatedby the boundlesspowerof
language as such (if I may thus translatehis term" eigenmachtige
Sprache"): often,he claims,the modernlyricalpoet is " alone with
his language,"and allowsit to go whereit wishes,defyingany rational
interpretation.For example,in Ungaretti'spoem L'Isola:
A una proda ove sera era perenne
Di anziane selve assorte, scese,
E, s'inoltrb
E lo richiam6 rumore di penne
Ch'erasi sciolto dallo stridulo
Batticuore dell' acqua torrida.
B una larva (languiva
E rifioriva) vide;
Ritornato a salire vide
Ch'era una ninfa e dormiva
Ritta abbracciata a un olmo.
In se da simulacro a fiamma vera
Errando, giunse a un prato ove
L'ombra negli occhi s'addensava
Delle vergini come
Sera appi?e degli ulivi;
Distillavano i rami
Una pioggia pigra di dardi,
Qua pecore s'erano appisolate
Sotto il liscio tepore,
Altre brucavano
La coltre luminosa;
Le mani del pastore erano Un vetro
Levigato di fioca febbre

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lVotes

the final "metaphoricdissonance" (hands like glass), comingas a

climaxafterso many" hermetic" featuressuch as the pronoun'he,'
an " indetermninate
and statements
determinant,"
evokingrather" lines
" (arrival, encounter,rest) than pastoral things and
of movement
beings (island, woods,nymph,shepherd,sheep), pointsto a level of
" eigenmachtigeSprache." Here, it seemsto me, the literarycritic,
moreoverawedby the mysteryof languagethan a linguistwould be,
has abdicatedtoo earlyand concedestoomuchtomeaninglesslanguage.
" devicejust
The 'he,' a genericpronounservingas an " exemplifying
as much as, in all lyricalpoetrythroughthe ages, an ' I ' or ' you'
would do, is shownin the beginningof our poem engagedin a movement downward(to the shore of the island and to ancient forests
locatedon theshore) whenhe is calledbackto theheights(lo richiamo
'called himback,'not' attractedhim'; ritornatoa salire' he turned
againtotheascent')-and there,proceeding
from" appearances" (the
ghostwhobecomesa nymph)to the " true flame,"he findsa meadow
withvirginsin whoseeyesshadowshavegatheredjust as " the evening
[sera nominative,not ' in the evening'] gathersaroundthe olivetrees"-obviously the only trace of darknessin this dazzling landscape-with treesemittinga " lazyrainofarrows,"withanimalsasleep
in the "smooth" (not "soft") tepid atmosphereor grazingon the
" shiningcover" of thelawn-and thenfinallythereappear the glasslike hands of the shepherd" polishedby dull fever." It seemsclear
thatwe haveherethepictureof a Southernislandmade ofheat,torpor,
laziness,light,consumingsensuouslove: the hands of the shepherd
have become "polished glass" (a motifanticipatedby the epithet
liscio 'smooth') throughthe scorchingflameof love in that torrid
climatein whichthe amorousfever,neverexploding,but persistent,
has burntall organiclivingmatterin the lover. We have herewhat
I would call in Germana Verdinglichung,
a materializationof the
pastoralthemesof the flameof love and of the island of love (and
this Verdinglichung,
also to be observedin theend of Lorca's Romance
sonambuloand Kaschnitz'spoemquotedabove,is a foilto theEntdinglichungor disrealizationcharacteristicof modernpoetry-bothtendenciesleadingawayfromtheobservablemodelin theoutwardworld).
This Verdinglichungis the modern,more radical counterpartto
preciositein whichmetaphorsweresuiviesjusqu'au bout.2Oncethisis
2 Or to the conceits of a
Quevedo whose " logique conceptuelle" Amede Mas
in his recent book La Caricature de la femme . . . dans l'oeuvre de Quevedo
(Paris, 1957) has duly emphasized. For example, when Quevedo assures us

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53 1

understoodall motifsin the poembecomeclearlyvisualizableand the

languageappearsin strictaccordwiththe dictationof imagination" kind.
whichis not of a verbal,but of a " materializing
Similarly,I believethat Friedrich (p. 75) is overratinglanguage
whenhe statesthatin Mallarme'spoemSainte (whichwas firstcalled
Sainte Cecilejouant sur l'aile d'un cherubin)the Entdinglichunghas
broughtthe poetto the pointwhereeventsand thingsdescribedexist
"4not in reality,but onlyin language" (" nichtin der Sache, sondern
in der Sprache"). While I am in full agreementwith Friedrich's
judgmentas to disrealization(the old instruments
mandore
viole,fliute,
and themissalwiththe Magnificatserveno longer),I mustpointout
the absoluterealityof the Saint who is still that Saint Cecilia who
droppedher own musical instrumentsin orderto listen to celestial
music and who is playedupon, as if she herselfwere an instrument,
by the angel. She has thus becomean active-inactive
mutsicienne
du
silence (noticethat accordingto Pythagoreanideas the silenceof the
spheresis only theirmusic which human ears are unable to hear).
Thus the spiritual,physicallyunhearablemusic that plays withinthe
saint is a " real " fact,no flatusvocisof language. Whilethereexists
no actual mass in whichthe Magnificatmightbe sung theredevelops,
at the windowwherethe Saint is sitting,a spiritualmass (as the
expressionvitraged'ostensoirshows) in whichthe Saint may repeat
the vows of Hannah and AMary:
Magnificatanima mia. Notice also
the pallor of the Saint whichindicatesthe approachof death which
brings her close to martyrdomand Paradise. The poem with its
overtonesof Pythagorean-Christian
worldharmonystandsmuchmore
in a long traditionthan Friedrichseemsto have realized.
Again, in the sonnet Eventail (de Madame Mallarme), which
Friedrichtakes mainly as an ars poetica dealing not with the fan
but with AMallarme's
poetryor the poetryof the future,he stresses
Entdinglichung(disrealization) because things in this poem exist
onlyin theirabsence," are presentonlyin language." But I disagree
firstwiththe statementthat,in oppositionto formerpoesie galante,
" tenderfeelingsor gallantry" are missingin the poem (this would
be the dehumanizacionof Ortega) : on the contraryall in it (that is
the long sentencewhichtakesup thesestanzas) tendstowardthe final
that his soul, his veins, his marrow burning of love wvill,when death comes,
become " feeling ashes " and " loving dust," this is the same extreme of
"materialization within the logic of a conceit " as in Ungaretti's poem the
hands of the love-burntshepherd which have become " polished glass."

532

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wish and complimentCet e'ventail. . . limpide . . . toujourstel it

apparaisse/entretes mains sans paresse. Secondly,while I do not
deny that, as always with Mallarme, delicate relationshipsappear
betweenart (or an objet d'art) and poetry,I am convincedthat the
firststanza is already concernedwith the fan (and containsa complimentto its user):
Avec comme pour langage
Rien qu'un battement aux cieux
Le futur vers se degage
Du logis tr6s pr6cieux.

"Language " and " verse" referherenot trulyto poetry,but to the

poeticutteranceimpliedin the flickingof the fan by the lady (notice:
" avec commepour language"-the language of the fan is only a
metaphoricone) : the poet followswithhis eyes the actualizationof
the potentialin the fan,whichactualizationwill produceits effect(le
futurvers) eachtimeit will moveawayfromits tresprecieuxlogis,the
bodyof the preciouspersonwho builds it (a precieuxcomplimentin
its traditionalform: trespre'cieux). Un battementaux cieux introducestheidentification
of the fanwiththewing (of an angel? again a
compliment!)whichwill be followedup by aile tout bas la courriere
in the next stanza. This line is takenby Friedrichas an apostrophe
lackingsyntacticalties withthe rest,toutbas, translated' ganz leise,'
beingthe " boldestpossible" apostrophe. I wouldratheranalyzeailela-courriere[que] cet e'ventail,the emotionalsyntacticalformforan
assertion: the fan is thewing of an angel,a "messengerfromheaven
thatflieslow [on thisearth]," toutbas belongingto the volerimplied
in aile: with this identification
of the fan with a heavenlywing our
eyes are liftedbeyondthe earthlyfigureof the lady. Now we see
behindthe lady the mirrorin whicha brightmovementof the fan
flickersso that fan and reflection
of fan becomeone: limpideat the
beginningof stanza3 can thenreferas wellto themirroras to the fan.
And now the Ronsardianidea of the frailtyof the earthlybeingwho
ownsthe fan appears:
. . .oju va redescendre
Pourchass4e en chaque grain
Un peu d'invisible cendre
Seule 'a me rendre chagrin.

"iRedescendre
"-before and afterthe momentary
shiningof the fan
in the mirrora mistof ashes veilsthe bodyof thelady,ashes invisible

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November 1957

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533

at themoment,but foreverfearedbythe poet (pourcnasseeen chaque

grain,mistranslated
by Friedrich'in jedem K6rnchenverjagt,'means
' [ashes whosetracesare] anxiouslyfollowedby the poet'seyesin each
grain of the lady's skin'): the poet is watchingthe face of the lady
for any sign of the approachof old age and death. The momentof
beautywhen she was flickingher fan against the backgroundof the
mirroris seized upon by the poet who wishesfor her indirectly,
by
way of the fan and the mirror-each of whichhe wouldhave forever
" limpid" (unaltered)-immortality,and thisas ardentlyas any poet
of the Pleiade could have done. Indirection(a tributeto a woman
by means of a tributeto beautifulthingswith whichshe surrounds
herself)has alwaysbeenmoreeffective
in lyricsthan directstatement:
it has been multipliedin our poem writtenin an age when the poet
fearsmorethan everthe cliche.
Again in Mallarme'ssonnetthat begins Surgi de la croupe et du
bond,Friedrichsees opaquenessof meaning," singingmystery,"
etc.
RememberingMallarme's utterancesabout " juggling of words" in
his poems,he believesthat in the firststanza:
Surgi de la croupe et du bond
D'une verrerie 4phemOre
Sans fleurir la veillde amnre
Le col ignord s'interrompt

the two wordscroupeand bond are inspiredbv two otherwordsthat

are notthere:coupeand fond. Apartfromthe assumedincongruence
of the word fond,which expressessomethingrestingat the bottom,
supposedlyreplaced by bond, the equivalentof an upward leap, it
seemsto me morelikelythatin thisstanzathereis describedthewidebellied, thin-neckedformof a vase withoutflowersin termsof an
animal movement,that of a beast crouchedin orderto leap, interruptedby the absence of flowerswhichwould prolongand carryto
its en-dthe initiatedmovement. By means of the expressionsignore'
(that should be translatednot 'unrecognized,'but 'ignored') and
veill'e ame're (which suggeststhe waking at a death-bed) a bridge
is built to veuvage,whichsymbolizessterility,
frustration,
death,and
will be the themeof this as of manyotherpoemsby Mallarme. This
themeexplainsthe " ephemeral" characterof the " glass substance"
that can neverforma truevase. In the nextstanza the vase-that-isnot-a-vasebecomesthe drinkingglass fromwhichthe Sylph'sparents
have failed to drinkthe drinkof true love, that is a drinkingglass
that is not a true glass. The Sylph himselfcan be no true human
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being,onlya vague homunculus,born as he is fromthe ambivalence

ofchastity(purity-sterility): he is doomed(froidplafondindicating
a tomb). The atmosphereof deathis condensedevenmorein the last
two stanzas (agoniser-expirer-funebres-te'nebres)wherethe flower
image (the " rose") returnsonlyto be deniedany existence. Friedrichis rightin calling thispoem " a poem about negations" (neither
vase nor flowernor Sylph exist,what exists is sterilityand death),
but if he is rightlanguage has excellentlyexpressedthe "negative
category": whythenshouldthe poet,in our poem,by the symbolof
the non-existent
rose,have deploredthe impossibility
of " Sprachwerdung," the impossibilityfor the language to find the " erlosende
Wort"? Our poem deals with the negativity,not of language,but
" for" poetic
of a sterilepoeticimagination. Cicero'suse of " flower
" has no bearingon our poem,whichcontainsno allusion
expression
to " poetry."
At timesit happensthat failureto sense the importanceof a particular word preventsFriedrichfromseeing the full meaning of a
poem. Thus forhim in Addii of Montale (p. 144) the indeterminate
tu of the secondstanza representsonly a " remainderof humanity,"
the main emphasisrestingon the inhuman" automatons." But in
realitythe poet is complainingabout a suspectedpersonalattitudeof
the tu, his beloved,in a moment(the farewell)when innertensions
usually become articulate. After having describedterselythe mechanical side of a train departureat a railwaystation,expressingby
theline " Forse gli automihannoragione" a scepticsubmissiveness
on
his part to the overpowering
mechanizationof our modernlives, he
concludeswiththe sharp,almostaccusingquestion:
-Presti anche tu ( ! ) alla fioca
litania del tuo rapido quest' orrida
e fedele cadenza di carioca?-

"will you too lend that horrible,submissiverhythmof the (well-

knownD)dancesongcariocato thehoarselitanyofyourexpresstrain? "

-where we obviouslyhavean allusionto thehabitof travelersof hearing the rhythmof the train accordingto theirown favoritemelody.
The poet is horrified
by the possibilitythat his belovedtoo (anche tu
-et tu, mi filiBrute?) may lend her tacit support,and in a trivial
way (by hearingthe trivial carioca in the rhythmof the train), to
the mechanizationof our modernworld. Surely a general cultural
questionis underlyingthe poem,but this is centeredon a personal

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535

concernabout the beloved's reactionto the cultural situation (has

she herselfbeen "mechanized and trivialized" thereby?)-a concern
whichis " modern" in thatlove todaysearchesinto strataof the soul
whichformerly
would have been irrelevantfor love. Thus the poem
(loes not show only a remainderof humanity,but is pervadedby
h-umanity(by a human concern about a human attitude). Mr.
attentionto the most important
Friedrichhas not paid sufficient
word (anche) in the poem and this, in his hands, has become,like
that of Mallarme about the fan of Mme Mallarme, too strongly
"dehumanized."3

All the poemsdiscussedin this overlongreviewwould seemto bear

out the truththat modernlyrics,because of theirdifficult
structure,
semantic ambiguities,incoherence,and arbitrariness,require to a
greaterdegreethan did previouspoetry(even medievalpoetry) the
collaborationwiththe criticof the philologistwho will not abandon
prematurely
the searchformeaningand will warn the criticagainst
explanationsthatare linguistically
impossible. This is, of course,only
a consequenceof the othertruththat modernpoets are more"philological," that is, closerto languageand its requirements(not "alone
wvith
the language,"as Friedrichbelieves) in theirdisrealizationand
dishumanizationof poetrythan were formerpoets who concerned
"There are a few observations of detail which have not found their place in
the preceding discussion. P. 123: to the excellent analysis of Lorca's El Grito
as a perfectexample of " disrealization " and "dehumanization" I should like
to add a commenton the clever procedure of the poet who introduces into the
poem the cry itself: jay! Though we are told at the beginning that the cry
goes from mountain to mountain, this cry is not yet formed; it is only in
stanza 2 that we are told of the starting point of the cry or rather where
(in the olive trees) the cry will start: serd. Only after this announcement
can the cry be heard ( iay! ). In stanza 3 it has begun its acoustic existence
(ha hecho vibrar), continuing as an echo so that again we must hear iay!
In stanza 4 it has passed by " the people in their caves " (that it has passed
above their heads in its passage from mountain to mountain is indicated by
the parenthesis), yet still lingers as a vibration in the ether after the poem
itself has ended: the last ;ay! -which is placed outside of the parenthesis.
It is true that, as Friedrich has felt, human beings here are only a parenthesis
in the life of the self-sufficient
"ellipsis" of the cry. P. 138: Ciudad de los
estios is incorrectlytranslated 'Wesensstadt' (confusionwith estar?). P. 151:
the por in the refrain line of G. Diego's Insomnio: Tu por tu suenlo y por
el mar las naves should not be translated 'through' ('durch'), but 'along'
(cf. the common phrases andar por esos mundos, por esas calles, etc.) -the
idea being that the sleeping beloved proceeds on her particular well-defined
route (of sleep) as do the ships that ply the sea. The line is an imitation
of Lorca's Romance sondmbule: "El barco sobre la mar/ y el caballo en la
montafia" (again, the whole poem reflectsthe motif of " la regarder dormir"
treated by Proust and Valery). P. 162: " [tes mains] n6es dans le miroir
clos des miennes" (Eluard): miroir clos should not be translated 'umschlossener' but 'umschliessender Spiegel.'

536

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themselves
mainlywiththe imitationof thingsand man. Afterthese
have recededto the backgroundlanguagehas becomeparamount-but
languageis still addressedto the fellowman!
The Johns Hopkins University

LEO SPITZER

REVIEWS
WaltherAzzolino, Grundziugeder englischeSprache und Wesenart
(Max NiemeyerVerlag: Halle/Saale, 1954. 95 pp.).
Tl:IS brief
work, presumablythe last from ProfessorAzzolino's pen, for he
has an indefensibleand
died beforeits publication,unfortunately
in its opening,
outmodedthesis,as set fortlh
parag,haph:
Der Denkstil eines Volkes pragt sich in nichts scharfer als in seiner Sprache.
Es gibt keinen deutlicheren Ausdruck der Geistes-und Wesenart eines Volkes
als seine Sprache. Wer die Sprache in ihrer inneren Form begreift,der begreift
auch das innere des Volkes, das diese Sprache spricht, seinen Geist, sein Wesen,
und der versteht auch seine Philosophie.

These statements
are of courseincapableof real proof,and to support
all
themat
requiresa greatdeal of generalizingon the basis of a few
selectedexamples.
Such an exampleis the English use of thingswhereGermanuses
die Welt: " But I know,oh, I knowthings,"" the wholeof things,"
etc. This usage,Azzolinobelieves,reveals" ein pluralistisches,
analytischesVorstellengegenuiber
der deutschenNeigung zur Vereinheitlichung und Synthese,"and he concludesthat only concretethings
constituterealityfor the speakerof English (p. 11), citing a good
deal of evidence-essentiallystylisticratherthan linguistic- in support of his point. As much could doubtlessbe cited to prove the
opposite.
The assumed" practical" English mind is, accordingto Azzolino,
reflectedin English sentencestructure(pp. 14-15), whichhe believes
to have become predominatingly
paratactic, in grammaticalconversion (" Die Leichtigkeitund Unbekiimmertheit,
mit der der
EngliinderNomina ohne weiteresals Verben verwendet,zeugt von

VOL. LXXII,

November 1957

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537