What do you think?
Rate this book
Gedichte
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
270 pages, Paperback
Published October 27, 2022
4 people want to read
About the author
Friedrich Hebbel
721 books16 followersThe Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums educated German poet and dramatist Christian Friedrich Hebbel, the son of a bricklayer. He sent verses to Amalie Schoppe (1791–1858), a popular journalist and author of nursery tales; his manifest talent for poetry despite his humble origins resulted in the publication of these verses in the Hamburg Modezeitung. Through her patronage, he ably went to the University of Hamburg.
A year later, Hebbel went to Heidelberg to study law but then went to the University of Munich, where he devoted to philosophy, history, and literature. In 1839, he left Munich and walked all the way back to Hamburg, where he resumed his friendship with Elise Lensing, whose self-sacrificing assistance had helped him over the darkest days in Munich. In the same year, he wrote his first tragedy, Judith (1840, published 1841), which in the following year was performed in Hamburg and Berlin and made his name known throughout Germany.
He in 1840 wrote the tragedy Genoveva . Hebel at Munich began Der Diamant , a comedy, which he finished in 1841. In 1842, he visited Copenhagen, obtained a small travelling studentship from Christian VIII, king, and thus ably spent some time in Paris and two years (1844–1846) in Italy. In Paris, he wrote his fine "tragedy of common life," Maria Magdalena (1844). On return from Italy, Hebbel at Vienna met two Polish noblemen, the brothers Zerboni di Sposetti, who in their enthusiasm for his genius urged him and supplied him with the means to mingle in the best intellectual society of the Austrian capital.
Old precarious existence of Hebbel then horrified him, who in 1846 married the beautiful and wealthy actress Christine Enghaus, giving up the faithful Elise Lensing (faithful until her death), on the grounds that "a man's first duty is to the most powerful force within him, that which alone can give him happiness and be of service to the world": in his case the poetical faculty, which would have perished "in the miserable struggle for existence". This "deadly sin," which, "if peace of conscience be the test of action," was, he considered, the best act of his life, established his fortunes. Elise, however, still provided useful inspiration for his art. As late as 1851, shortly after her death, he wrote the little epic Mutter und Kind, intended to show that the relation of parent and child is the essential factor which makes the quality of happiness among all classes and under all conditions equal.
Long before this Hebbel had become famous, German sovereigns bestowed decorations upon him; in foreign capitals he was feted as the greatest of living German dramatists. From the grand-duke of Saxe-Weimar he received a flattering invitation to take up his residence at Weimar, where several of his plays were first performed. He remained, however, at Vienna until his death.
Besides the works already mentioned, Hebbel's principal tragedies are:
Herodes and Mariamne (1850)
Julia (1851)
Michel Angelo (1851)
Agnès Bernauer (1855)
Gyges and His Ring (1856)
Die Nibelungen (1862), his last work (a trilogy consisting of a prologue, Der gehörnte Siegfried, and the tragedies, Siegfrieds Tod and Kriemhilds Rache), which won for the author the Schiller prize.
Of his comedies Der Diamant (1847), Der Rubin (1850) and the tragi-comedy Ein Trauerspiel in Sizilien (1845), are the more important, but they are heavy and hardly rise above mediocrity. All his dramatic productions, however, exhibit skill in characterization, great glow of passion, and a true feeling for dramatic situation; but their poetic effect is frequently marred by extravagances which border on the grotesque, and by the introduction of incidents the unpleasant character of which is not sufficiently relieved. In many of his lyric poem
A year later, Hebbel went to Heidelberg to study law but then went to the University of Munich, where he devoted to philosophy, history, and literature. In 1839, he left Munich and walked all the way back to Hamburg, where he resumed his friendship with Elise Lensing, whose self-sacrificing assistance had helped him over the darkest days in Munich. In the same year, he wrote his first tragedy, Judith (1840, published 1841), which in the following year was performed in Hamburg and Berlin and made his name known throughout Germany.
He in 1840 wrote the tragedy Genoveva . Hebel at Munich began Der Diamant , a comedy, which he finished in 1841. In 1842, he visited Copenhagen, obtained a small travelling studentship from Christian VIII, king, and thus ably spent some time in Paris and two years (1844–1846) in Italy. In Paris, he wrote his fine "tragedy of common life," Maria Magdalena (1844). On return from Italy, Hebbel at Vienna met two Polish noblemen, the brothers Zerboni di Sposetti, who in their enthusiasm for his genius urged him and supplied him with the means to mingle in the best intellectual society of the Austrian capital.
Old precarious existence of Hebbel then horrified him, who in 1846 married the beautiful and wealthy actress Christine Enghaus, giving up the faithful Elise Lensing (faithful until her death), on the grounds that "a man's first duty is to the most powerful force within him, that which alone can give him happiness and be of service to the world": in his case the poetical faculty, which would have perished "in the miserable struggle for existence". This "deadly sin," which, "if peace of conscience be the test of action," was, he considered, the best act of his life, established his fortunes. Elise, however, still provided useful inspiration for his art. As late as 1851, shortly after her death, he wrote the little epic Mutter und Kind, intended to show that the relation of parent and child is the essential factor which makes the quality of happiness among all classes and under all conditions equal.
Long before this Hebbel had become famous, German sovereigns bestowed decorations upon him; in foreign capitals he was feted as the greatest of living German dramatists. From the grand-duke of Saxe-Weimar he received a flattering invitation to take up his residence at Weimar, where several of his plays were first performed. He remained, however, at Vienna until his death.
Besides the works already mentioned, Hebbel's principal tragedies are:
Herodes and Mariamne (1850)
Julia (1851)
Michel Angelo (1851)
Agnès Bernauer (1855)
Gyges and His Ring (1856)
Die Nibelungen (1862), his last work (a trilogy consisting of a prologue, Der gehörnte Siegfried, and the tragedies, Siegfrieds Tod and Kriemhilds Rache), which won for the author the Schiller prize.
Of his comedies Der Diamant (1847), Der Rubin (1850) and the tragi-comedy Ein Trauerspiel in Sizilien (1845), are the more important, but they are heavy and hardly rise above mediocrity. All his dramatic productions, however, exhibit skill in characterization, great glow of passion, and a true feeling for dramatic situation; but their poetic effect is frequently marred by extravagances which border on the grotesque, and by the introduction of incidents the unpleasant character of which is not sufficiently relieved. In many of his lyric poem
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 3, 2023
In unermeßlich tiefen Stunden
Hast du, in ahnungsvollem Schmerz,
Den Geist des Weltalls nie empfunden,
Der niederflammte in dein Herz?
Jedwedes Dasein zu ergänzen
Durch ein Gefühl, das ihn umfaßt,
Schließt er sich in die engen Grenzen
Der Sterblichkeit als reichster Gast.
Da tust du in die dunkeln Risse
Des Unerforschten einen Blick
Und nimmst in deine Finsternisse
Ein leuchtend Bild der Welt zurück;
Du trinkst das allgemeinste Leben,
Nicht mehr den Tropfen, der dir floß,
Und ins Unendliche verschweben
Kann leicht, wer es im Ich genoß.
Dies ist ein Herbsttag, wie ich keinen sah!
Die Luft ist still, als atmete man kaum,
und dennoch fallen raschelnd, fern und nah,
die schönsten Früchte ab von jedem Baum.
O stört sie nicht, die Feier der Natur!
Dies ist die Lese, die sie selber hält;
denn heute löst sich von den Zweigen nur,
was vor dem milden Strahl der Sonne fällt.
Hast du, in ahnungsvollem Schmerz,
Den Geist des Weltalls nie empfunden,
Der niederflammte in dein Herz?
Jedwedes Dasein zu ergänzen
Durch ein Gefühl, das ihn umfaßt,
Schließt er sich in die engen Grenzen
Der Sterblichkeit als reichster Gast.
Da tust du in die dunkeln Risse
Des Unerforschten einen Blick
Und nimmst in deine Finsternisse
Ein leuchtend Bild der Welt zurück;
Du trinkst das allgemeinste Leben,
Nicht mehr den Tropfen, der dir floß,
Und ins Unendliche verschweben
Kann leicht, wer es im Ich genoß.
Dies ist ein Herbsttag, wie ich keinen sah!
Die Luft ist still, als atmete man kaum,
und dennoch fallen raschelnd, fern und nah,
die schönsten Früchte ab von jedem Baum.
O stört sie nicht, die Feier der Natur!
Dies ist die Lese, die sie selber hält;
denn heute löst sich von den Zweigen nur,
was vor dem milden Strahl der Sonne fällt.
Displaying 1 of 1 review