| For Eduard Mörike 1829 marked the beginning of what was the sunniest, most promising period in his life. He had found the love of his life in Louise Rau and had announced their engagement. It was a new experience: Far from being a make-believe figure of his poetic imagination, Louise was a tangible person on whom he could shower his love. It is said that Mörike’s correspondence with her produced a volume of the most charming letters to a bride-to-be in German literature. The letters show an extraordinary depth of emotion. His capacity to love is evident, as is his hope for reciprocation. But from the beginning he senses the dark suspicion that the relationship might not last, as in fact, it did not. By the year 1833 they had called off their engagement. For that reason it is not surprising when Morike in his very first letter to Louise spoke of a “harbinger of the death of our love”. Nor is it a cause for wonder that "Das Verlassene Mägdlein" was composed at this time. It is in keeping with Mörike’s emotional state and can be read as a premonition of what was to come. The poem is a scenic treatise on authentic love and the broken promise. Preoccupied with this contradiction Mörike seems to be masking himself in the role of the girl so as to achieve distance from the happening itself and need not betray own anguish. The poem begins in a setting of sad resignation. It is early morning. The maid is alone and her forlornness is heightened by the crowing of a distant rooster, significent in its allusion to the betrayal of Christ by Peter. The term “Mägdlein” means more than just “girl”. The diminutive “-lein” reveals youth and perhaps her innocence, thus indirectly making the suffering which she undergoes all the more poignant. The young girl is the only speaker in the poem and relates her story calmly. She is composed. She shows character in her simplicity. She speaks in the present tense which makes her presence more perceptible; the brevity of her expression makes the listener feel as if he being made privy to an intimate story, too painful to elaborate. Once she has kindled the fire she finds in it something consoling and beautiful. Attracted by the beauty of the flame, she gives herself over to its spiritual power and sinks into an otherworldly contemplation. This is interrupted suddenly when she remembers her dream. Immediately she becomes fully aware that her lover has betrayed her. The poem exemplifies how love and suffering belong together for Mörike. But it is how his figures come to grasps with these opposites that gives Mörike's poems their beauty and significence. In this case, once the maid has become aware of what has happened she refrains from divulging her feelings toward her unfaithful lover, continues to love him, is willing to suffer the pain of unrequited love. Her inner strength expresses itself in her calm resignation to her fate inspite of the suffering inflicted by the passage of time. A last consideration: When Morike writes “schön ist der Flamme Schein” he is using the word Flamme [flame] as a love symbol. Attached to this is the word Schein, a noun with a double meaning in German. It can mean both "glow" and "semblance", the former representing a real fact, the latter something that is only seems to be a fact. The maid is in a quandry about this ambiguity. She is faced with the question as to whether love is genuine or just an empty show. Masterfully Mörike compresses into the uncertainty of this one word [Schein] the bitter suffering of the disillusioned maid. Confronted with a clash of two worlds, the girl is at a loss to reconcile the two. But she carries on. She is willing to accept and live with the reality it presents. Duty and doing-without are her fate. Is Mörike perhaps telling of his own experience once his engagement to Luise Rau was called off? Be that as it may, with this short poem Mörike has created a lasting gem: a unique lover, noble and sublime. |
The Forsaken Maiden Early when the cock crows Ere the stars retire, I must stand at the hearth, I must tend the fire. What beauty in the fire's light, When the sparks are leaping, I stand gazing long at them, Lost now in my grieving. Suddenly I remember, Unfaithful Lad, It was you I dreamed of Til the night had ended. Tears well up and fall One upon the other; Now the day has come— Oh that it were over! Translation: Charles L. Cingolani |
| Das Verlassene Mägdlein Früh, wann die Hähne krähn, Ehe die Sternlein verschwinden, Muß ich am Herde stehen, Muß Feuer zünden. Schön ist der Flammen Schein, Es springen die Funken; Ich schaue so drein, In Leid versunken. Plötzlich, da kommt es mir, Treuloser Knabe, Daß ich die Nacht von dir Geträumet habe. Träne auf Träne dann Stürzet hernieder; So kommt der Tag heran— O ging er wieder! Eduard Mörike 1829 |
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