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Nikolaus Lenau:
Herbst
Nun ist es Herbst, die Blätter fallen,
Den Wald durchbraust des Scheidens Weh;
Den Lenz und seine Nachtigallen
Versäumt ich auf der wüsten See.
Der Himmel schien so mild, so helle,
Verloren ging sein warmes Licht;
Es blühte nicht die Meereswelle,
Die rohen Winde sangen nicht.
Und mir verging die Jugend traurig,
Des Frühlings Wonne blieb versäumt;
Der Herbst durchweht mich trennungschaurig,
Mein Herz dem Tod entgegenträumt.
Woher die Meereswelle kommt?
Lenaus Gedicht bezieht sich auf seine unglückliche Amerikareise. Er kam enttäuscht zurück - eine Enttäuschung, die wie sein Leben auf Grund seiner genetischen Disposition und Dichternatur vorprogrammiert war. So können wir zumindestens spekulieren: Daß für Mutter Natur nur der Erfolg zähle; daß der Quell menschlicher Schönheit das Leiden sei...
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Nikolaus Lenau:
Autumn
The autumn came, the leaves are falling,
through woods resounds its parting plea;
when spring and nightingales were calling
I missed them on the lonely sea.
How once so bright were sky and hour
that now no longer solace bring:
the ocean's swells refused to flower,
the ocean's tempests did not sing.
So I have spent my young days grieving
and missing spring's enchanting breath;
the autumn sings the song of leaving:
my heart keeps dreaming towards its death.
You wondered how the ocean managed to intrude on the Weltschmerz of a Central-European?
The poem alludes to Lenau's ill-fated crossing of the Atlantic in pursuit of romantic dreams: A primaeval landscape, an innocent continent, a meaningful life at one with nature. While he was impressed by the United States' natural beauty, e.g. of Niagara Falls, he was repelled by its preoccupation with money. Lenau returned to Europe in disappointment.
His disappointment with America was, however, no isolated incident. In fact, Lenau's whole life was a sequence of disappointments - preordained, one might speculate, by genetic disposition and poetic talent. For Mother Nature indulges Her poetic streak and this is how She produces poets. The end justifies the means - the poem's glory justifies the poet's pain - this is what She keeps repeating to Herself....
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