NOTES. Introductory Note. Poetic Diction. Before a poetical work is studied, the rules that determine the order of words (Eve's Germ. Gr., Syntax, 194 ff.; Aue's Germ. Gr., p. 15 ff.) should be so mastered, that the deviations from them in metrical composition, which are too frequent and varied to be pointed out in detail in a commentary, may be recognised by the student as giving to the style a distinctively poetic character, and may not lead him into errors in his own prose composition. Not only should the archaic or poetic expressions or constructions, the chief of which are remarked upon in the notes, be carefully kept distinct from what is current in modern prose, but it should further be noticed that it is characteristic of poetry (i.e. of the higher style of diction generally), to make a freer and more frequent use of some modes of expression and construction which are not in themselves poetical, but would sound forced and affected if they recurred frequently in ordinary prose. A few such may here be pointed out:-The omission of the article, cf. Prol. 22, 35; 12, 72, 96, &c. : in 14, 60, 137, 295, 1242, 1305, &c., it would hardly be appropriate in plain prose.-The placing of the genitive before the noun it limits, Prol. 3, 20, 26, 28; 23, 47, &c.: as occurring in cases like Prol. 39; 130, 296, 590, 1018, &c., it would be out of place in any but a higher or poetical style. Least common of all is this construction with the objective genitive (i.e. one which marks the object of the action indicated by the governing substantive, cf. Eve, 78, 80), cf. Prol. 16; 134, 535, 1096, 1159, &c.—The use of the uninflected adj. before a neut. subst., 272, 763, 766, 923, &c.— The omission on the one hand (Prol. 1, 5, 15, 26, &c.), and the retention on the other (Prol. 27, wirket; 132, 139, &c.), of the vowel e, chiefly to suit the metre, contrary to the usual practice in modern prose.-The similar omission of i (Prol. 11; 9, 74, &c.) is indicated by an apostrophe, and is often really more for the eye than the ear, the difference in pronunciation being hardly appreciable.—Other peculiarities and licences more or less characteristic of poetic diction are remarked upon in the notes; cf. among others the position of the adj., Prol. 4, n.; the use of the conjunctive as imperative, Prol. 40, n.; the use of the imperf. indic. for the perf., 277, n., &c. Prolog. As regards the circumstances under which the Prologue was written, see the Introduction, p. xi. Line 1. = Spiel: here concrete, = Schauspiel, play, spectacle. Further on, in 1. 39, it is abstract, the subst. inf. Spielen.-euch vorübergehn: verbs compounded with vorüber or vorbei are in common prose constructed with a prep., as an, vor, and the dat., Er ging an mir vorbei, cf. 246. 3. Die längst hinab ist.... The ellipse of a verb of motion is common, where the idea of motion is conveyed by an adv. or adverbial expression, cf. 906, 1592; further 1899. It is especially frequent with the 'verbs of mood,' cf. 634, after which also other verbs than verbs of motion are often omitted, cf. 1499. In many cases however, of which the present and 1. 701 may be regarded as examples, the ellipse (if we assume one at all) is rather logical than real, i.e. it lies in the thought rather than in the expression: there is no actual omission of a word or words necessary to complete the construction, an adv. of motion being simply used predicatively (as advs. of rest are commonly used, Er ist oben, &c.), generally in order to indicate the condition after the motion has taken place, as in Er ist ført, es ist vorbei, &c.-Strom is here of course acc., after the prep. in, indicating motion, cf. Prol. 26; 692. 4. Kämpfe, längst schon ausgekämpfte (sc. Kämpfe), lit., struggles, long ago fought-out ones, cf. 274, Des Augenblicks, des ewig wechselnden, of the ever changing moment, 892, andere Zeiten, strengere, 294, 451, &c. A construction peculiar to poetry, to be distinguished from the less exclusively poetical construction of the appositive uninflected adj., or participle used as adj. (Ein Gebirge, wüft und unbewohnt), and from that of the contracted rel. sentence,-e.g. here, Kämpfe, [welche]1 längst schon ausgekämpft [(worden) find]. 1 Square brackets [ ] indicate a double reading, according as the letters or words enclosed in the brackets are read or omitted. Thus the above gives with the words in the square brackets the full, without them the contracted relative sentence. 6. Zween Männer: zwēēn (monosyll.), m., zwo, f., zwei, n., is the old declension, uniformly used by Uhland, but now surviving only in the dialects, of the nom. and acc. of the numeral zwei.-The word bieter (originally, useful, helpful) has generally, since its revival by Lessing, a slightly quaint or archaic character; it indicates frank and hearty, sometimes bluff, integrity, cf. 953.—fromm also meant originally, useful, helpful (hence still, frommen, 997, to be of use, profit), then generally, excellent, worthy, honest, &c. =wacker, brav (so Luke xix. 17, Ei du frommer Knecht, 'Well thou good servant'; Luke xxiii. 50, ein guter frommer Mann, 'a good man and a just'); finally, in its present sense, pious, god-fearing; also innocent, harmless, cf. 285. 8. Preiswerthe Namen...: Preis means both praise, 870, price, and prize, 1882 (all four words coming through Fr. prix-O.Fr. pris, preis— fr. Lat. pretium; prize, reward of merit, however blending with, if its form be not taken from, prize, booty, fr. Fr. prise, fr. prendre, Lat. prehendere); preiswerth means both worthy of praise or honour, and also, worth the price, reasonable in price. 12. darniederliegt: the singular verb is explained by regarding Freiheit and Geseß as closely connected ideas, forming a kind of unity in thought. There is also in German a tendency to make the verb agree with the nearest subject, especially when the verb precedes. Cf. 1045, 1514, and Eve's Germ. Gr., Syntax, 9, Obs. 1 and 2. 15. Daß, die fürs Vaterland... glühn. The demonstr. antecedent ter, die, das is usually dispensed with, when it would be in the same case as the following rel. pron. (cf. below, Prol. 17; 1455, 1602), or when, though not in the same case, it would still be of the same form with it (i.e. when in the fem. or neut. sing., or in the plur., one stood in the nom. and the other in the acc., cf. 392, 914). The rel. pron. then used is always der, never welcher. For the neut. however was is used, not das. 17-18. Uhland probably had in mind the recent case of Joseph von Görres, who in 1819 published a work, Deutschland und die Revolution, and was in consequence compelled to fly to Switzerland. His after career however was such as Uhland would have been the last to regard as patriotic.-heißen is both tr., to call, and intr., to be called, to bear a name or character, cf. 6; here Retter hießen=für Retter erklärt or gehalten wurden, cf. 127. 20. Erblühen (blühen, to ‘bloom'), 'spring up.' The prefix er has here its root meaning, ‘out of, up,' indicating an emerging, or rising into being or activity, cf. erstehen, to arise, Prol. 47; erschließen, to open up, 199; ergehen, to go forth, 162. It thus often denotes the action especially in its beginning, so erschallen, to begin to sound, to sound forth, 871, cf. 1409; erglänzen, to shine forth, 887; cf. also 67, 1772. Thus also in verbs formed from adjs. it indicates becoming or causing to become, cf. ergrauen, to grow gray, 188; erhellen, to make light, to light up, 702; erblassen, 1358; erstarren, 191, &c.—wuchernd in der Hölle Segen: wuchern, to grow luxuriantly, flourish. in marks the element in and through which the growth takes place. 21. Schergentienst. Scherge, a lower officer of the law, bailiff, catchpoll; the executor of the will of a despot, satellite, myrmidon; hence now used chiefly in a bad sense. Schergendienst thus means the service rendered by the servile tools of tyranny. 24. festgepflanzt (sc. haben). At the end of dependent sentences the auxiliaries haben and sein are often omitted, both in poetry and prose, cf. 17, 70, 86, 231, &c. Less usual is the omission of a part of sein used as copula, 677. Aue's Germ. Gr. § 285; Eve, 177. 25. fo was formerly used for the rel. pron. in all genders and both numbers. It is common in Luther's Bible and in older poetry, Bittet für die, so euch beleidigen und verfolgen. 28. für is to be taken with wirket; belebend and fördernd are pres. participles used adverbially. fördern (fr. the obsol. förder, or fürder, 836) to further, promote, help on, cf. 1710; fördernd, helpfully, helping. 32. An allusion to the custom of the ancient Romans, still kept up în parts of Italy, of training vines up the elms, wreathed from tree to tree. 33. Heiligthum means both a sanctuary or holy place, and a sacred thing, the object of veneration, as in 763. Here it seems to mean arae et feci, 'hearths and homes,' all that is dear and sacred to a free people. 34. mit Gut und Blut: with life and goods. For other examples of these alliterative combinations, in which German abounds, and in which the two words generally express nearly related, often identical ideas, cf. 506, n., 534, 1875, 1970. 35-36. The flight out of gloomy reality into the serene ideal sphere of art, was a favourite theme of Schiller; see e.g. Das Ideal und das Leben. 39-42. If the feelings of any present should be painfully touched by the dramatic presentation of this tragic story of a bygone time, let them find comfort in the glad occasion to-day celebrated, the re-establishment of a constitution based upon those great principles of liberty for which heroes have died. 39. wen..., der gedenke. It is not strictly correct, in point of gram mar, to treat the pron. wer as 'a rel. pron. the antecedent of which is omitted or follows' (as Eve, 141, and others). The pron. wer,-classed with others as 'relative,' for want of a more distinctive term,-has never taken, and cannot take, under any circumstances, a grammatical antecedent; it does not 'relate' to an already defined or conceived substantive notion, but rather contains in itself or points out a general or indefinite one. The original meaning of wer as a rel. (M.H.G. swër, from so wër=wenn jemand) is: if any one, any one who, 'whoever.' ('Who' in this meaning is common in Shakspeare and in the Bible; 'Who steals my purse steals trash.') The case of ter that often follows in the main sentence is in no sense the 'antecedent' of wer, but an independent demonstrative, taking up the part of wer which has preceded, and representing it in its further syntactical relations. It is not essential, though present usage generally requires it in ordinary prose, as contributing to clearness, when the case of wer in the dependent sentence requires to be represented in the following main sentence in a different case, as in the present passage and in 877. (Cf. 'Who seems most sure, him soonest whirls she down.') In 689-91, the form of the sentence does not easily admit the insertion of the demonstr.; in 792, 1128, 1369, it is not necessary, ter in 1369 serving simply to give emphasis. The pron. was, besides retaining its functions as the neut. of wer, has so far become an ordinary rel. pron. that it takes as a grammatical antecedent certain words expressive of indefinite notions, as alles, nichts, viel, &c. In many cases where was (or one of the compound forms woraus = aus was, &c.) stands alone, we may understand either a following demonstrative, taking it up, or a real antecedent, cf. 757—9. Often however only the latter mode of filling up the construction is possible, as in 1550, 1935. Was as an ordinary relative comes under the rule explained in Prol. 15, n. 40. der gedenke: the free use (see Introd. Note) of the 3rd pers. (still more that of the 1st pers. plur., cf. 198) of the pres. conjunctive as imperative is characteristic of a poetical or elevated style. Cf. below, 51, and 178, 225, 1025, &c. In common prose and in the language of conversation it is less frequent (of course excepting the 3rd pers. plur. used for the 2nd pers., gehen Sie, &c.). Its place is often supplied by the employment of a verb of mood with the infinitive, as in 729, 1174, 1550, &c. fich (dat.) zum Troste, as a consolation to himself, zu seinem Troste, for his consolation, cf. 181, n. 42. Da mag er sehn: mögen here in its original but now almost obsolete sense, vermögen, to be able. So in 1591, 1921.—für was: cí. 1935, |