Wie versprochen. Aber Achtung: lang, und viel Englisch.<\/p>\n
DOVER BEACH
\nThe sea is calm to-night.
\nThe tide is full, the moon lies fair
\nUpon the straits;\u2014on the French coast the light
\nGleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
\nGlimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
\nCome to the window, sweet is the night-air!
\nOnly, from the long line of spray
\nWhere the sea meets the moon-blanch’d land,
\nListen! you hear the grating roar
\nOf pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
\nAt their return, up the high strand,
\nBegin, and cease, and then again begin,
\nWith tremulous cadence slow, and bring
\nThe eternal note of sadness in.<\/p>\n
Sophocles long ago
\nHeard it on the \u00c6g\u00e6an, and it brought
\nInto his mind the turbid ebb and flow
\nOf human misery; we
\nFind also in the sound a thought,
\nHearing it by this distant northern sea.<\/p>\n
The Sea of Faith
\nWas once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
\nLay like the folds of a bright girdle furl’d.
\nBut now I only hear
\nIts melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
\nRetreating, to the breath
\nOf the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
\nAnd naked shingles of the world.<\/p>\n
Ah, love, let us be true
\nTo one another! for the world, which seems
\nTo lie before us like a land of dreams,
\nSo various, so beautiful, so new,
\nHath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
\nNor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
\nAnd we are here as on a darkling plain
\nSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
\nWhere ignorant armies clash by night.<\/p>\n
Nicht nur der Rhythmus gefiel mir im ersten Teil von Dover Beach, auch die Naturbeschreibung, und beides geht f\u00fcr mich wunderbar zusammen hier:<\/p>\n
\u201cListen! you hear the grating roar
\nOf pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
\nAt their return, up the high strand,
\nBegin, and cease, and then again begin,
\nWith tremulous cadence slow,\u201d<\/p>\n
Danach beginnt das, was ich hier<\/a> als miesepetrig bezeichnet habe. Das Zweifeln. Aber ich sollte da gar nicht so dar\u00fcberstehen, und tue es auch nicht. Habe ich doch selber Zweifel ge\u00e4ussert hinsichtlich dessen, was mein Blog eigentlich soll, warum ich schreibe, was ich schreibe, wieso ich schreibe, um nur die hier relevantesten zu wiederholen.<\/p>\n Ich habe herausgefunden, dass Arnolds eigentlich gesucht hat, was ich in meiner Parodie beschrieben habe: serenity. Nur hatte er da furchtbar hohe Anspr\u00fcche. Vor allem, wenn es um Literatur ging. Ihn hatte nicht das Spektakel kauender Schafe, oder das von fliegenden Ameisen interessiert, sondern das menschlich soziale und gesellschaftliche, auch das kriegerische, das es intellektuell zu verarbeiten galt, um zu geistiger Befreiung zu gelangen.<\/p>\n Woher ich das weiss, wo ich doch so gut wie nix anderes von ihm gelesen habe als dieses Gedicht?<\/p>\n Aus Paul Muldoons Buch \u201cThe End of the Poem\u201d*, und ich glaube Paul Muldoon<\/a>. Nicht, weil er einer der wenigen Dichter ist, den ich live erlebt habe. Sondern deswegen, wie ich ihn erlebt habe. Ja, also, in dem Buch sind seine Oxford Lectures versammelt, die er als Professor for Poetry von 1999 bis 2004 an der Oxford University gehalten hat. Unglaublich forensisch berichtet er darin, was in 18 Gedichte \u2013 die meisten aus dem 20. Jh. – an Bibliographischem und Biographischem eingegangen ist. Das liest sich dann jedesmal fast wie ein Krimi. Und f\u00fcr Dover Beach hat mir das schon etwas gebracht, weil es meine Lesart eines f\u00fcr mich doch recht altmodisch anmutenden Gedichtes erhellt hat.<\/p>\n Arnold hatte denselben Job wie Muldoon in Oxford, nur viel fr\u00fcher: von 1857 bis 1867. Muldoons Leitfaden in der Vorlesung zu Dover Beach ist die Frage, warum Arnold es erst 1867 ver\u00f6ffentlichte, wo er es ziemlich sicher schon in 1851 geschrieben hatte, als\/nachdem er mit seiner Frau auf Hochzeitsreise in Dover war. Er kommt zu dem Schluss, dass Arnold das Gedicht unterdr\u00fcckt hat, weil er mit ihm seinen eigenen \u00dcberzeugungen widersprach, er seinen eigenen Anspr\u00fcchen nicht gerecht wurde, und er dazu zun\u00e4chst nicht stehen konnte. Das ist f\u00fcr mich, unter vielerlei Infos zu Arnolds Leben und Textschnipseln aus Werken anderer, die Muldoon in seiner Vorlesung berichtet und in Beziehung zueinander setzt, das Interessanteste. Dabei zitiert er aus Arnolds eigener Antrittsvorlesung in Oxford: \u201cOn the Modern Element in Literature\u201d:<\/p>\n \u201cBut first let us ask ourselves why the demand for an Muldoon weist auf einiges hin, was an Worten oder Phrasen sowohl in der Vorlesung als auch im Gedicht vorkommt. Das will ich hier nicht alles wiederholen. Interessant finde ich die Beschreibung dessen, was Arnold irritiert. Das klingt mir fast nach eigenen Worten.<\/p>\n So weit so gut, aber nun hat Arnold, und da wird er mir fremd, ziemlich hohe Vorstellungen davon, was es bedarf in der Literatur zu intellektueller Befreiung: Ad\u00e4quatheit. Sein Modell, sein Vorbild ist ein ziemlich altes: Das 5. Jh. v. Chr. Pericles und Sophokles. Seines Erachtens stimmte damals alles. Sophokles‘ Dichtung passte zum Leben, zur Gesellschaft. \u00dcber ihr liegt \u201cder Charme jener edlen Gem\u00fctsruhe, die immer wahre Einsicht begleitet.\u201d:<\/p>\n \u201cNext comes the question : Is this Puh.<\/p>\n \u00dcber Lukrez sagt er hingegen:<\/p>\n \u201cLet us begin with a great poet, a great philosopher, Lucretius. Mir kommt das so vor, als, auch wenn es zutreffen w\u00fcrde \u00fcber eine Zeit, ein Dichter so seine Welt nicht beschreiben sollte. Mir gef\u00e4llt das gerade an Lukrez, wie er sozusagen keine Umschweife macht. Und dass er, Doch ist ihm, zumindest in Dover Beach, das nicht gelungen. Zu den letzten Zeilen des Gedichtes<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we are here as on a darkling plain notiert Muldoon am Ende seiner Vorlesung: * Paul Muldoon: The End of the Poem<\/a>. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2006. Chapter 13 Wie versprochen. Aber Achtung: lang, und viel Englisch. DOVER BEACH The sea is calm to-night. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits;\u2014on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the … Matthew Arnold: Dover Beach<\/span> weiterlesen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fringillallala.wababbel.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fringillallala.wababbel.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fringillallala.wababbel.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fringillallala.wababbel.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fringillallala.wababbel.de\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=254"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/fringillallala.wababbel.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280,"href":"https:\/\/fringillallala.wababbel.de\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254\/revisions\/280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fringillallala.wababbel.de\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fringillallala.wababbel.de\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fringillallala.wababbel.de\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nintellectual deliverance arises in such an age as the present,
\nand in what the deliverance itself consists ? The demand
\narises, because our present age has around it a copious
\nand complex present, and behind it a copious and complex
\npast ; it arises, because the present age exhibits to the
\nindividual man who contemplates it the spectacle of
\na vast multitude of facts awaiting and inviting his com-
\nprehension. The deliverance consists in man’s comprehen-
\nsion of this present and past. It begins when our mind
\nbegins to enter into possession of the general ideas which
\nare the law of this vast multitude of facts. It is perfect
\nwhen we have acquired that harmonious acquiescence of
\nmind which we feel in contemplating a grand spectacle
\nthat is intelligible to us ; when we have lost that impatient
\nirritation of mind which we feel in presence of an immense,
\nmoving, confused spectacle which, while it perpetually
\nexcites our curiosity, perpetually baffles our comprehension.\u201d <\/p>\n
\nepoch adequately interpreted by its highest literature ?
\nNow, the peculiar characteristic of the highest literature
\n\u2014 the poetry \u2014 of the fifth century in Greece before the
\nChristian era, is its adequacy ; the peculiar characteristic
\nof the poetry of Sophocles is its consummate, its unrivalled
\nadequacy ; that it represents the highly developed human
\nnature of that age \u2014 human nature developed in a number
\nof directions, politically, socially, religiously, morally
\ndeveloped \u2014 in its completest and most harmonious develop-
\nment in all these directions ; while there is shed over this
\npoetry the charm of that noble serenity which always
\naccompanies true insight, \/ If in the body of Athenians of
\nthat time there was, as we have said, the utmost energy
\nof mature manhood, public and private ; the most entire
\nfreedom, the most unprejudiced and intelligent observa-
\ntion of human affairs \u2014 in Sophocles there is the same
\nenergy, the same maturity, the same freedom, the same
\nintelligent observation ; but all these idealized and glorified
\nby the grace and light shed over them from the noblest
\npoetical feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nLet me call attention to the exhibition in Lucretius of a modern feeling,
\nnot less remarkable than the modern thought in Thucydides.
\nThe predominance of thought, of reflection, in modern
\nepochs is not without its penalties ; in the unsound, in
\nthe over-tasked, in the over-sensitive, it has produced the
\nmost painful, the most lamentable results ; it has produced
\na state of feeling unknown to less enlightened but perhaps
\nhealthier epochs \u2014 the feeling of depression, the feeling of
\nennui. Depression and ennui ; these are the characteristics
\nstamped on how many of the representative works of
\nmodern times ! they are also the characteristics stamped
\non the poem of Lucretius. One of the most powerful, the
\nmost solemn passages of the work of Lucretius, one of the
\nmost powerful, the most solemn passages in the literature
\nof the whole world, is the well-known conclusion of the
\nthird book. With masterly touches he exhibits the lassi-
\ntude, the incurable tedium which pursue men in their
\namusements ; with indignant irony he upbraids them for
\nthe cowardice with which they cling to a life which for
\nmost is miserable ; to a life which contains, for the most
\nfortunate, nothing but the old dull round of the same
\nunsatisfying objects for ever presented. ‚ A man rushes
\nabroad,‘ he says, ‚ because he is sick of being at home ;
\nand suddenly comes home again because he finds himself
\nno whit easier abroad. He posts as fast as his horses can
\ntake him to his country-seat : when he has got there he
\nhesitates what to do ; or he throws himself down moodily
\nto sleep, and seeks forgetfulness in that ; or he makes the
\nbest of his way back to town again with the same speed
\nas he fled from it. Thus every one flies from himself.‘
\n…
\nYes, Lucretius is modern ; but is he adequate ? And
\nhow can a man adequately interpret the activity of his
\nage when he is not in sympathy with it ? Think of the
\nvaried, the abundant, the wide spectacle of the Roman
\nlife of his day ; think of its fulness of occupation, its
\nenergy of effort. From these Lucretius withdraws him-
\nself, and bids his disciples to withdraw themselves ; he
\nbids them to leave the business of the world, and to apply
\nthemselves ‚ naturam cognoscere rerum \u2014 to learn the nature
\nof things ; ‚ but there is no peace, no cheerfulness for him
\neither in the world from which he comes, or in the solitude
\nto which he goes. With stern effort, with gloomy despair,
\nhe seems to rivet his eyes on the elementary reality, the
\nnaked framework of the world, because the world in its
\nfulness and movement is too exciting a spectacle for his
\ndiscomposed brain. He seems to feel the spectacle of it
\nat once terrifying and alluring ; and to deliver himself
\nfrom it he has to keep perpetually repeating his formula
\nof disenchantment and annihilation. … Lucretius is, there-
\nfore, overstrained, gloom-weighted, morbid ; and he who
\nis morbid is no adequate interpreter of his age.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nso wie ich ihn verstanden hatte, zudem den Menschen unn\u00f6tige \u00c4ngste nehmen wollte, z.B. die vor dem Tod. Ich habe mittlerweile gesehen, dass Arnolds sehr viel Prosa \u00fcber die Politik seiner Zeit geschrieben hat. Sehr viel. Und er war Schulinspektor. Ich meine, ich sp\u00fcre in seiner Herangehensweise etwas Inspektorisches. Die Suche nach Ad\u00e4quatheit ist eine von jemandem, der dar\u00fcbersteht, oder stehen will. Und darin gelte es, die intellektuelle Befreiung, die er sucht, zu finden.<\/p>\n
\nSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
\nWhere ignorant armies clash by night.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDer \u201cclash\u201d bezieht sich daher nicht nur auf den \u201clauten Krach des Aufeinanderschlagens von Waffen, sondern auf \u201cden Konflikt oder die Kollision entgegengesetzter Argumente oder Meinungen\u201d (OED), so dass die von Matthew Arnolds vertretene \u201cForderung nach intellektueller Befreiung als Ziel von Dichtung durch das Ende des Gedichtes selbst widerlegt wird.“<\/p>\n
\nMatthew Arnold: On the Modern Element in Literature gibt es hier
\n<\/a>
\nEine ganz andere Parodie auf Dover Beach findet man z.B. hier<\/a>:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"