Geoffrey Gaskell [log in to unmask] wrote:
>However, I do have one little question: Is "Sensucht" meant to be
>"Sehnsucht"?
There have been several questions on the first of the two poems. On one
hand an artist does not like to dissect a work for people - because it robs
the life out of it.
On the other hand, when so many people have half the meaning, and cannot
quite make the connection to all of the meaning, it seems as if *some*
explanation is required.
So let me sacrifice the mystery out of the first poem so that the whole
work (two poems plus a string quartet) might have some chance of being
seen for what it is - a work of art.
- - -
Let me start with the start with structural questions:
The poem is in two verses of 9 lines, the first verse is an acrostic -
SEHNSUCHT. This is German roughly speaking - yearning.
The rhythmical form is iambic blank verse:
Sens' uous' the touch'
end'less year'ing -
how I' know it'
Now' to be' the inn' er
strength' and
un'derpinning grace' -
crown'ing ruin'ed moun'tian as laur'el clouds.
Howev'er faint',
though near' to inn'er sens'es
Syllabation pattern is
SS
SW
WS
SW
SW
SS
SW
WS
WW
The second stanza is a double acrostic - SEHNSUCHT - YEARNINGS
Sens'uous' the touch' of day',
end'less yearn'ing - of thee '-
how' I know' its aura',
now'. To be' the inn'er
strength'. El'an
un'derpin'ning. It' is I,'
crown'ed on ruin'ed moun'tain top' by God's' design'.
How'ever feint' at mean'ing -
Thought': near' to inn'er sens'es.
The syllabation pattern is
SS
SS
SS
SW
SsW
SS
SwS
SW
SW
With two breaks of scansion.
The difference in meaning between the two stanzas relies on the alteration
of punctuation, the shift in use of certain words - the difference between
clouds which crown the mountains as laurel (wreaths), and being crowned
upon a mountain top, the alteration of certain words for homonyms or
close sounding words: yearing/yearning, Faint/Feint,Though/Thought.
- - -
So why the title? Why "Sensucht" rather than the correct spelling.
The author clearly knows the correct spelling, because he put it in the
acrostic. What does "Sensucht" suggest but - "senses" - the opening and
closing words of both stanzas are Sensuous, and Senses.
Clearly there is the suggestion in the direct title that "Yearning" is some
how related to "Sensing".
What does the poet here "sense".
In the first stanza we have the word "yearing": while not a dictionary
word, it is a gerunditive form similar to say "greening" and should not
present any problems of meaning. "Endless yearing" is the "inner strength"
of "ruined mountain tops". This image should not be unfamiliar to readers
of Romantic poetry, the idea of the mountains being "old" and the very
oldness, the very wearing away which procedes slowly, being the source of
their symbolic value.
The second verse has the more expected word in the same place: "Yearning".
Endless Yearning - "of Thee" is a phrase so common as to be trite, and
unless undercut in someway would seem to be a banality. Which makes one
ask - why bother saying it? What follows is this:
now'. To be' the inn'er
strength'. El'an
un'derpin'ning. It' is I,'
crown'ed on ruin'ed moun'tain top' by God's' design'.
What is crowned on ruined mountain top with laurel leaves? Western
symbolism in poetry anyone? Poet's are crowned with laurel leaves. One can
think of half a dozen examples relating the poet to nature, and perhaps if
one is following carefully one might see Dante's apotheosis in Commedia as
a reference of the poem. Who is, after all, crowned by god's design after
climbing the mount of Purgatorio.
So the statement is that it is the yearning which is the inner strength of
the poet, and this is the same as the "yearing" of mountains - the inner
strength which gives the poet his symbolic value, or:
How'ever feint' at mean'ing -
Thought': near' to inn'er sens'es.
A "feint" is a false attack, its reference is from fencing, but a "feint"
in general is any deceptive manuever with strategic end, in politics or
business. So the poet, while he draws from yearning as his strength must
"feint" at meaning, because "Thought" is near to inner senses.
There is, of course, a bit more to this bit of verse, but I think this
particular frog has had enough of its innards pinned to the card board
for the time being.
Why it is related to a particular work of music, and what the literary
symbolism is in this work is a far larger question. There are, after all,
a few hundred measures of music to consider...
- - -
*Engagement* gentlemen - trust that the artist does, in fact, have
a structure to what he does, and perhaps the meaning becomes clearer.
There have been a couple of barbs about how crabby I am about people not
understanding what I am doing. I admit - I *am* crabby about the issue.
But then, the meaning which was, literally, spelled out, seemed to have
escaped people's notice. Dante isn't generally obscure, and enough people
on the list have read Chas Rosen's "The Romantic Generation" to make me
feel confident that the relationship between Romantic poetry and Nature as
Ruin is not unknown. I don't expect engagement, but then, without it the
works remain opaque surfaces, sonic decoration - wall paper for the ear.
One the basis of surface some people will care for them, others will not.
On the level of engagement there is another world of artistry open to
people, it is at that level that these works exist, it is at that level
that they need to be engaged to be understood. If the obvious meaning,
based on clear reference, remains untouched - then what hope should I have
that the more complex meanings be found? Perhaps some people will find them
"near to inner senses" - but their sound will not be heard until it is
listened for.
Art is more than creating agreeable surfaces. That is decoration, artistry
is about creation of a world, an evolving pattern which can be carried far
beyond its original shape. This is what allows interpretation of music,
readings of poems, and stagings of plays. This is what separates the world
of art from the world of entertainment. I'm not a fan of "accessibility"
as a cause in music for just this reason, it justifies a great deal of
churn that brings us no closer to art in the end.
It is this world that I work towards - one where the artistic engagement
lies further forward in our writing, creating and speaking than it does at
present. I would like to be in a world where such engagement is considered
the due of an artist, but experience tells me that this is not the case.
Stirling Newberry
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