CHAPTER XIV. SUABIAN POETS. MODERN POETS. MODERN NOVELISTS. It is not alone in our own century that a number of poets almost contemporary have sung in Suabia. The country round the Upper Rhine and the Neckar had been the province of the German troubadours, the Minnesänger. Hartmann von Aue and Gottfried von Strafsburg, sang in the south-west of Germany, and in the middle of our own century the glory of Suabia was revived in what is termed the "Schwäbische Dichterschule." The poets so styled drew their inspiration from the woods, mountains, and rivers of their beautiful "Schwabenland," from the sunshine and the song of birds over the vineyard and the golden cornfield, as Justinus Kerner wrote: "Wo der Winzer, wo der Schnitter singt ein Lied durch Berg und Flur: Da ist schwäbischer Dichter Schule, und ihr Meister heifstNatur." The most celebrated of this group of poets is Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862), the writer of many of the most popular German ballads and songs. Of the former, which are very numerous, known to everyone are Taillefer, Bertran de Born, Das Glück von Edenhall, and "Des Sängers Fluch," the last named one of the most effective and striking of ballads. Its popularity is almost unexampled. The picture of the stony-hearted king-"so finster und so bleich "-who alone is unmoved by the minstrel's song, of the old bard's despair at the youth's cruel death, and finally the utterance of the curse, with its ultimate fulfilment, are familiar to us all. Uhland himself, like his own "Sänger," sang of: "-Lenz und Liebe, von sel'ger goldner Zeit, Von Freiheit, Männerwürde, von Treu' und Heiligkeit." Such songs as Ich hatt' einen Kameraden and Es zogen drei Burschen wohl über den Rhein are universally sung. As a dramatist, Uhland has not attained the fame which is justly his as a lyric poet. His As a Ernst, Herzog von Schwaben and Ludwig der Baier, couched in noble language and full of noble thought, are well worthy to be read, but are not adaptable for representation. Uhland mixed with great earnestness in Würtemberg politics; his "Wanderung" is a political poem, crying out for the freedom of his Fatherland. writer of fresh, simple love-songs, charming in their natural expression of happiness, he is beyond praise, as in "Die Zufriedenen," beginning, "Ich safs bei jener Linde.” True emotion, not rich in words but strong in feeling, is to be found in his sorrowful poems, such as those written to his dead mother, entitled " Nachruf," in one of which he describes a quiet grave for her, and ends: "Ich grub dir dieses Grab in meinem Herzen." A friend of Uhland's, a man distinguished by great charm of manner and warmth of heart, was Gustav Schwab (1792-1850). He possessed a simple, happy nature, and had great poetical talent, but perhaps too great facility of expression without sufficient critical faculty, so that occasional want of taste renders him, in most of his work, inferior to Uhland. Excellent, however, are the two poems, Das Gewitter, founded on a real incident, when four persons, great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, and daughter were killed by one flash of lightning, and Der Reiter und der Bodensee, a ballad of breathless interest. Others equally good are "Das Mahl zu Heidelberg," and "Der Riese von Marbach," and a popular student-song is his "Lied eines abziehenden Burschen": "Bemooster Bursche zieh' ich aus, Behüt' dich Gott, Philisterhaus ! Mufs selber nun Philister sein!" Justinus Kerner (1786-1862) was a poet of more tragic cast than Uhland or Schwab. The thought of death is present in the majority of his poems, and he says himself, "Mein Lied erzeugt der Schmerz, Schnell stirbt es hin in Thränen." He has the great merit of sincerity, and the power of writing what are real Volkslieder, such as Der Wandrer an der Sägemühle.-Having, after various vicissitudes, become a doctor, Kerner turned his attention to the half-visionary, half-scientific investigation of somnambulism, and was carried away by what we should now call spiritualism. This led to his writing Die Seherin von Prevorst.—A poem showing his taste for the horrible is Die vier wahnsinnigen Brüder; but the song, "Wohlauf, noch getrunken den funkelnden Wein" is in Kerner's brightest style. be Kaiser Rudolfs Ritt zum Grabe, is a ballad which may worthily classed with Schiller's "Graf von Habsburg," and "Der reichste Fürst" is another of Kerner's best. The novel, Reiseschatten von dem Schattenspieler Luchs, an early work, is written in the style of Jean Paul, and contains many whimsical figures, such as the Gravedigger, who, sitting in the church-yard, works at the invention of a flying- machine, and the man who imagines himself to be on a galloping horse, when he is only rushing along on foot. The last of the four most considerable Suabian poets is Eduard Mörike (1804-1875), but he is not as general a favourite as the three with whom he is classed. Only two of his ballads are very popular, Die Geister am Mummelsee, and a merrier poem, Schön-Rohtraut.-His "Lieder are greatly superior; the splendid "Lied vom Winde" has an iresistible swing "Fort! Wohlauf! Auf! Halt' uns nicht auf! Fort über Stoppel und Wälder und Wiesen! Will ich es grüfsen, Kindlein, ade! Storchenbotschaft, Das Liebesvorzeichen, and Die Schwestern are also bright and gay, whilst "Das verlassene Mägdlein” is a simple and touching expression of a deserted girl's misery. Mörike wrote a novel in the Romantic style, Mozart auf der Reise nach Prag. An older Suabian' poet, not classed with those of whom Uhland is the chief, was the unfortunate Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843), the lover of Greece and classic antiquity, the last thirty-seven years of whose life were passed in hopeless insanity. Hyperion oder der Eremit in Griechenland is one of the finest examples of German prose. Hölderlin's chief poems are Griechenland, Die Heimat, Der Wandrer, and An die Natur. Modern Poets. A few poets, who might be roughly classed as belonging to the middle of our own century, shall be referred to shortly, before we pass to a cursory notice of the chief novelists. Heinrich August Hoffmann von Fallersleben (1798-1874) lost his professorship at the University of Breslau, in 1843, on account of his radicalism. He was a really great lyrical poet, possessed unusual facility in versification, and often attained the excellence of real "Volkslieder by simplicity, depth of feeling, and playfulness of tone combined. His "Kinderlieder,” “ Wanderlieder," "Liebeslieder," and "Lieder der Landsknechte," have all attained well-deserved popularity. "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles," ‚"" Zwischen Frankreich und dem Böhmerwald,” “Alle Vögel sind schon da," and "O glücklich, wer ein Herz gefunden," are characteristic. Ferdinand Freiligrath (1810-1876) lived for some years in London, owing to political difficulties, brought about by his liberal views boldly expressed in the forties, but ended an honoured old age in his own country. Freiligrath gives marvellous word-pictures. Richness of colouring is his most striking characteristic; the poet Kinkel called him "den Rubens unsrer Poesie." Well known among many others are Löwenritt," "Unter den Palmen," "Gesicht "O lieb', so lang Du lieben kannst! Wo Du an Gräbern stehst und klagst!" Gottfried Kinkel (1815-1882), another political victim, was imprisoned in 1849, but escaped the following year. After a short sojourn in America he lived in London until K |