Mörike's “auf Eine Christblume“
1967; Routledge; Volume: 42; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/19306962.1967.11754678
ISSN1930-6962
Autores ResumoClick to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes1 Mörikes Werke, ed. Maync (Leipzig & Wien, 1941), I, 118f.—cited hereafter as Werke.2 The following passage is taken from two sources: up to “gestanden haben ...” from Mörikes Briete, ed. Karl Fischer (Berlin, 1904), II, 21 f.; from ” … Auf einem … ” to end from Eduard Mörike, Briefe, ed. Werner Zemp (Manesse Verlag, 1949), 267–69. Neither Fischer nor Zemp give the letter in toto.3 According to Zemp, p. 459, the title of the work cited is Deliciae hortenses. Zemp gives no date. I have not seen a copy of the book.4 Eduard Mörike (Tübingen & Stuttgart, 1950), 72–79.5 Ed. B. von Wiese (Düsseldorf, 1956), II. 79–90.6 Vol. XXVIII (1959), 109–36: “Mörike's Moonchild. A reading of the poem ‘Auf eine Christblume.’”7 Vol. LVI (1962), 345–364: “Mörikes Gedicht Auf eine Christblume.”8 See “Helleborus” in Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Enzyclopedie d. class. Altertumswiss. (Stuttgart, 1894ff.), VIII, and “Nieswurz” in Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch d. Aberglaubens (Berlin & Leipzig, 1927ff.), VI.9 Hdw. d. A., VI, “Nieswurz.”10 “Helleborus” in Meyers großes Konversations-Lexikon, 6. Aufl. (1905), IX.11 Handw. d. A., VII, 616ff.12 Werke, II, 306 bottom ff.13 Böschenstein, who devotes several paragraphs to the imagery of stanza 3, also calls attention to the parallel between the deer and the flower (op. cit., 352).14 Eduard Mörike, 78.15 Handw. d. A., VII, 263.16 Handw. d. A., VI, 504, and Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, I, (Penguin Books, 1955), 62, 3.17 At least I have not been able to find mention of a sweet odor directly connected with the Annunciation. As for the delicious scent of the Virgin's garments after the Assumption, cf. the words of Hieronymus in sermone de assumptione beatae Mariae: “Erat nimirum Maria repleta multis virtutum odoribus manensque in ea fragabat ex ea suavissimus odor etiam spiritibus angelicis, quam circumdabant rosarum flores, humilitates violae, virginitatis lilia.” (Cited after L. Behling, Die Pflanze in der mittelalterlichen Tafelmalerei (Weimar, 1957), p. 43.) See also Konrad v. Würzburg, Die goldene Schmiede, w. 594–601.18 Roscher, Ausf. Lex. der griech. u. röm. Mythologie (Leipzig, 1884ff.), IIa, 3150.19 Böschenstein (357 bottom f.) takes careful note of this situation, though he inter-prets it somewhat differently. My own interpretation is nonetheless indebted to his at this point.20 Middleton (123) speaks of a “vision of nature which mirrors the vision of divine being … the life-cycle of Christ.”21 Cf. also Böschenstein, 361 top: “Ein neues Mal wird als die bezeichnendste Eigen schaft des Gedichts faßbar die schwebende Vermittlung geistlicher und geisterhafter Sphäre.” B.'s remark (361 bottom) that “der Elfe selber wie eine Verwandlung der Blume in ihren eigen Geist erscheint” leads, however, in a different direction and seems indeed to contradict his own thesis of “Vermittlung.”22 See E. H. Meyer, Mythologie der Germanen (Straßburg, 1903), 205, 217. Cf. also the scene “Landstraße” in Urfaust: Faust: Was gibt's, Mephisto, hast du Eil? Was schlägst vorm Kreuz die Augen nieder? Mephistopheles: Ich weiß es wohl, es ist ein Vorurteil, Allein genung, mir ist's einmal zuwider.23 Cf. Werner Zemp, Mörike. Elemente und Anfänge (Frauenfeld & Leipzig, 1939), chap. V., esp. 138ff.24 First published 1838 under the title “An Clara.” See Werke, I, 105 and 468.25 Eduard Mörike. Briefe an seine Braut Luise Rau, ed. Friedhelm Kemp (München, [1956]). 165.26 Eduard Mörike. Briefe, ed. Friedrich Seebaß (Tübingen, [1939]), 38.27 Ibid, 836. Cf. also Harvey W. Hewett-Thayer, “Mörike's occultism and the revision of Maler Nolten,” PMLA, LXXI (1956), 403: “However indifferent to theological dogma, Mörike never wavered in his belief in the survival of the individual soul after death ...”28 Böschenstein also has a tendency to over-Platonize the poem. He regards the butterfly as the embodiment of the transcendency to which the flower points: “Er [der Schmetterling] ist die in ihr [der Blume] immer schon geahnte Metamorphose ihrer selbst zu ihrem geistigen Teil” (362). Throughout his interpretation he emphasizes the attributes of remoteness connected with the flower, but without pointing out clearly enough that these are always conjoined with attributes of nearness and presence. ” … lauter Zeichen der Entfremdung vom Lebendigen [umgeben und erbauen die Blume am Ende wie zu Beginn]” (363). It is therefore not surprising that B. is able to find a “sich andeutende Mortifikation” somewhat reminiscent of Mailar mi's famous swan frozen in the ice (363).
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