To the stars
To the stars is a sonnet by the baroque poet Andreas Gryphius . Gryphius took it as the 36th poem in his third volume of poetry, Sonnets. The first book on which the writing of the sonnet must fall in the years 1640 or 1641. The poem is actually part of spiritual lyric poetry. In addition, it can be read as nature poetry.
text
At the stars
you lights / which I cannot see enough on earth /
you torches / who always
adorn the wide firmament with your flames / and burn without stopping;
You flowers / you adorn the great floodplains of heaven:
you watchmen / who as God want to build the world;
His word calls whiteness itself by its right name,
which God alone measures
correctly / which God alone knows correctly (We blind mortals! What do we want to trust in us!)
You guarantors of my pleasure / how many beautiful nights
I have / in which I have watched you ?
Rule our time / when will it happen /
That I / who cannot forget
you here / you / whose love for me infects hearts and spirits
from other worries you will see beneath me?
shape
The poem An die Sternen consists of two quartets and two terzets. The quartets each consist of an embracing rhyme (abba), the two terzets are held in a tail rhyme (ccd eed). Standing in the meter of the Alexandrian , the sonnet corresponds to baroque poetry.
interpretation
In the first quartet, the increasing poetization of the heavenly bodies, “lights”, “torches” and “flames” culminates in a homage to heaven. The position of the speaker is already clear in the title of the poem. As the sender of a message, he is not interested in an actual experience of nature. This perspective is repeated in the metaphorical addressing of the stars, but with its increasing size it points the way, it ultimately leads to the “great celestial floodplains”. On the other hand, a profane observation of the heavens makes people seem insignificant if that guidance to God were not available. In the following quartet the cosmic order becomes visible, which reveals itself to humans only in harmony. The seventh verse "Who only God measures right / who God only knows right" is an allusion to the book of wisdom : "But you have arranged everything according to measure, number and weight" (19, 22 standard translation EU ). From the sight of the stars the speaker gains the knowledge that God's order can be admired, but the composition of that sacred order remains invisible to him. The exclamation "What do we want to trust vns!" Finally, the salutation ends with the middle line of the first trio, because on the one hand the anaphor " you lights", " you flowers ", " your guardian " and " your guarantor " are ended and a new speaker perspective is taken in the tenth verse, because from the "kan look "in the first verse has become" looked at ". In the second trio, the speaker, whose gaze is now directed towards the earth, remembers the stars, which he cannot “forget”. Strengthened by faith (love is in heart and spirits), he is oriented solely towards the hereafter .
Settings
The sonnet has been set to music several times, including by Barbara Sukowa .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. Andreas Gryphius: To the stars . In: Marian Szyrocki and Hugh Powell (eds.): Complete edition of the German-language works . Niemeyer, Tübingen 1963.
- ↑ Volker Meid (ed.): The German literature in the age of the baroque. From late humanism to early enlightenment . Beck, Munich 2009 p. 172.
- ↑ See Psalm 8 ( Psalm 8,4 Lut ).
- ^ Birdland. Barbara Sukowa - Devouring Time ( Memento of the original from May 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
