Parcival - The early gardens
Parcival - The early gardens is a volume of poetry that helped its author Karl Gustav Vollmoeller to break through. The book, first published in 1903, made him a recognized and celebrated poet and was his second major work. It includes two different cycles; Parcival and The Early Gardens . Vollmöller wrote the poems for the cycle The Early Gardens between 1894 and 1896; those on Parcival between 1897 and 1899 or 1901. Individual poems were published in advance between 1897 and 1901, predominantly in the Blätter für die Kunst by Stefan George . Some of these poems were also published in the magazines Simplicissimus and Pan . The book edition was published in 1903 by S. Fischer Verlag , Berlin.
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Parcival
The cycle of poems Parcival consists of thirteen poems that are broken down into strophic units. Fixed metric units, such as thirds or evenly built stanzas, only exist towards the beginning and end of the cycle. Most of the poems are in iambic meter . There are also short stories, for example about Merlin .
The plot, linked more or less across all of the poems, covers the time between Parcival 's first and second visit to the Grail Castle (according to Wolframs von Eschenbach Parzival , Book V – XV). In Vollmoeller's case, the action begins when Parcival, disappointed with his own failure, rides from the Grail Castle into the valley; behind his back he hears "a strange woman's secret whispering" ( Sigune ). Leaning on his spear, he looks up to the Grail Castle, which lies in front of him in the “morning sun gold”. The further action of the poems follows his path during the so-called “random walk”. They describe what and how Parcival feels: loneliness, boy and man at the same time who does not yet know his way into life. They show him as a hero who playfully throws other brilliant knights out of the saddle in rows, conquers several castles, countries and a queen.
But he is depressed by the contradictions of life: He recognizes the grace of community, but his compassion first drives him back into loneliness, to those who are socially ostracized and are considered human dregs. From the abundance of esoteric voices around him, one finally stands out clearly which proclaims his salvation in the Christian faith. Following a sudden inspiration, he leaves a binge drinking with friends and turns to the poorest and ugliest inhabitant of a harbor district, a prostitute . For Vollmoeller Parcivals this symbolizes overcoming his natural disgust for poverty and disease and his transition to the idea of Christian charity.
He makes the “leanest of the haggard” the mother of a child and in this way symbolically enables her to return to society and to an eternal, Christian life. After passing this highest test for Parcival's humanity, untouched by the glitz of the world in the face of his legendary fame, he rides on. Things in life that he didn't understand earlier now become clear to him, complicated things become easy. The doubt of faith no longer follows him. Therefore he can now, as a matter of course, rediscover the Grail Castle, for which he searched in vain for years, free the suffering king and finally end his wandering - the search for the meaning of life .
The early gardens
The cycle The early gardens consists of three parts: hortus pueri (garden of childhood), hortus rosarum (garden of love) and hortus somnii (garden of dreams). In addition to the introductory poem Dedication to the Siblings, hortus pueri contains five, hortus rosarum nine and hortus somnii five poems. The poem As an Epilogue concludes .
In hortus pueri Vollmoeller deals with the subject of grief over the loss of people, but also the loss of childlike security. In hortus rosarum he deals with the topics of first, early love, fears of growing up, but also with the topic of separation between people and familiar surroundings. Finally, Hortus somnii deals with the dichotomy between dream and reality, deals with the artist's inspiration and the futile pursuit of fame. Vollmoeller closes this cycle with an epilogue as a review of childhood and youth.
The early gardens are strongly autobiographical in color. Linguistically, the young Vollmöller fluctuates between the style of his private teacher Karl Bauer and the strict guidelines of Stefan Georges , borrows from Stéphane Mallarmé and the young Hugo von Hofmannsthal , but also from Maurice Maeterlinck , in order to finally find his own style more and more clearly.
Criticism and reception
The contemporary critics - including the otherwise over-critical Stefan George - agreed: With these poems one had a new star in Germany's poetry sky: Karl Vollmoeller, equal to Rilke and Hofmannsthal .
“KGVollmöllers [book] ... I immediately read it to our group and I cannot help but express my great admiration and seldom unreserved appreciation. the ability to condense, which we praised so much in Parzival and Odysseus, he has proven even more in the context ... V. acted accordingly and his creation is so good ... don't forget ... to express my great joy and admiration ]! "
“His volume of poetry 'Parcival - The Early Gardens' shows a poet who strives from the confines of his own experience into the ambiguous world of distant fate and mythical events. In 'Parcival', a cycle of mature and cool marble poems, he announces the search for those who see the blooming kingdoms of the Annunciation above the poor everyday life. A modern person is in Parcival's armor, one who is yearning for richer, more passionate forms of life, one who bends back into the half-faded mirror of the past to discover the beauty of his soul more deeply than in the game of days. The strange has found a wild, devoted trust in this poet, and the mystical a gentle transfiguration ... In my opinion Vollmoeller is in the front row as a poet. "
“If even Parcival becomes a Pre-Raphaelite figure, it is deeply knotted in the essence of time, but also in the nature of the young Vollmöller. Because so mad and hesitant, moved and sleepwalking, intertwined in a puzzling game of puzzling things, the young man rides through all the forests and cities. He is aware of this confused game, but he rides there because he knows he will mature into a man. "
“Karl Vollmoeller, a lyric poet widely valued by his contemporaries ... created what is perhaps the most poetic adaptation of the Parzival material in recent times, the cycle of poems 'Parcival' ... With his 'Parcival' Vollmoeller presented himself as a virtuoso among the poets of The turn of the century can be recognized. "
“Constant reference to a different art and its means, decorative mannerism, strong inflow of decadent elements: these are the characteristics that make Vollmoeller's“ Parcival ”the aestheticism of the turn of the century ... With his“ Parcival ”Vollmoeller presented himself as the virtuoso among the poets of the turn of the century to recognize ... Vollmoeller knew that the «Parcival» represented a creative phase beyond which it was difficult, if not impossible, to get beyond ... At Vollmoeller the technical perfection (is) brought to a point beyond which no further improvement is possible ... What is fascinating about Vollmoeller is that he follows the path of his era to the edge of the abyss. "
expenditure
- Karl Vollmöller: Parcival - The early gardens . S. Fischer, Berlin 1903 (first edition).
- Karl Vollmöller: Parcival . Insel, Leipzig 1911 ( Insel-Bücherei 115).
literature
- Frederik D. Tunnat: Karl Vollmoeller. Poet and cultural manager. A biography . tredition, [Hamburg] 2008, ISBN 978-3-86850-000-4 .
- Peter Wapnewski (ed.): Medieval reception. A symposium . Metzler, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-476-00576-3 , ( German symposia report volumes 6), ( quarterly journal for literary studies and intellectual history special volume).
- Klaus Günther Just: Transitions - Problems and Forms of Literature . Francke, Bern et al. 1966.