Forest solitude (bushel)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Julius Mařák's varied depictions of forests form the basis of Scheffel's cycle of poems.

Waldeinsamkeit is a cycle of poems published in 1880 that is one of the late works of the poet Joseph Victor von Scheffel . In terms of content and style, the cycle is reminiscent of Biedermeier literature . The subtitle reads: Poetry by Joseph Viktor von Scheffel on twelve scenic atmospheric pictures by Julius Mařak .

Structure and content

The work, which can be assigned to nature poetry , is divided into twelve poems on the subject of forest loneliness. The foreword and epilogue create a framework and at the same time reflect the central themes.

  • Preface: Already the first stanza strikes Biedermeier notes.


"And that despite Mammon, ambition for war and ridicule,
the best remains: Peace within yourself and God! "


A lyrical self appears as the narrator who wants to tell of a "forest friend": This forest friend, who is not named, is a forester in a forest in the foothills of the Alps. As a draftsman and poet, he pursues his poetic disposition. One day when he received a visitor from the city, he met the young Wilhelmine. The two fall in love, but fall apart shortly before Wilhelmine leaves. She has accused the forest lover of a "lower sense of art" because he prefers the local landscape to the Italian landscape. In order to win Wilhelmine back, the forest lover now wants to capture the local landscape particularly impressively in poetry and painting. The twelve following poems form his poetic representation of the forest.

  • I. About Haide and Moor: The forest friend describes his move into the forest "in high thoughts and boots". On a moor he imagines the primeval flora and the pile dwelling time .
  • II. Forest entrance: Impressed by the mighty oaks at the forest entrance, the forest lover remembers the time of the Teutons and their tree cult. He describes his feelings with a variety of religious terms.
  • III. Morning song: Arrived in the secluded forest, the forest friend listens to the chaffinch singing. The poet put folk rhymes in the mouths of the chaffinches, which are reminiscent of the literary form of folk tales popular in Romanticism and Biedermeier .
  • IV. The old forest castle: An overgrown rococo hunting castle is brought back to life in the forest friend's imagination. The song ends in a melancholy tone with the emphasis on transience.
  • V. After the wind break: A thunderstorm breaks the harmony in the forest. The forest friend feels reminded of battles.
  • VI. Lonely flowers: The setting is a barren, raging ravine that appears to forest lovers "like a place for mountain ghosts".
  • VII. Forest fire: The harmony is disturbed again, this time by a forest fire. The forest friend is looking for a supernatural explanation through the monster Typhon from Greek mythology.
  • VIII. Sunset: Again there is talk of embers, but here in the far more harmonious picture of the sunset.
  • IX. When the Unkem call: The night is dominated by the lamentations of the Unkem, which sound like a chorus of hypocrites.
  • X. Forest crime: For the third time, the harmony is broken by ax blows that echo through the forest. The forest friend, however, recognizes his day laborer Sebastian, who takes care of the storm wood - liquid instead of outrageously.
  • XI. Morning greeting in the forest mill: The picture of the idyllic mill, popular since the Romantic era, is staged here.
  • XII. Quiet home: The forest friend returns to the "quiet home" that he only shares with his mother.
  • Epilogue: The forester sends off his poems and receives a love letter back from Wilhelmine. The mother claims, however, that her “prosaic” advertising made this possible, and not the “poetic” writings of the Waldfreund. Otherwise the forest friend would have "happily dreamy and died blissfully". After the reconciliation with Wilhelmine, this criticism is followed by the self-insight of the forest friend:


"A man to whom the bride reconciles waves to a kiss,
has to limit his painting and poetry very much.
...
Drive well and ring out, forest loneliness!
From now on I am happy for the forest itself! "


This final passage is followed by a statement by the author with a reference to the models for the cycle of poems: Julius Mařák's paintings and Eduard Willmann's copperplate engravings from these paintings. The work closes with a friendly foreword to the reader.

Formal aspects

The forms of the poems vary and are usually very freely laid out. The poet prefers dactylic rhythms and paired rhymes . The poems IX, XI and XII consist of four-line stanzas with cross rhymes .

Content aspects

nature

Landscape and living beings are characterized in the poems only in their effect on the perception of the forest friend, before these impressions give the forest friend cause for further associations. Idyllic, harmonious moods dominate. The overlap of the inner and outer world of the forest friend is reminiscent of romanticism , as well as nature, despite the realistic portrayal, often as animated and religiously transfigured.

Cultural reference worlds

Nature gives forest lovers a remarkable number of associations with cultural and historical epochs. In the course of the cycle he explicitly refers to the pile dwellers (see: pile dwelling romanticism ), the Germanic peoples, the courtly culture of the Baroque , the Greeks and the Romans. Furthermore, numerous hidden references to Romanticism (Wilhelminens enthusiasm for Italy, artist ideal, "mountain ghosts") can be seen.

Real people

Several people are named. Two main representatives of the Biedermeier, Adalbert Stifter and Nikolaus Lenau , are explicitly named as role models for the Waldfreund .

In the afterword, Scheffel claims that the landscape painter Julius Mařák turned the forest friend's sketches into paintings. Eduard Willmann made copperplate engravings of it, which then appeared in Peter Käser's publishing house. The narrator then characterizes himself as Joseph Victor von Scheffel, although he only gives the preface and epilogue as his own work.

Withdrawal and departure

The subject is already taken up in the title of the work. The entire cycle of poems is devoted to the contemplative ideal of the forest solitude of the forest friend. Here elements of the romantic artist ideal come into play. After all, poetry seems to be the breeding ground for love. But there are two objections in the epilogue: the mother's criticism of the dreamy poetry of the forest friend and his insight that poetry has little place next to a fulfilled love. As a result, the question of the artist's ideal between retreat and departure is reflected, but not answered clearly. According to the epilogue, a total escape from the world by the romantic-Biedermeier artist cannot lead to (love) happiness.

Web links

  • Text of the cycle in the German Poetry Library

literature

  • Joseph Victor von Scheffel: Forest loneliness . tredition GmbH, Hamburg 2009.