UNIVERSITY OF IlI^IN'OIS ^ ^ . 1 LIBRARY ^ Class Book Volume J -" k #- I'he person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN ^ OCT 19 1973 Mi-. - 4 L161 — O-1096 f 4 4 4; >)J 4 4 ^ t GRILLPARZER'S SAPPHO Biographical Introduction, Critical Analysis and Notes AL3KRT S'RAKCIS TRAMS Thesis for the degreo of A, !<• in German in the College of Literature and Arts of the University of Illinois 1905 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS May... 2.6..., 19C5. THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION BY ALBEBT ERAI1C.I.S TRAM.S ENTITLED (iRI.LLEi.RZ.EE..'...S. SAP.P.H.Q... BI..Q.G.RlPnX.C.AL I.N.TR.O.D.IJ.C-T.X.C.N..., CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND NOTES. IS APPROVED BY ME AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE of At; t s OF Bache lor : C-A^^itiddy^ : ^ Acting HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF .G.e.r.man.* Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 //archive. org/details/grillparzerssappOOt SAPPHO Tlie 'hiogrraphical part in the follov;ing thesic ±3 iDased, bo far as possible upon Grillparzer • s aut oTDioeraphy. For the period -af- ter 183G I have made us of August Ehrhard's Pram; Grillparzer, Sein Leben und seine V/orke. Por the critical part other v/orks have heei: consulted simply to corrohorate my own conclusions. The following works were consul ^od, Grillpar?>.er AutoToiography Ehrhard-Feclrcer Grillparzer, sein Lehen und sein« Werke Merits Necker Le^ben und Schaffen Dr. Julius Schv/eriiig . P. Grillparzer, hellenische Trauerspiele Johannes Volkelt .... P. arillparzer, als Dichter des Tragisct^Len. Ri(j};.;j.r;i M. Mf^ f;r .... Die deutsche Literature des ne unz ehn t en Jahrhund er t s Grrillparzer ' s Werk*^ Cotta Ausgahe in acht Banden Einl ^itung von August Sn,uer FRANTZ GRIIJ^ARZER "Nay, peace, v/retched one, was not for thee Thy very striving "baffled peace, thy constant aim." Thus wrote Grillparzer in a threnody on Zacharias Werner in It was all too true of Werner, hut ho?; much sadder, how much more it was tragic it seems when applied to Grillparzer himself, of whom and is eqimlly true. Prom the hour of self-consciousness to the end of his eighty years his life was one long striving after an ever elusory ideal. He stands alone among the literary men of his own time— the Isolated Poet. Ad. Hynais, in an original painting rep- resenting the driii'iatists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, has characterized his position in ?1tt^rature very skillfully. Of the nine poets represented, Grillparzer occupies the central fore- ground,-- alone, opart from, the others. He is lost in deep study, his head rests in his right hand, in the left he holds a laurel wreath seeming unconscious and careless of it. Throughout his life he m.aintained an independent position. He had no patience v;ith the school kno7/n as "Young Germany" , he v/as out of sympathy with the Romantic School. The "Storm and Stress" movement did not fit in with his idea of •* des Innern stiller Prieden Und die schuldhefreile Brust." The Classical movement which followed the Storm and Stres3 is more nearly his own ideal,, hut even this, as we shall see later, had oh- j ectioiuil/le features. We might well anticipate that a man such as country Grillparzer with literary ideas of his own and living in a author into where the oppressive thumb of the censor pressed every and stormy career. one and the same mould, would have an eventful lacked Grillparj^.er disappoints us. He had individual aims, hut he threw courage to brave the obstacles which government and society Tower great in his way. He lacked faith in himself, faith in a enough and strong enough to uphold him in an individual self-ex- pression, in an independence which should disregard public dis- approval and make it safe to follow the inner voice. The chief events of his life are as follows: brothers Jan. 15 1791- Born at Vienna, the oldest of four -1801 Private school and home study under a tutor 1801-1804 At the Gymnasium 1804-1806 Philosophical Studies 1807-1811 Law Studies 1807-1809 Blanka von Kastilien Nov. 10 1809 Death of his father 1810-1813 Private tutor in various noble families 1815- Subordinate post in civil service Jan. 31 1817- Ahnfrau first performed Nov. 13 1617 Brother drowns Apr. 21 1818 Pirct performance of Sappho Jan, 24 1819 Death of his mothsr 1819- In Italy II 1821 Meets Katharina Frohlich . Mar. 26-7 1821 First performance of the trilogy Das goldene Vliess It ft PeL. 19 1825 First performance of Konig Ottokars Grluck und Ende 1826 Visits Goethe PelD, 28 1828 First performance of Der treus Diener seines Herrn Apr. 3 1831 First performance of Des Meeres und der Lie^be Wellen 1833 Director of the archives Oct. 4 1834 First performance of Der Traum. ein Lehen 1835 Tristia ex Ponto puhlished 183M In France and England Mar . 6 1838 First performance of Veh dem der lugt 1843 In Turkey and Grreece 1847 Made a memhor of the Academy of Sciences 1853 Au t oh i gr aphy 1856 Receives pension and retires to private life 1861 Receives title of Reichsrat Jan. 15 1871 Celebration of his "birthday Jan. 21 1872 De ath There is a marked similarity in the dissimilarity of Groethe*s and Gr ilH-parzer *s parents. In both instances the father was ex- tremely practical, conscientious to a fault, almost pedantic in the accomplishment of duties. The mother in hoth instances lived for her children. But Goethe was much more fortunate. His mother was less excitable and did not have the highly sensitive and neurotic temperament of Gr illparzer * s mother which finally ended in religious insanity and suicide. 1 t t , « 4 - He gives us a Yery Grillpai'zer » s life was not a pleasant one. vivid description in his Autobiography, of a very large gloomy house, situated in a most disagreeable part of Vienna. Here he spent the greater part of his early life, reading such hooks as Mozart »s Zauherflote, stories of the New Testament, and Curt ins' History of Greece, What a difference "betv»/een this child-hood picture and that of Goethe's. They are alike perhaps in that the father's discipline is the sane, hut beyond that the similarity ceases. Goethe's lifo is typical of his Tasso, Gr illparzer » s of his "Der treue Diener seines Herrn. He tells us that his mother who"lived and breathed music com- pelled me to play the piano v;hile she yelled into my ear the notes over, under, and betwveen the lines until I suffered Hell's tor- tures." Finally his mother turned his musical education over to one surnamed Gallus, an admirable mixture of genius and good natur- ed laziness. It was only on rare occasions, however, that his genius came to the surface, and on those occasions he would play aid extemporize so charmingly that Prau Grillparzer forgave all his faults and the sky would be clear for another season of good natur- cd fun. The first half of the lesson hour he usually "fooled" away playing with his pupil, not as the Prenclrunan says " a quatre mains" on the piano but "d quatre pattes" under it. Grillparzer admits that he did not make much progress and finally because of some misdemeanor his father forbade any further music lessons ~5- His school life, so far as fulfilling his father's expectations, was a failure if it was anything. Everything that was required he neglected and all that he did not neglect was not required. At his father's death the family was left almost destitute. He became tutor in a private' family and thus made a living. He now trif^d to find a puhlisher for his Blanka von Kastilien "but failed and "because of this he foreswore all further attempt along dramat- ical lines: a resolution which he did not keep for in 1817 we find him highly elated over the success of his Ahnfrau on the stage, and deeply wounded at the rough handling it received hy the critics. In 1818 Sappho was played. While at work on the trilogy Das Goldene Vliess in 1819 his mother died. It v/as a severe blow to him. He could not continue v/ith the work and it was not until he came back from Italy that he finished it, " II After the performance of Konig Ottolairs Gluck, a patriotic drama, he took a trip through Germany. After making the acquain- tance of several celebrated literary men in Berlin he v/ent to Weimar where he met Goethe who treated him with unusual kindness, Grillparzer however staid but a few days and during the few days that he did remain acted more like a bashful school boy than Austria's greatest dramatist. However much Grillparzer may have felt his inferiority to "the lion" we, nevertheless feel a little out of patience with our poet for the course which he pursued in not even keeping up a correspondence with Goethe, 6 '•E5n treu'^r Diener seines Herrn" is a drama in which the tragic theme is the conflict between the hero's moral principle and condi- tions of his surroundings.