 |
American
Literature: Romanticism Student Midterm Samples 2013 2. Short Essay 2b. Choose a previously-read literary text, American or otherwise, Romantic or otherwise; apply course terms & themes / objectives; comparisons-contrasts, connects-disconnects, learning outcomes. |
 |
Hannah Wells
A Foray into German Romanticism
Although
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe endeavored to distance himself
from German Romantic authors, his work encompassed the movement and inspired
other important Romantic writers like Hoffmann and Tieck.
Goethe, whose most famous pieces are probably
Faust
and The
Sorrows of Young Werther, featured Romantic
qualities that seemed to clash with the ideals of the Enlightenment. Romantic
authors like Goethe believed in the importance of art, the perception of reality
and the awesomeness of Nature. In the poem “Erlkonig,” or in English, “The Elf
King,” the reader can see Romantic qualities such as the gothic, nature as the
supernatural and the battle between emotions and reason.
In this poem, a father, holding his young son, is racing on horseback through
the forest at night for reasons we are unsure of. The stanzas alternate between
the conversation of the son and father, and the voice of the Elf King as he
attempts to lure the boy to stay with him in the forest. Despite his hurry, the
boy dies in the father’s arms at the end of the poem. The night is “wild” and
the wind is intense as the man increases his pace until he is frantically
tearing across the “thick and thin.” Like a Poe story, the reader is immediately
chilled by the atmosphere of the piece due to the gothic descriptions of the
surroundings. The images of the “wind so wild” and the “mist rising up” lend to
the reader’s growing belief in the supernatural that haunts the boy. Sound
images like the leaves that “click,” add to the gothic atmosphere and the
spectral image of the gray “willows” cause unease. Like an American Romantic
piece, Goethe’s poem features the gothic in nature instead of the doomed mansion
of Poe. The nature in this poem is frightening and eerie and can easily be
mistaken for the supernatural.
Like Ichabod Crane in
The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow, Goethe’s terrified child finds
the dangerous and intimidating behind the passed trees. Ichabod finds ghosts and
assailants in the nighttime forest. Romantic pieces often feature supernatural
creatures, such as the headless horseman that menaces Ichabod Crane. Shelley,
Keats, Coleridge, Hoffmann and many other Romantic authors seem willing to
believe in fairies and monsters as creations of mysterious Nature. Perhaps the
tendency to feature such beings is also characteristic of the Romantic desire
for escape which the genre is most capable of providing.
One
important aspect of Goethe’s “Erlkonig” is the obvious fight going on between
logic and imagination.
Each time the child expresses his visions to his father,
the older man pushes them aside with explanations such as,” the rustle it is of
dry leaves in the wind,” and, “ It is the old willows gleaming so grey” (Goethe
16, 24). The father attempts to
ease his son’s fear by explaining his visions away as natural occurrence. The
boy, a Romantic figure, believes he is being hunted by an Elf King. On the other
hand, his father, a voice of the Enlightenment and reason, is unwilling to
believe in the unreal, fantastic visions of his son. Although he denies the
presence of elves, the father is so frightened that he very likely strangles or
smothers his son to death. What happens in the end of the poem fits the Romantic
characteristic of giving Nature a frightening power. If it was not an Elf King
who murdered the boy, then it must have been the father’s fear spurred on by the
terrible scene around them. Man’s helplessness and disconnect with Nature is a
tenet of Romanticism that finds its way into Goethe’s poem by supplying the
motive for accidental murder and the question of the reality or source of
supernatural events.
German Romantics believed that the piece or work of
art is a mere fragment of the ideal Romantic work; it is incomplete and points
to something greater. Works of the Romantics contributed to some generation of
the universal work of art and the reader or audience has a responsibility to
imagine. The reader of Romantic works is an active poet. With the addition of a
gothic atmosphere and the battle between reason and Romantic vision, Goethe’s
“Erlkonig” is the perfect exercise for us, the active poets.
The ErlKing
Who rides so late through the
wind and night?
It’s a father with his child so
light:
He clasps the boy close in his arms,
Holds him fast, and keeps him warm.
‘My son, why hide your face, all
scared? –
‘Don’t you see, Father, the Erlking’s
there,
The Alder-King with his crown and
robe?’ –
‘My son, it’s the trail of mist that
flows’. –
‘Come, dear child, come along with
me!
The games we’ll play will be fine and
lovely:
There’s many a bright flower by the
water,
Many gold garments has my Mother.’
‘And Father, my Father, can’t you
hear
What the Erlking’s whispering in my
ear?’ –
‘Peace, peace, my child, you’re
listening
To those dry leaves rustling in the
wind.’-
‘Fine lad, won’t you come along with
me?
My lovely daughters your slaves shall
be:
My daughters dance every night, and
they
Will rock you, sing you, dance you
away.’
‘And Father, my Father, can’t you see
where
The Erlking’s daughters stand shadowy
there? –
‘My Son, my Son, I can see them
plain:
It’s the ancient Willow-trees shining
grey.’
‘I love you, I’m charmed by your
lovely form:
And if you’re not willing, I’ll have
to use force.’
‘Father, my Father, he’s gripped me
at last!
The Erlking’s hurting me, holding me
fast! –
The Father shudders, faster he rides,
Holding the moaning child so tight,
Reaching the house, in fear and
dread:
But in his arms the child lies dead.
