The World as Will and Idea, Vol. I — Arthur Schopenhauer, trans. Haldane & Kemp

p. 321

history and biography, in the representation of the Idesis which may be looked for in all three. For here also genius holds up to us the magic glass, in which all that is essential and significant appears before us collected and placed in the clearest light, and what is accidental and foreign is left out.'

The representation of the Idea of man, which is the work of the poet, may be performed, so that what is represented is also the representer. This is the case in lyrical poetry, in songs, properly so called, in which the poet only perceives vividly his own state and describes it. Thus a certain subjectivity is essential to this kind of poetry from the nature of its object. Again, what is to be represented may be entirely different from him who represents it, as is the case in all other kinds of poetry, in which the poet more or less conceals himself behind his representation, and at last disappears altogether. _In the ballad the poet still expresses to some extent his own state thro^h the tone and prc^ortioii of the whole ; therefore, though much more objective than the Tyrfc,* it Iias^ yet something subiective. Fhis becomes' Tess”m nie still less in the romantic poem, alipost entirely disappears in the true epic, and even to the last vestige in the drama, which is the most objective and, in more than onje respect, the completest and most”difficuTt Form oT^oetry. The lyrical form of poetry is consequently the easiest, and although art, as a whole, belongs only to the true man of genius, who so rarely appears, even a man who is not in general very remarkable may produce a beautiful song if, by actual strong excitement from without, some inspiration raises his mental powers ; for all that is required for this is a lively perception of his own state at a moment of emotional excitement. This is proved by the existence of many single songs by individuals who have otherwise remained unknown; especially the German national songs, of which we have an exquisite collection 1 Cf. Ch. xxxviii. of Supplement

THE PLATONIC IDEA : THE OBJECT OF ART. 323,

Besides this, however, and along with it, by the sight of surrounding nature, the singer becomes conscious of himself as the subject of pure, will-less knowing, whose unbroken blissful peace now appears, in contrast to the stress of desire which is always restricted and always needy. The feeling of this contrast, this alternation, is really what the lyric as a whole expresses, and what principally constitutes the lyrical state of mind.

In it pure knowing comes to us, as it were, to deliver _u8^from desire andTTts stain ; we follow, but only for an instant; desire, the remembrance of our own personal ends, t^rs U3~ahew from peaceful contemplation; yet ever again tlie next beautiful surrounding in which the pure willless knowledge presents itself to us, allures us away from desire.

Therefore, in the lyric and the lyrical mood, desire (the personal interest of the ends), and pure perception of the surrounding presented, are wonderfully mingled with each other ; connections between them are sought for and imagined ; the subjective disposition, the affection of the will, imparts its own hue to the perceived surrounding, and conversely, the surroundings communicate the reflex of their colour to tlu^ill.

The true lyric is the expres- ^n m~the wlrole of this minjed and divided state of mind. In order to make clear by examples this abstract M^Iysis of a frame of mind tliat is very far from all abstraction, any of the immortal songs of, Goethe may be taken.

As specially adapted for this end I shall recommend only a few : “ The Shepherd’s Lanient,^'^‘^WeIcome and Farewell,” *‘To the Moon,” ‘*On the Lake,” “ Autumnj” also the songs in the “ Wunderhorn ” are excellent examples; particularly the one which begins. “ O Bremen, r^musT now leave thee. As a comical and happy parody of the lyrical character a sonj:; of Voss strikes me as remarkable.

It describes the feeling of a drunk plumber falling from a tower, who observes in passing that the clock on the tower is at half-past eleven, a