From bank to bank along the meadow leas Spreading and shining like to little seas While in the pale sunlight a watery brood Of swopping white birds flock about the flood Yet winter seems half weary of its toil And round the ploughman on the elting soil Will thread a minutes sunshine wild and warm Thro the raggd places of the swimming storm John Clare, From March Shepherd‘s Calendar https://archive.org/details/shepherdscalenda0000clar/page/29/mode/1up

Romantic Landscape (10.10/n)
#Clare #RomanticLandscapes

John Clare, from 'March'
_Sheperd's Calendar_

Now the Spring comes, the vital sap of my affections rises as in a tree! And what a gloomy Spring! But a few days ago all the new buds were covered with snow ; and everything yet looks so brown and wintry, that yesterday the roses (which the ladies carried on the ramparts, their promenade), beautiful as they were, so little harmonized with the general face of nature, that they looked to me like silk and made roses. Samuel Taylor Coleridge Letter to Thomas Poole from Göttingen, dated 'May 6, 1799, Monday morn.' Source: https://archive.org/details/letters01cole/page/296/mode/2up

Göttingen from the South West - an colored copper-plate etching, dated 1791. Overwiew of the town, a few church spires, red roofs behind the fortifications. The Leine in the foreground, green pastures with cows, and quite a few people in the fields - all is green. The season may well be spring. Behind the town bald hills towards Northeast - Hainberg, Nikolausberg, which are now woodland. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goettingen_von_Suedwest.png

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Romantic Landscapes (37)
#UrbanPromenades #Coleridge #Göttingen #RomanticLandscapes

May 6, 1799, S.T. Coleridge remarks on the habit of taking promenades on the old fortifications of the small university town Göttingen - and the dismal spring in that year with snow up to May.

Framåt kvällen företogo vi oss en ny spatsergång, egentligen i den avsikt, att från någon tjänlig punkt utanom stadsmurarnefå en hel översikt av staden och isynnerhet av dessa mångtornade murars eget utseende. Mörkret överraskade oss dock snart och tvingade oss att gå hem igen. En hastig blick i skön aftonbelysning visade oss likväl ganska fördelaktigt vårt föremål. [Towards evening, we set out on another walk, actually with the intention of finding a suitable spot outside the city walls from which to get a complete view of the city and, in particular, of the appearance of these multi-towered walls themselves. However, darkness soon surprised us and forced us to return home. A quick glance in the beautiful evening light showed us our object quite favourably.] Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20110628155236/http://svenskaakademien.se/MediaBinaryLoader.axd?MediaArchive_FileID=cf6d4452-d8dc-4deb-84dc-cafc5f853a44&MediaArchive_ForceDownload=true

Painting - view of Nuremberg from outside the walls by Albrecht Dürer ca. 1500 Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht_D%C3%BCrer_-_View_of_Nuremberg_-_WGA07360.jpg

Romantic Landscapes (35)
#Nuremberg #Atterbom #RomanticLandscapes

During his travel in Germany, Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom spents ten days in Nuremberg, 28 Nov - 8 Dec, 1817. On the evening of 1st day, he tries to gain a complete view of the city from outside the walls, but dusk falls quickly.

Mais vous dormez, enfant, et vous ne m'entendez plus! Vous avez dansé trop tard ce soir au bal de l'île Belle!... Vous avez trop dansé, surtout quand vous ne dansiez pas avec moi, et vous voilà fatiguée comme une rose que les brises ont balancée tout le jour, et qui attend pour se relever, plus vermeille sur sa tige à demi penchée, le premier regard du matin!

Romantic Landscapes (30.1)
#IsoleBorromee #IsolaBella #Nodier #RomanticLandscapes

Charles Nodier elicits feasts on Isola Bella in the prologue to 'Smarra, ou les démons de la nuit', 1822.

This cathedral is a most astonishing work of art. It is built of white marble, and cut into pinnacles of immense height, and the utmost delicacy of workmanship, and loaded with sculpture. The effect of it, piercing the solid blue, with those groups of dazzling spires, relieved by the serene depth of this Italian heaven, or by moonlight when the stars seem gathered among those clustered shapes, is beyond anything I had imagined architecture capable of producing. The interior, though very sublime, is of a more earthly character, and with its stained glass and massy granite columns overloaded with antique figures, and the silver lamps, that burn for ever under the canopy of black cloth beside the brazen altar and the marble fretwork of the dome, give it the aspect of some gorgeous sepulchre. There is one solitary spot among these aisles, behind the altar, where the light of day is dime and yellow under the storied window, which I have chosen to visit, and read Dante there. Letter to Thomas Love Peacock from Milan April 20, 1818 Source: https://archive.org/details/lettersofpercyby0000shel/page/595/mode/1up

19th century painting of the Duomo of Milano at night by Angelo Inganni (1807 - 1881). Sparse light, but s forest of white marble spires contrasting with the black-blue sky. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angelo_Inganni_-_Notturno_di_Piazza_del_Duomo_a_Milano.jpg

19th century painting of the very populated interior of the Duomo of Milano by David Roberts (1796 - 1864). Dark massive columns, yellow light from the stained glass windows. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Roberts_(1796-1864)_-_Milan_Cathedral,_Italy_-_121_-_Touchstones_Rochdale.jpg

Romantic Landscapes (29.1)
#Cathedrals #Milan #PBShelley #RomanticLandscapes

Percy Bysshe Shelley writes about the Duomo Milano in 1818 and finds a quiet corner for reading.

The snow is gone from cottage tops The thatch moss glows in brighter green And eves in quick succession drops Where grinning icles once hath been Pit patting wi a pleasant noise In tubs set by the cottage door And ducks and geese wi happy joys Douse in the yard pond brimming over The sun peeps thro the window pane Which children mark wi laughing eye And in the wet street steal again To tell each other spring is nigh And as young hope the past recalls In playing groups will often draw Building beside the sunny walls Their spring-play-huts of sticks or straw John Clare, from 'February . A Thaw' Shepherd‘s Calendar https://archive.org/details/shepherdscalenda0000clar/page/22/mode/1up

Romantic Landscape (10.9/n)
#Clare #RomanticLandscapes

John Clare, from ‘February . A Thaw’
_Shepherd‘s Calendar_

Textbook of _Der Freischütz_ by Friedrich Kind - manuscript prepared for C.M.v.Weber: Vierter Auftritt.
 No. 10. Finale. Furchtbare Waldschlucht, größtentheils mit Schwarzholz bewachsen, von hohen Gebirgen rings umgeben. Von einem derselben stürzt ein Waßerfall. Der Vollmond scheint bleich. Zwei Gewitter von entgegengesetzter Richtung sind im Anzuge. Weiter vorwärts ein vom Blitz zerschmetterter, ganz verdorrter Baum, inwen - dig faul, so daß er zu glimmen scheint. Auf der andern Seite auf einem knorrigen Aste eine große Eule mit feurig rädernden Augen. Auf andern Bäumen Raben und anderes Waldgevögel. Fledermäuse schwirren umher.
 Source: https://edition.freischuetz-digital.de/?uri=xmldb:exist:///db/apps/contents/librettoSources/freidi-librettoSource_KA-tx4.xml [ No. 10 Finale 4th Act A terrible woodland glen largely planted with pines, and surrounded by high mountains. A waterfall rushes down from one of them. The full moon shines wanly. Two thunderstorms are approaching from two different directions. Nearer to us a tree struck by lightening and withened, decayed inside so that it seems to glow. On a gnarled branch at the other side sits a huge owl with fiery, circling eyes. Crows and other woodbirds on other trees.]

19th century print with stage design for the Wolf's Glen scene, as prepared for the performance in Weimar 1822 by Carl Wilhelm Holdermann, figures by Carl August Schwerdgeburth. Aquatinta: Karl Wilhelm Lieber. Black and white graphic print. Night scene of the wooded glen with rocks, some of them seem to own distorted faces, dead wood like demons, all eerily lit from various sides by the unseen full moon, lightnings, and the fire at the bottom of the gorge, where Max & Kaspar cast the bullets. Owl, waterfall, various ghostlike appearances: skeleton and hunter on horseback, stags & boars. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Design_for_Act2_(Wolf%27s_Glen)_of_%27Der_Freisch%C3%BCtz%27_1822_Weimar_-_NGO4p1115.jpg

Romantic Landscapes (33)
#Gorges #Forests #FriedrichKind #RomanticLandscapes

The #WolfsGlen in the _Freischütz_ by #CMvWeber is an exemplary terrible place where uncanny actions take place.
The librettist Friedrich Kind garnishes the gorge with two thunderstorms, owl, raven, bats, & a dead tree.

SOME dreams we have are nothing else but dreams, Unnatural, and full of contradictions ; Yet others of our most romantic schemes Are something more than fictions. It might be only on enchanted ground ; It might be merely by a thought's expansion ; But in the spirit, or the flesh, I found An old deserted Mansion. ... from Thomas Hood 'The Haunted House' Hood's magazine and comic miscellany v.1, 1844 Source: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112108240190&seq=13

O'er all there hung the shadow of a fear, A sense of mystery the spirit daunted, And said, as plain as whisper in the ear, The place is Haunted! from Thomas Hood 'The Haunted House' Hood's magazine and comic miscellany v.1, 1844 Source: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112108240190&seq=23

Etching entitled 'The Haunted House' based on a painting by Thomas Creswick (1811 - 1869) Nocturnal view of a gothic style house on a pond, in the shadows of a group of tall trees, a slim crescent moon, some broken columns in the garden. Source: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112108240190&seq=12&view=1up

Romantic Landscapes (28.2/n)
#HauntedHouses #RomanticLandscapes

When #ThomasHood publishes _The Hounted House_ in 1844, romanticism is long past. The paraphernalia evoking supernatural spirits or ghosts in ruined houses, cobwebs, bats, rats & the BLOODY HAND are tired markers for a crime scene.

Thursday, April 9—Shelley and I journey towards Como. The weather is beautiful, and the country we pass through continued gardens. We arrive at Como about three, and after dinner go out on the lake, which is narrow, but very beautiful. The mountains come precipitously down to the lake, and are covered with chestnut woods. In the evening read an Italian translation of ‘ Pamela.’ Friday, April 10.—In the morning we go out on the lake to look for a house, with a person we are recommended to by Signor Marietta. We see a very nice house, but out of repair, with an excellent garden, “but full of serpents. On our return from the Villa Lanzi we leave our companion, and set out for the Tremezzina. Nothing can be more divine than the shores of this lovely lake. We go to look at the house of a M. Sommariva, and are joined by the master, who makes his apologies that he cannot accompany us in our search. We sleep at an inn here. Saturday, April 11.—We look at a house beautifully situated, but too small; and afterwards, crossing the lake, at another magnificent one, which we shall be very happy if we obtain. We then return to Como. Nothing can be more divine than the shores—partly bare, partly overgrown with laurels. We visit a fine waterfall and the Pliniana, The wind is against us, and the lake rather rough. We arrive at Como about five. Shelley has finished the ‘Life of Tasso,’. and reads Dante. Read ‘Pamela’. A thunderstorm. from Edward Dowden The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley: In Two Volumes, Volume 2 Source: https://archive.org/details/lifeofpercybyssh0002edwa/page/195/mode/1up

Thomas Ender (1793 - 1875) Blick über den Comer See auf Bellaggio Aquarell undated Source https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Ender_Blick_%C3%BCber_den_Comer_See_auf_Bellaggio.jpg

Romantic Landscapes (31.1)
#MWShelley #Villas #RomanticLandscapes

Mary Shelley records the visit at #LakeComo in her journal.

This shore of the lake is one continued village, and the Milanese nobility have their villas here. The union of culture and the untameable profusion and loveliness of nature is here so close, that the line where they are divided can hardly be discovered. But the finest scenery is that of the Villa Pliniana ; so called from a fountain which ebbs and flows every three hours, described by the younger Pliny, which is in the courtyard. This house, which was once a magnificent palace, and is now half in ruins, we are endeavouring to procure. It is built upon terraces raised from the bottom of the lake, together with its garden, at the foot of a semicircular precipice, overshadowed by profound forests of chestnut. The scene from the colonnade is the most extraordinary, at once, and the most lovely that eye ever beheld. On one side is the mountain, and immediately over you are clusters of cypress-trees, of an astonishing height, which seem to pierce the sky. Above you, from among the clouds, as it were, descends a waterfall of immense size, broken by the woody rocks into a thousand channels to the lake. On the other side is seen the blue extent of the lake and the mountains, speckled with sails and spires. The apartments of the Pliniana are immensely large, but ill furnished and antique. The terraces, which overlook the lake, and conduct under the shade of such immense laurel-trees as deserve the epithet of Pythian, are most delightful. Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley April 20 294. To Thomas Love Peacock Milan, April 20, 1818. https://archive.org/details/lettersofpercyby0000shel/page/594/mode/1up

Colored print from early 19th century. The building of the renaissance Villa Pliniana at the shore of Lake Como. The lake is quiet, a pleasure boat and a few other small vessels are seen in front of the building. Behind the villa, the hills rise with chestnuts and cypress trees, to the left, half hidden behind dark trees in the foreground, a white foam of the cataract falling down the steep slope, just as in Percy Bysshe Shelley's description. from "Picturesque Tour from Geneva to Milan, by way of the Simplon: illustrated with thirty six coloured views ... engraved from designs by J. and J [or rather, G. and G.] Lory ... and accompanied with particulars historical and descriptive by Frederic Schoberl [With a map.]" Author(s): Shoberl, Frederick [person] ; Lory, Gabriel, the Elder [person] ; Lory, Gabriel, the Younger [person] British Library shelfmark: "Digital Store 10195.f.20" Page: 216 (scanned page number - not necessarily the actual page number in the publication) Place of publication: London (England) Date of publication: 1820 https://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/11005175743/in/photostream/

Romantic Landscapes (32)
#LociAmoeni #Villas #PBShelley #RomanticLandscapes

1818 Shelley stays a short time at the Villa Pliniana at the shore of #LakeComo - the place has the allure of a locus amoenus: fountain, waterfall & special trees. But house & garden mark it as a place of leisure.

… We sailed from the town of Como to a tract of country called the Tremezina, and saw the various aspects presented by that part of the lake. The mountains between Como and that village, or rather cluster of villages, are covered on high with chestnut forests (the eating chestnuts, on which the inhabitants of the country subsist in time of scarcity), which sometimes descend to the very verge of the lake, overhanging it with their hoary branches. But usually the immediate border of this shore is composed of laurel-trees, and bay, and myrtle, and wild fig-trees, and olives which grow in the crevices of the rocks, and overhang the caverns, and shadow the deep glens, which are filled with the flashing light of the waterfalls. Other flowering shrubs, which I cannot name, grow there also. On high, the towers of village churches are seen white among the dark forests. Beyond, on the opposite shore, which faces the south, the mountains descend less precipitously to the lake, and although they are much higher, and some covered with perpetual snow, there intervenes between them and the lake a range of lower hills, which have glens and rifts opening to the other, such as I should fancy the abysses of Ida or Parnassus. Here are plantations of olive, and orange, and lemon trees, which are now so loaded with fruit, that there is more fruit than leaves — and vineyards. Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley No. 294. To Thomas Love Peacock Milan, April 20, 1818. https://archive.org/details/lettersofpercyby0000shel/page/593/mode/1up

Vintage Postcard with photograph of 'Tremezzina Bay Como Lake'. From an elevated outlook, the view is down on the lake and towards high mountains beyond the blue and silvery water surface. In the foreground a green island and peninsula with small villages. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tremezzina_Bay_Como_Lake_of_Italy.jpg

Romantic Landscapes (31)
#PBShelley #TLPeacock #LakeComo #RomanticLandscapes

Visitors from the North reaching #Italy as place of longing likely first see the lakes of upper Italy, here Percy Bysshe Shelley describes the landscape of Lake Como during his travel 1818. It is spring in Lombardy.

Nous voulûmes prendre le chemin ordinaire du boulevart, mais il nous fut impossible de passer ; le feu était partout. Nous remontâmes la Twerscoye ; là il était encore plus intense, et le grand théâtre où nous allâmes ensuite, n’était plus qu’un gouffre de flammes, La provision de bois d’une année y était adossée, et le théâtre qui était en bois, alimentait ce terrible incendie. Nous tournâmes à droite, ce côté nous paraissait moins enflammé. Lorsque nous fûmes à la moitié de la rue, le vent poussa la flamme avec une telle force, qu’elle rejoignit l’autre côté, et forma un dôme de feu. Cela peu paraître une exagération, mais c’est pourtant l’exacte vérité. Nous ne pouvions aller ni en avant, ni de côté, et nous n’avions d’autre parti à prendre que de revenir par le chemin que nous avions déjà pris. Mais de minute en minute le feu gagnait et les flammèches tombaient jusque dans notre calèche, le cocher, posé de côté sur un siège, tenait les rênes avec un mouvement convulsif et sa figure tournée vers nous, peignait un grand effroi. Nous lui criâmes : « Nazad ! » (retourne). Louise Fusil (1771?-1848) 'Souvenirs d'une actrice' Tome 2 / par Mme Louise Fusil Dumont, Paris 1841-1846 http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb30471451r Source: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62793f/f286.item

Contemporary print, Nürnberg bei Fr.Campe, the burning City of Moscow seen from the outskirts with an encampment of the Grande Armee in the foreground. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Incendie_de_Moscou_-_estampe_-_btv1b84136878.jpg

Romantic Landscapes (26.4/n)
#Moscow #LouiseFusil #RomanticLandscapes

Je revins chez mes amis à la lueur des maisons incendiées. Le vent soufflant avec violence, le feu gagnait avec une effrayante rapidité : il semblait que tout fût d’accord pour brûler cette malheureuse ville. L’automne est superbe en Russie, et nous n’étions qu’un 15 septembre. La soirée était belle ; nous parcourûmes toutes les rues voisines du palais du prince Troubetskoï pour voir les progrès de l’incendie. Ce spectacle était beau et terrible à la fois. Nous fûmes quatre nuits sans avoir besoin de lumière, car il faisait plus clair qu’en plein midi. De temps en temps on entendait une légère explosion, à peu près semblable à un coup de fusil, et l’on voyait alors sortir une fumée très noire. Au bout de quelques minutes elle devenait rougeâtre, ensuite couleur de feu, et bientôt succédait un gouffre de flammes. Quelques heures après les maisons étaient consumées. Louise Fusil (1771?-1848) 'Souvenirs d'une actrice' Tome 2 / par Mme Louise Fusil Dumont, Paris 1841-1846 http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb30471451r Source: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62793f/f283.item

Aquatint print, entitled "Incendie de Moscou" from early 19th century by Louis-François Couché (called Couché fils) Panoramic view of the burning Moscow with flames and smoke rising much higher than the highest spires of churches. In the foreground, a group of french solidiers. Source: https://www.parismuseescollections.paris.fr/fr/musee-carnavalet/oeuvres/incendie-de-moscou#infos-principales

Romantic Landscapes (26.3/n)
#Moscow #LouiseFusil #RomanticLandscapes

The french actress Louise Fusil witnesses the Fire of Moscow 1812. She had worked for several years in Russia before, surviving the fire and the Beresina crossing, she will return with the rests of the Grande Armée to France.

COLOGNE In Köhln, a town of monks and bones, And pavements fanged with murderous stones, And rags, and hags, and hideous wenches, I counted two and seventy stenches, All well defined, and several stinks ! Ye Nymphs that reign o'er sewers and sinks, The river Rhine, it is well known, Doth wash your city of Cologne ; But tell me, Nymphs ! what power divine Shall henceforth wash the river Rhine ? 1828. Source: https://archive.org/details/poemscolmet00coleuoft/page/419/mode/1up

Romantic Landscapes (20.8/n)
#Rhine #Coleridge #Cologne #RomanticLandscapes

S.T. Coleridge's satirical piece of post-romantic disillusionment, the olfactory perception of a narrow medieval town as parallel & ironic impression tied to its picturesque charms:

We were amply gratified with the view of a landscape in which every thing beautiful and sublime in nature are united. The channel of the Rhine is here extended to near a mile in breadth , and flowing with less rapidity than we had yet feen it, appeared more like an arm of the sea than a river. The opposite shore presented to us the numberless towns, villages, castles, vineyards, and romantic rocks that cover the face of the Rhinegau ; encompassed by mountains rising gradually to a prodigious height, from the margin of the river at Radelheim, and forming a semicircle not exceeding seven miles in diameter, which terminates at Walluff, a village about sixteen miles higher up the Rhine. These mountains not only shelter the Rhinegau from the north and east winds, giving greater fertility to its vineyards, and rendering their produce more excellent than what any spot in either circle of the Rhine can boast ; but form likewise a back ground, the boldest and most majestic that can be imagined, to this beautiful and wonderful scene. To these objects were added, immense rocks that overhang the river, and form the celebrated streight of the Bingerlock, by which the extensive channel of the Rhine is so contracted, as barely to admit a practicable passage; the waterfall, by which the Nabe unites with the Rhine ; and the island on which stands a tower, rendered famous by the fabulous history of an archbishop of Mentz, who is said to have been pursued to this place and devoured by rats ; to which the people here give devout credit, and confidently relate it as a judgment upon him for his extreme covetousness and want of feeling for the poor . Having feasted our eyes as long as the time would permit without spoiling our appetites, we returned, with a determination to renew our observations as soon as we had dined. from Views taken on and near the river Rhine, at Aix la Chapelle, and on river Maese, 1788 by John Gardnor

Aquatint, entitled 'View of Rheinfels Castle at St.Goar looking down the River Rhine' from 'Views taken on and near the river Rhine, at Aix la Chapelle, and on river Maese' by John Gardnor Illustrated by William & Elizabeth Ellis and others London : Ellis & Walter, 1788 Source: https://digital.ulb.hhu.de/ihd/content/titleinfo/8431249

Romantic Landscapes (20.7/n)
#Rhine #Gradnor #RomanticLandscapes

John Gardnor (1729–1808) travels along the Rhine in 1787. From _Views taken on & near the River Rhine, at Aix-la-Chapelle, & on the River Maese_ 1788, ill'd by Elizabeth & William Ellis, R. Dodd, S. Alken, J. S. Robinson, & himself.

The more hen too wi fear opprest Starts from her reedy shelterd nest Bustling to get from foes away And scarcly flies more fast then they Skaiting along wi curving springs Wi arms spread out like herons wings They race away for pleasures sake A hunters speed along the lake And oft neath trees where ice is thin Meet narrow scapes from breaking in John Clare, from ‘January . A Winters Day’ Shepherd‘s Calendar https://archive.org/details/shepherdscalenda0000clar/page/5/mode/1up

Romantic Landscape (10.8/n)
#Clare #RomanticLandscapes

John Clare, from ‘January . A Winters Day’
_Shepherd‘s Calendar_

Or seeking bright glib ice to play To sailing slide the hours away As smooth and quick as shadows run When clouds in autumn pass the sun Some hurrying rambles eager take To skait upon the meadow lake Scaring the snipe from her retreat From shelving banks unfrozen seat Or running brook where icy spars Which the pale sunlight specks wi stars Shoots crizzling oer the restless tide To many a likness petrified Where fancy often stoops to pore And turns again to wonder more John Clare, from ‘January . A Winters Day’ Shepherd‘s Calendar https://archive.org/details/shepherdscalenda0000clar/page/5/mode/1up

Romantic Landscape (10.7/n)
#Clare #RomanticLandscapes

John Clare, from ‘January . A Winters Day’
_Shepherd‘s Calendar_

The schoolboy still in dithering joys Pastime in leisure hours employs And be the weather as it may Is never at a loss for play Rolling up giant heaps of snow As noontide frets its little thaw Making rude things of various names Snow men or aught their fancy frames Till numbd wi cold they quake away And join at hotter sports to play Kicking wi many a flying bound The football oer the frozen ground John Clare, from ‘January . A Winters Day’ Shepherd‘s Calendar https://archive.org/details/shepherdscalenda0000clar/page/5/mode/1up

Romantic Landscape (10.6/n)
#Clare #RomanticLandscapes

John Clare, from ‘January . A Winters Day’
_Shepherd‘s Calendar_

Das Glück eines schwedischen Pfarrers So will ich mir denn diese Wonne ohne allen Rückhalt recht groß hermalen und mich selber unter dem Pfarrer meinen, damit mich die Schilderung, wenn ich sie nach einem Jahre wieder überlese, ganz besonders auswärme. Schon ein Pfarrer an sich ist selig, geschweige in Schweden. Er genießet da Sommer und Winter rein, ohne lange verdrüßliche Unterbrechungen; z.B. in seinen späten Frühling fällt statt des Nachwinters sogleich der ganze reife Vorsommer ein, weißrot und blütenschwer, so daß man in einer Sommernacht das halbe Italien, und in einer Winternacht die halbe zweite Welt haben kann. Ich will aber bei dem Winter anfangen und das Christfest nehmen. from 'Flegeljahre' Nro. 3: Terra miraculosa Saxoniae Die Akzessit-Erben – der schwedische Pfarrer by Jean Paul

THE HAPPINESS OF A SWEDISH PASTOR. A POEM. " Unreserved shall be my endeavor to paint the theme of these words, and to represent myself under the image of this pastor, that when in future years I recur to this my effort, it may retain the power to warm and inspire me. A pastor is in himself most happy, how much more blest he of Sweden. The Swede enjoys, without long and unpleasant interruption, a perfect summer and a complete winter. After a prolonged winter, the full ripe summer, heavy with blossoms, red and white, comes upon him. In the summer’s night one half of Italy is his, and in the winter a second and brighter world comes down to him at night. To begin my Poem, I will describe the .winter festival of Christmas. from 'Walt and Vult: Or, The Twins' <Flegeljahre> by Jean Paul translated by Eliza Buckminster Lee Publisher J. Miller, 1846 Source: https://archive.org/details/waltandvultortw00leegoog/page/n44/mode/2up

RomanticLandscapes (22.6/n)
#North #JeanPaul #RomanticLandscapes

Jean Paul has a different conception of life close to the polar circle - but it is only poetic musing on happiness and eternity.

It is well known that the wild mountains of Savoy, the rich plains of Lombardy, the verdant pastures of Piedmont, and the pointed Alps of Switzerland, form the limits of Lago Maggiore : where, upon a naked rock, torn I trust from some surrounding hill, or happily thrown up in the middle of the water by a subterranean volcano, the Count Borromæo, in the year 1613, began to carry earth ; and lay out a pretty garden, which from that day has been perpetually improving, till an appearance of eastern grandeur which it now wears, is rendered still more charming by all the studied elegance of art, and the conveniencies of common life. The palace is constructed as if to realise Johnson’s ideas in his Prince of Abyssinia : the garden consists of ten terraces ; the walls of which are completely covered with orange, lemon, and cedrati trees, whose glowing colours and whose fragrant scent are easily discerned at a considerable distance, and the perfume particularly often reaches as far as to the opposite shore [ … ] every thing one sees, and every thing one hears, and every thing one tastes, brings to one’s mind the fortunate islands and the golden age. Walks, woods, and terraces within the island, and a prospect of unequalled variety without make this a kind of fairy habitation, so like something one has seen represented on theatres, that my female companion cried out as we approached the place, “ If we go any nearer now, I am sure it will all vanish into air.” [ … ] We returned to our enchanted palace with music playing by our side : I never saw a party of pleasure carried on so happily. The weather was singularly bright and clear, the moon at full, the French-horns breaking the silence of the night, invited echo to answer them. The nine days (and we enjoyed seventeen or eighteen hours out of every twentyfour) seemed nine minutes. When we came home to our country-house in the Varesotto, verses and sonnets saluted our arrival, and congratulated our wedding-day.

Charles Gore, 1729–1807, Isola Bella, Lago Maggiore, ca. 1776, Watercolor with pen and gray ink over graphite on moderately thick, moderately textured, cream laid paper, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1975.3.165. Source: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:7248 Source for Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi's Travelogue Observations and reflections made in the course of a journey through France, Italy, and Germany by Piozzi, Hester Lynch, 1741-1821 Strahan, London 1789 https://archive.org/details/observationsrefl02pioz/page/219/mode/1up?q=Alps

Romantic Landscapes (30)
#IsoleBorromee #IsolaBella #HesterThrale #RomanticLandscapes
Hester Thrale visits Isola Bella on her honeymoon, having married the Italian music teacher, Gabriel Mario Piozzi, recounted in 'Observations & reflections .. of a journey through France, Italy, & Germany', 1789.

Sunday Night. The various News of this horrible day has altered my projects every hour. All, at first, was ill — & I accompanied the Boyds to the water side, to embark in a Barge for Anvers: but our vessel was siezed for some wounded officers, & we could get no other. The news then changed, &, in the Evening, I was assured Lord Wellington & Ml Blücher united had gained a complete victory. … Mr. Boyd & his family have been upon La place Royale to see the prisoners who were almost all severely wounded, & were in immense numbers. & to see 2 tri-coloured Drapeaux, & two large & beautiful Eagles. The English have continued arriving, on foot, in carts, & on Horse back, grievously wounded also. Never yet, all agree, has there been so bloody a battle fought! We have had as yet no consistent details — but the continued sight of the maimed, wounded, mutilated & tortured victims to this exterminating warfare is shocking & afflicting beyond description. from 'The Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney (Madame d'Arblay) 1791–1840', (12 vols.) Vol.8 Source: https://archive.org/details/journalsletterso0008burn/page/214/mode/1up?q=Bugle

Romantic Landscapes (21.5/n)
#Waterloo #FrancesBurney #RomanticLandscapes

As the information of the battle first were troubling, Frances Burney and other English civilians in Brussels tried to leave the city in the days 15-19th June 1815.

Das ist eine wunderliche Nacht; der Mondschein in den gothischen Bogen des Dohms erscheint und verschwindet wie Geister – an der Laterne des Thurmes klettert ein Nachwandler herum, mit einem Säuglinge im Arme, es ist der Klökner; sein Weib schaut aus der Luke, händeringend, aber stumm wie das Grab, daß der schlafende Wandler, der sicher wie der sorglose Mensch, die gefährlichsten Stellen zurüklegt, nicht beim Rufe seines Namens erwachend und schwindelnd mit dem Knaben in das tiefe Grab hinunterstürze. - aus 'Nachtwachen. Von Bonaventura' Dienmann, Penig 1804 von Ernst August Friedrich Klingemann (1777 - 1831) https://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/show/klingemann_nachtwachen_1805

This is a strange night; the moonlight appears and vanishes like ghosts in the Gothic arches of the cathedral – A sleep-walker, with an infant in his arms, is climbing about on the tower light, it is the sexton; his wife looks from the dormer window, wringing her hands, but mute as the grave, lest the sleeping wanderer, who passes over the most dangerous places safely, as a carefree man, plunge down into the deep grave with his boy by awakening at the call of his name and growing dizzy. – Die Nachtwachen des Bonaventura. The night watches of Bonaventura English translation by Gerald Gillespie (1971) Source: https://archive.org/details/dienachtwachende0000bona/page/158/mode/1up

Romantic Landscapes (29)
#Cathedrals #Klingemann #RomanticLandscapes

The 10th Nightwatch of Bonaventura evokes a moonlit gothic cathedral in a nocturnal cityscape. The picture is already conventional by 1804, the date of the 1st publication, but the sardonic humour of the scene is uncommon.

Der Empfang war feierlich; aus den leeren Fensteröffnungen des Schlosses hingen Teppiche von Epheu und mancherlei Blumen nieder, und wehten blühende Gesträuche wie festliche Fahnen, und zwischen ihnen durch sah der stille Abendhimmel in purpurnem Gewande herab. Die vielen Säulen und Bildwerke des Schlosses hatten Wind und Wetter und die vier Jahreszeiten seit lange mit dem schönsten Laubwerke verziert. aus Clemens Brentano, Gockel, Hinkel und Gackeleia, 1838 Source: https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/brentano/gockel/gockl202.html

Foto: relics of the _Kloster St. Wolfgang_ near Hanau. A few ruins of the late monastery St. Wolfgang, near Hanau. The grey silvery stone walls from the vestry and church tower, and the rim of a well shaft, are partly overgrown by creepers or small bushes. The place looks like a clearing in a light green forest, mainly rather young beech trees. A friendly, but deserted place in early summer. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kloster_Wolfgang_2012_01.jpg?uselang=de Foto by Haselburg-müller

Romantic Landscapes (28.1/n)
#HauntedHouses #Brentano #RomanticLandscapes
The dilapidated castle _Gockelsruh_ & its horrid history appear as ironic motif in Clemens Brentano's Gockel, Hinkel und Gackeleia (1838). Written on Hof Trages, Spessart mountain, possibly refering to St.Wolfgang monastery.

Zweiter Akt - 1. Szene (Der Abgrund des Weltraums. Luzifer. Kain) Kain : Ich trete nur auf Luft und sinke nicht, Doch fürchte ich zu sinken. Luzifer: Bau auf mich, So trägt die Luft dich, deren Herr ich bin. Kain: Kann ich das tun, und ist es auch kein Frevel? Source: https://portal.dnb.de/bookviewer/view/1032709162#page/n5/mode/1up

Lord Byron / Kain Ein Mysterium - Übertragen von Ernst Blass "Aber die Schlange war gescheiter als alle Tiere auf dem Feld, die Gott der Herr gemacht hatte." Genesis III,1 Berlin 1938 Schocken Verlag / Jüdischer Buchverlag

Romantic Landscapes (27.1/n)
#Space #Byron #Cain #RomanticLandscapes #ErnstBlass

Translations of Byron's work in many European languages circulated early on - during his liftetime . A very particular translation in German appeared in 1938 by Ernst Blass (1890-1939) an early expressionist poet.

ACT II. Scene I.—The Abyss of Space. Cain. I tread on air, and sink not—yet I fear To sink. Lucifer. Have faith in me, and thou shalt be Borne on the air, of which I am the Prince. Cain. Can I do so without impiety? … Cain. Oh God! or Demon! or whate'er thou art, Is yon our earth? Lucifer. Dost thou not recognise The dust which formed your father? Cain. ‍Can it be? Yon small blue circle, swinging in far ether, With an inferior circlet purpler it still, Which looks like that which lit our earthly night? Is this our Paradise? Where are its walls, And they who guard them?

Earth seen from Saturn by the Cassini spacecroft of NASA - Source:https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/48/2024/11/earth-seen-from-saturn-cassini.jpg?webp=1&w=1200

Romantic Landscapes (27)
#Space #Byron #Cain #RomanticLandscapes

In Byron's mystery play _Cain_ an unseen landscape, the infinite, primordial, or even metaphysical space, is the scene for this religious drama: Lucifer shows Cain the Earth from very far away -

Wir sassen stundenlang auf dem Verdek, und blikten in die grüne, jetzt bei dem niedrigen Wasser wirklich erquikend grüne, Welle des Rheins; wir weideten uns an dem reichen mit aneinander hangenden Städten besäeten Rebengestade, an dem aus der Ferne her einladenden Gebäude der Probstei Johannisberg, an dem Anblik des romantischen Mäusethurms und der am Felsen ihm gegenüber hangenden Warte. Die Berge des Niederwalds warfen einen tiefen Schatten auf das ebene, spiegelhelle Becken des Flusses, und in diesem Schatten ragte, durch einen zufälligen Sonnenblik erleuchtet, Hatto´s Thurm weiß hervor, und die Klippen, an denen der Strom hinunterrauscht, brachen ihn malerisch schön. Die Noh, mit ihrer kühnen Brücke und der Burg an ihrem Ufer, glitt sanft an den Mauern von Bingen hinab, und die mächtigeren Fluthen des Rheins sürzten ihrer Umarmung entgegen. Ansichten vom Niederrhein, von Brabant, Flandern, Holland, England und Frankreich, Im April, Mai und Junius 1790 von Georg Forster Berlin 1793 https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_54lBAAAAcAAJ/page/n7/mode/2up

Colored aquatinta print by Johann Ziegler (1749–1812) "Ansicht des Mausthurms bey Bingen" Bingen on the River Rhine, Mousetower and Castle Ehrenfels from »Fünfzig malerische Ansichten Rhein-Stroms von Speyer bis Düsseldorf«, Artaria Wien 1798 after watercolors by Laurenz Janscha, created in summer 1792 Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bingen_am_Rhein_Maeuseturm_und_Burgruine_Ehrenfels_Johann_Andreas_Ziegler.jpg

Romantic Landscapes (20.5/n)
#Rhine #GForster #AvHumboldt #RomanticLandscapes
In 1790, Georg Forster with the young Alexander v. Humboldt travels along the Rhine - a modest travel as compared to his voyage with Cook around the world. But, he has an eye for the romantic aspects of the landscapes.

(Kordian steht allein mit gekreuzten Händen auf der höchsten Spitze des Mont Blanc.) Kordian . Der Gipfel! ... fürcht´ ich in der Welten Schlund zu schauen ? Ich schaue . . . ach! ein Himmel über mir und neben, Und unter mir scheint er crystallenklar zu blauen. Würd´ diese Nadel Eis mit mir zur Höhe schweben Bis in das Blau - ich wüßt´ nicht, daß ich flog von dannen. Hier will mit Geistesflügeln ich die Welt umspannen. Still! still! ich hör´s . . . hier, diesen Eiscoloß entlang Stebt das Gebet der Menschen - die Gedanken zieh´n Den Weg empor, wenn sie zu Gott entflieh´n. - Hier stirbt der Menschenstimmen trüb verworr´ner Klang, Doch die Gedanken schweben klingend weiter. Hier geh´ zuerst zu Grund ich, stürzt des Himmels Flur, Und dieser Luftcrystall zerfließet breit und breiter An dem azur´nen Ringe, trifft ein Hauch ihn nur, Der Sterne Chor versinkt in ungekannten Raum Und schwindet hin, wie körperloser Traum. O ! ich versuch´s - ich athme und vergehe . . . (Er blickt hinunter) aus Kordian : Dramatisches Gedicht Słowacki, Juliusz Übersetzer Arthur Berson Wien: Verlag des Verfassers, 1887 Source: http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id356245063

Romantic Landscapes (12.8)
#MontBlanc #Slowacki #RomanticLandscapes

Also a rare translation in German from 1887 is available, however, these give only a faint idea about the complexities of the original.

Kordian seul, les bras croisés sur la poitrine, debout sur le pic du Mont-Blanc. KORDIAN. Voici le sommet. je n'ose jeter un regard dans le sombre abîme du monde. Que vois-je?. Sous mes pieds le ciel, au-dessus de ma tête, le ciel. Je suis enfermé dans un globe de cristal; si cette aiguille de glace montait encore plus haut dans les airs. je ne me sentirais pas monter. C'est d'ici que je veux déployer au-dessus du monde les ailes noires de ma pensée. Silence! écoutons. A ces glaces viennent se heurter les prières des hommes; ces glaces sont la route suivie par les âmes qui s'élèvent vers Dieu. Ici expire le son impur des voix humaines, qui laisse monter seul plus haut le son de la pensée. Ici je serais le premier à périr, si le ciel s'écroulait. Je n'ai qu'à souffler. le cristal de l'atmosphère se brisera et se répandra en cercles liquides dans les sphères azurées, les étoiles s'enfuiront dans une région inconnue, et disparaîtront sans laisser ni trace ni souvenir. Essayons, — je vais soupirer et mourir. _Kordian_ in Oeuvres complètes de Jules Slowacki. T2 / traduction et préface de Wenceslas Gasztowtt Słowacki, Juliusz (1809-1849). Source: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k130566s/f59.item.r=Kordian,%20texte%20de%20Juliusz%20Slowacki

Romantic Landscapes (12.7)
#MontBlanc #Slowacki #RomanticLandscapes

There are translations of _Kordian_ in French form 19th century -

KORDIANsam, z założonemi na piersiach rękoma, stoi na najwyższéj igle góry Mont–Blanc. Tu szczyt… lękam się spojrzeć w przepaść świata ciemną. Spojrzę… Ach! pod stopami niebo i nad głową Niebo… Zamknięty jestem w kulę kryształową; Gdyby ta igła lodu popłynęła ze mną Wyżej — aż w niebo… nie czułbym, że płynę. Stąd czarne skrzydła myśli nad światem rozwinę. Ciszej! słuchajmy… o te lody się ociera Modlitwa ludzka, po tych lodach droga Myślom płynącym do Boga. Tu dźwięk nieczysty głosu ludzi obumiera, A dźwięk myśli płynie dalej. Tu pierwszy zginę, jeśli niebo się zawali, A ten kryształ powietrza, by tchnieniem rozbity, Kręgami się rozpłynie na nieba błękity I gwiazdy w nieznajomą uciekną krainę, I znikną, jakby ich nigdy nie było… Spróbuję — westchnę i zginę… [KORDIAN, with his arms folded across his chest, stands on the highest peak of Mont Blanc. Here is the peak... I fear to gaze into the dark abyss of the world. I will look... Ah! Heaven under my feet and Heaven above my head... I am enclosed in a crystal ball; If this needle of ice were to float with me, Higher—up to the sky... I would not feel that I am floating. From here I will spread the black wings of thought over the world. Hush! Let us listen... against this ice grazes Human prayer, on this ice dear To thoughts flowing to God. Here the impure sound of human voices dies away, And the sound of thought flows on. Here I will be the first to perish, if the sky collapses, And this crystal of air, shattered by a breath, Will dissolve in circles into the blue sky, And the stars will flee to an unknown land, And disappear as if they had never existed... I will try—I will sigh and perish...]

Romantic Landscapes (12.6)
#MontBlanc #Slowacki #RomanticLandscapes

In Juliusz Słowacki's drama _Kordian_, the hero standing on the highest peak of Mont Blanc mountain spells out his despair.

The woods are roaring in the gale, That whirls their fading leaves afar; The crescent moon is cold and pale, And swiftly sinks the evening star. High on this mossy bank reclined I listen to the eddying wind, While Thames impels, with sinuous flow, His silent-rolling stream below; And darkly waves the giant oak, That broad, above, its stature rears; On whose young strength innocuous broke The storms of unrecorded years. Thomas Love Peacock from ‘The Genius of the Thames‘ https://ia601608.us.archive.org/35/items/geniusthamesaly00peacgoog/geniusthamesaly00peacgoog.pdf

Romantic Landscapes (14.1/n)
#TLPeacock #RomanticLandscapes

Less fine weather & autumnal scenery of the Thames occasion a more dramatic onset of a long poem by T.L. Peacock. But, all that might be a mere fabric of his fancy.