Heine, "Lorelei": an old German legend

The Rhine near Cape Loreley severely narrows its course. In this place it is very dangerous for navigation. In addition, it is here that he is very deep. The wind howls around the cape, and on the opposite side the sounds of the waterfall are heard. The name was once translated as "rocks that whisper". Under the water were reefs that created dangerous turbulence currents. All together, it caused a lot of shipwrecks. A young romantic poet in the "Book of Songs" in 1823 placed the ballad "Lorelei". Heinrich Heine was not the first one who turned to this topic. He romanticized her, as the era and his personal experiences required.

Heine Translation

Not once, and at different times, the best Russian poets turned to Heine's poem "Loreley". In each of them you can find differences. The best translation of Heine's "Loreley" is the work of S. Marshak. But this choice is subjective preference. The author of this article likes the translation of Heine's ballad "Loreley", which was created by Wilhelm Levik. It's also interesting to compare a translation with a substring. In German poetry this work is so touching and musical that it became a folk song.

Theme of the poem

Let us briefly describe what Heine is talking about. Lorelei, a beautiful golden-haired girl, sits on a high rock and sings so that anyone who swims past her involuntarily throws an oar or sail and begins to listen to her singing and watch her comb her golden hair with a golden crest. At this time, the air is cool, dark ... The Rhine flows calmly. The picture is so beautiful that both the reader and the swimmer forget about the cunning of the Rhine. It's no wonder that the sailor looks at the sparkle at the top of the rock and listens to mysterious melodic rhymes. He ceases to notice the rocks, and before him stands only a beautiful vision, whose divine sounds absolutely make him lose his mind. The end is always the same - the swimmer is dying. This, as in the first stanzas Heine said, is a fairy tale of old times.

Poetic Tracks

In Russian, Wilhelm Levik chose amphibrachium. He used the rhyme as a cross, as in the original. 24 lines from the translator and 24 lines in the German poem. We began to consider Heine's poem "Loreley". Our poet did not deviate from Heine at all. The lyrical hero is on the shore, and his soul is embarrassed by sadness. He is haunted by an old fairy tale, which he will now tell. The poet feels the coolness coming from the water. Raine fell asleep in the darkness. The lyrical hero passes into another world and sees the last ray of a flaming sunset and a girl illuminated by him on a cliff.

Lorelei

There is no action in the poem. It's all about the description of the fatal beauty. It is her, all in the radiance of gold (this word is used thrice, put side by side, as Heine repeats three times), admires the lyrical hero, without taking his eyes off. Her smooth actions - the girl quietly combs her hair (this phrase is repeated twice in Heine - Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar, Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme) - bewitched with tranquility. A magical song pours from her lips, completely enchants and captivates him. And not only him, but also the oarsman who forgot about the waves. Now a tragedy will happen: the swimmer will swallow the waters. Heine speaks of this as an event that can not be prevented (Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen). The power of singing Lorelei overwhelms everything. It's sad that the last two stanzas are emphasized by the German poet: Und das hat mit ihrem Singen, Die Loreley getan.

Dangerous bend

A song full of unknown strength, so captures the oarsman, that he does not see a huge rock in front of him. He only looks at the height, at the beautiful golden maid Lorelei. The lyrical hero foresees the end: the waves will close forever over the oarsman. The whole reason is the singing of Lorelei.

Why does the author care about the old tale?

Perhaps, because not so long ago he survived the collapse of his hopes. Rereading Brentano, Heine met the image of the fatal, in addition to his will, the bearer of the mountain, a beauty who was thrilled. The poet was in love with Cousin Amalie when he lived in Hamburg, but she did not answer him. His experiences were poured into the lines of the ballad. In the days of Nazism, Heine's books burned at the stake. Only Lorelei was allowed, which was perceived as folk.