Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HOMAGE OF THE ARTS, by JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE HOMAGE OF THE ARTS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Blossom, blossom, a bountiful tree
Last Line: Beauty to life and life to forms of art.
Alternate Author Name(s): Schiller, Friedrich Von
Subject(s): Art & Artists; Masques


Dedicated in all reverence to her Imperial Highness, the Crown Princess of
Weimar, MARIA PAULOWNA, Grand-Duchess of Russia, and produced at the Court
Theatre in Weimar, November 12, 1804.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

A FATHER.
A MOTHER. CHORUS OF COUNTRY PEOPLE.
A YOUTH. GENIUS.
A MAIDEN. THE SEVEN ARTS.

The scene is laid in a country place. In the centre of the stage, an
orange-tree, laden with fruit and bedecked with ribbons. The country people
are
setting it firmly in the earth, while maidens and children, on each side, hold
it erect by means of garlands of flowers.

THE FATHER
BLOSSOM, blossom, bountiful tree
With thy golden apples gay,
Which from lands so far away
We have brought for ours to see!
Fullest fruitage ever bearing,
May thy branches ne'er decay!

ALL
Blossom, blossom, bountiful tree,
Shooting upward strong and free!

THE YOUTH
With the fragrant bloom united,
Proudly hang the golden store!
May it stand by storms unblighted,
May it grow from more to more!

ALL
May it stand by storms unblighted,
May it grow from more to more!

THE MOTHER
Mother Earth, O hear my word!
Guard the tender nursling now.
Thou that lead'st the speckled herd,
God of the fields, to thee we bow!

THE MAIDEN
Gentle Dryads, guard its growing,
Guard it, guard it, Pan most high!
Mountain nymphs, your gifts bestowing,
Shield it when the storms are blowing —
Bid their fury pass it by!

ALL
Gentle Dryads, guard its growing,
Guard it, guard it, Pan most high!

THE YOUTH
May kind skies smile down upon it,
Always clear and always blue!
Sun, send out thy softest radiance!
Feed it, Earth, with all thy dew!

ALL
Sun, send out thy softest radiance!
Feed it, Earth, with all thy dew!

THE FATHER
Joy, sweet joy, and life new-springing
May'st thou still to all be bringing —
Joy it was that set thee here.
May thy gifts of nectar gather
Children's children, like their father,
And all bless thee for they cheer!

ALL
Joy, sweet joy, and life new-springing
May'st thou still to all be bringing —
Joy it was that set thee here!
[They dance in picturesque groups around the tree. The orchestral
music accompanies the dance, and gradually passes into a more elevated style,
as
there appear in the background from above GENIUS and the Goddesses of the
Seven Arts. The country people retire to the sides of the stage, GENIUS
comes down to the centre, with PAINTING, SCULPTURE, and ARCHITECTURE
on his right, POETRY, DRAMA, MUSIC, and DANCING on his left.]

THE ARTS
We come from a far land —
Still wandering, roaming
From people to people,
From ages to ages;
We are seeking a home that shall always endure —
In peaceful possession
To find our expression,
In stillness creating,
No power abating —
Yet we still seek in vain for a dwelling secure.

THE YOUTH
Who are these my eyes behold,
Like a troop of fairies nigh —
Forms whose beauty ne'er was told?
Beats my heart, I know not why!

GENIUS
Where weapons are clashing
And trumpets are blown,
Where hearts are with hate and with madness o'erflowing,
Where mortals are wand'ring, their goal never knowing,
Thence turn we our footsteps, in haste to be gone.

ARTS
We hate the deceivers,
Despisers of heaven;
We seek among mortals
Who to virtue are given.
Where pure hearts have welcome
To give to a friend,
We will build habitations
To dwell without end.

THE MAIDEN
What is this strange feeling?
What can it betoken?
By some hidden power my nature is moved,
They call to my heart like the friends I have loved —
Yet never before with these strangers I've spoken.

THE COUNTRY PEOPLE
What is this strange feeling?
What can it betoken?

GENIUS
Ah, but yonder see I mortals,
Come to revel with delight.
Look—with ribbons and with garlands
Richly is the tree bedight!
Surely joy their bosom fills —
[To the country people.]
Tell me what it is you do.

THE FATHER
Shepherds are we of these hills,
And a feast we keep, 'tis true.

GENIUS
What the feast? I fain would hear!

THE MOTHER
In honor of our lady dear,
Great as good, and good as great,
Who, to bless our humble vale,
From her high imperial station
Has descended—her we hail!

THE YOUTH
For her charms our jubilation,
Kindness like the sun's warm rays!

GENIUS
Wherefore do you plant a tree?

THE YOUTH
Ah, it comes of foreign race,
And its heart toward home is yearning;
That is why we fear its turning
From its new abiding-place.

GENIUS
That is why you plant it deep,
With the soil its roots encase,
That its blessings you may keep
In its new abiding-place?

THE MAIDEN
To her native land that bind her
Many, many are the ties —
All that she has left behind her
In her childhood's paradise:
All her mother's fond embraces,
And the love of noble brothers,
And her sisters' tender bosoms.
Can we then in equal measures,
Can the world, supply a price
For such pleasures,
For such treasures?

GENIUS
Love can reach to any distance,
Is not bound by far or near.
As the fire is undiminished
When another flame is kindled
With its heat, to glow more clear,
So that has no tie to bind her,
Which of old she held most dear:
Though she has left love behind her,
She will find love dwelling here.

THE MOTHER
She has come from halls of state,
Rich with gold and crystal sheen;
Can our hills please one so great,
Where for gold we boast but sunshine,
And our wealth is meadows green?

GENIUS
In a heart of princely kind
Much is hidden from your sense.
Know, then, that a noble mind
Puts the greatness into living,
Never needs to draw it thence.

THE YOUTH
Oh, lovely strangers, teach us to retain her!
Oh, teach us to find favor in her sight!
We long with perfumed garlands to enchain her
Within our homeland, never to take flight.

GENIUS
A noble heart soon finds itself at home —
Creates, in stillness working, its own world:
And as the tree takes hold upon the earth
With eager grasping roots, and soon is fast,
So will a great and doubly royal nature
By its own noble deeds take hold on life.
Love's tender ties soon knit themselves anew —
For where is happiness, there too is home!

ALL THE COUNTRY PEOPLE
Oh, handsome stranger, say how we may chain her,
The fairest, in our quiet vale retain her!

GENIUS
Courage! The help you seek is nigh at hand.
All is not strange to her in this new land.
Me she will know, and my attendant train,
When we have made our names and office plain.
[GENIUS comes forward. The Seven Arts follow him and form a
semi-circle
about him. As they do so, they display their attributes, which
until this moment
have been concealed beneath their robes.]

GENIUS (addressing the Crown Princess)
Lo, I am Genius—beauty's lord alone —
And these that follow me the sister Arts.
'Tis we that deck the altar and the throne;
We crown the work that springs from human hearts.
Long have we dealt with thine imperial line;
And she, the noble dame that gave thee birth,
With spotless hand a dedicated shrine
Still keeps for us, a sacred spot of earth.
We follow thee obedient to her sending;
For happiness through us finds perfect ending.

ARCHITECTURE (a mural crown on her head, a golden ship in her right hand)

By Neva's flood thou saw'st me sit at home:
Thy great forefather called me to his side —
And there I built for him a second Rome;
Through me it grew to be an empire's pride.
A paradise of stately pleasure-grounds
Arose beneath the magic of my wand;
And now the busy hum of life resounds
Where once a desert stretched on every hand.
The thunder of the cannon of thy fleet
Alarms the hoary Neptune in his ancient seat.

SCULPTURE (a small image of victory in her hand)
Me too hast thou beheld with wondering eyes,
That did the old Olympian world restore.
Upon a cliff that age and storm defies
Its mighty image stands for evermore.
(Shows the Victory)
Lo, Victory's image, by my fingers shaped!
Thy lordly brother grasps it in his hand:
And round her form his conquering banners draped,
See Alexander bear her through the land!
I strive, but end with lifeless imitation —
He builds of savage hordes a mighty natior.

PAINTING
And me, most noble, thou wilt know again —
The fond creator of depicted form;
Know very life in all its colors plain
Upon my canvas glowing fresh and warm.
Yea, through the eyes I can deceive the heart,
My skill can cheat the senses without wronging
And still the beating of the lover's heart —
Present the very face for which he's longing:
Wide as the poles asunder though they go,
They are not quite alone, my help who know.

POETRY
Through farthest space I fly on soaring pinion;
I know no limits; naught disputes my rule
Or bids me stay. I hold supreme dominion
O'er realms of thought—the Word my winged tool.
All things that move in heaven above, on earth,
Are to my penetrating eyes displayed —
Though in the secret depths they have their birth.
No bar across the poet's path is laid.
But I have found, in all my age-long quest,
Naught fairer than a pure soul in a lovely breast.

MUSIC (with the lyre)
The might of tones that tremble on the strings,
Thou know'st it well—for thou canst wield it too.
What fills the quivering heart when music sings
Can find in me alone its utterance true.
A sweet enchantment plays on every sense
When my harmonious flood has reached its height —
Until the enraptured soul would fain go hence
And from the lips, soft sighing, take its flight.
Where I set up my ladder, built of sound,
A way to scale the dizziest heights is found.

DANCING (with the cymbals)
In solemn stillness brooding, the Divine
Is by a silent soul perceived at rest:
Yet life and youth for gladsome motion pine —
They must expression find, must thus be blest.
Led by soft beauty's chain, they follow me
To lose themselves within the sinuous maze.
On Zephyr's wings I raise the body free;
In dancing steps I teach symmetric grace.
Grace is the gift I bear within my hand;
All things that move I lead with magic wand.

DRAMA (with the double mask)
The mask of Janus have I in my keeping —
On one side sorrow, on the other joy;
For man must alternate 'twixt bliss and weeping,
And with the dark is mixed a light alloy.
In all its deeps profound, its dizzy heights,
Life's tale before thine eyes I can unroll,
And make thee turn, richer for these great sights,
Into the peaceful silence of thy soul.
Who the whole world in one wide view surveys,
In his own heart no civil strife dismays.

GENIUS
And all of us who here appear before you,
Majestic sisterhood of noble arts,
For leave to serve you, Princess, would implore you:
Do but command, and we will play our parts.
As Theban walls obeyed the Iyre's sweet sounding,
So here the senseless stone shall live at thine —
A world of beauty rise, thine eyes astounding.

ARCHITECTURE
Tall columns stand in well-proportioned line.

SCULPTURE
The marble shape beneath the mallet's blow.

PAINTING
Fresh life upon the painted canvas show.

MUSIC
For thee the stream of harmonies shall spring.

DANCING
Light dances follow close the vibrant string.

DRAMA
The whole world'll pass 'fore thee on the stage.

POETRY
And fancy with her magic equipage
Shall bear thee, ravished, to the fields on high.

PAINTING
And as the magic rainbow in the sky
Conjures its colors from the gorgeous sun,
So will we, each for all, and all as one,
With mystic sevenfold wealth of pageantry,
Weave for thee, Lady, life's great tapestry.

ALL THE ARTS (embracing one another)
For strength must wed with strength, and so impart
Beauty to life and life to forms of art.






Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net