Page:The Journal of English and Germanic Philology Volume 18.djvu/86

 80 Simile and Metaphor in Novels of Meissner SIMILE AND METAPHOR IN THE NOVELS OF ALFRED MEISSNER 1 The pictorial elements of Meissner's style are nowhere more evident than in his similes and metaphors, which are scattered throughout his novels in considerable profusion. It is worthy of note, however, that they disappear to a great extent from the novels written after 1870, for example in "Feindliche Pole" and "Auf und Nieder. " Nor are they so numerous in earlier novels like "Neuer Adel," " Schwarzgelb " or "Babel," in which a social or political "tendenz" prevails, as in the pure romance, "Sansara," which shows not only the most, but, perhaps, the best figures in the novels. The author of " Ziska " and " Werinher " was preeminently a poet, and his figures are among the most artistic ingredients of his prose fiction. In the choice and elaboration of his similes and metaphors Meissner's wide reading and knowledge, as well as his own sharp observation and sensitive imagination, came into active play. Let us examine them and make some attempt at classification. We will notice at the start that many of his figures, like the follow- ing, are taken from the simplest observation of everyday life: "Sie glich dem Vogel, der, den Handen eines Knaben entronnen, an die iiberstandene Gefahr nicht lange denkt und gleich darauf wieder im Walde lustig von Ast zu Ast springt." "Die Kinder Roms" III, pp. 8, 9. "Sein Genie muss heraus, wie der Gaul im Sonnenschein aus dem dunkeln Stall in das reine Tageslicht hinaussturmt und Alles iiber den Haufen rennt, was ihm unter die Augen kommt. " Ibid., I, p. 210. "Verzeihen Sie, und lassen Sie die arme Miicke, die sich im blendenden Feuer Fiisse und Fliigel verbrannte, fortkommen, wie sie kann. " "Zwischen Fiirst und Volk," p. 48. "DieLeidenschaft . . . legte den sanf ten, weichen Grund ihres Gemuthes bloss, eines Gemuthes, das wie eine Wasserflache den zartesten Lufthauch 1 This investigation is an excerpt in revised form, taken from a chapter en- titled 'style', which is part of a paper entitled : " A Study in the Technique of the Novels of Alfred Meissner." The edition used is "Gesammelte Schriften von Alfred Meissner," Leipzig 1872. Other novels not included in this edition are "Die Kinder Roms," Berlin 1870; "Feindliche Pole," Berlin 1878; "Auf und Nieder," Berlin 1880; 'Norbert Norson," Zurich, 1883.