The New York Times/1893/12/17/A Volume by a Friend of Schurz

A Volume by a Friend of Schurz.

TANAGRA, AN IDYL OF GREECE. By Gottfried Kinkel. Translated by Frances Hellman, with a memorial sketch of Gottfried Kinkel. New-York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

Apart from the excellence of Gottfried Kinkel's poetry, or the aptitude to conceive noble thoughts and give them exquisite color, it is to be said that the man was of singular erudition, and in closest sympathy with Greek art. It is not always those having the poetic temperament who are the men of action. But Kinkel not alone gave to Germany a patriotic impetus, but was ready to sacrifice himself in behalf of his country. His was a tempered liberalism, and when the storm of 1848 arose he stood among the first as the defender of the rights of the German people. He is described as a man of splendid form, and endowed with an eloquence which stirred the masses.

When the Democratic Party was born, in Bonn, he became its organized, and the editor in chief of a journal devoted to the interests of the people. It was then that Mr. Carl Schurz joined him in his work. This man, who rose to be a Cabinet Minister in the country of his adoption, was at that time a student. Elected as a Representative of the Prussian State Assembly, Kinkel showed his wonderful oratorical powers. When, in 1849, there was an insurrectionary movement, Kinkel, with Schurz, engaged in an attempt to capture the arsenal at Siegburg, near Bonn. Kinkel was wounded, and imprisoned in the Rastatt fortress. Tried by a court-martial, he was sentenced to confinement for life in a fortress. Frederick William IV. had a particular grudge against Kinkel, and by his orders the sentence of imprisonment for life in a fortress was changed to perpetual incarceration in a common penitentiary. Taken to Naugard, in Pomerania, the poet wore the garb of a convict, and was forced to do menial service. Popular sympathy was at once aroused, but the Government was relentless.

In 1850 Kinkel was sent to Cologne, and again an endeavor was made to obtain a change of sentence. The poet pleaded his own cause, and with such marvelous effect that even the soldiers on guard were moved to tears. Kinkel's companions were released, for he rather spoke for them than for himself. Finally he was sent to Spandau.

We all remember that heroic attempt made to rescue Lafayette from the Olmutz prison. Carl Schurz was more successful than either Ballmann or Huger. In 1849 Schurz had made his escape from Rastatt. It was by his aid, in 1850, that Gottfried Kinkel left the Spandau cell and was a free man, finding a refuge in England, and in 1851 he came to the United States. Returning to England, he gave a series of lectures. In 1866 he became professor of the History of Art at the Polytechnic College in Zurich. After 1866 permission was granted to Kinkel to return to the fatherland, but civic rights were denied him and he made only a temporary sojourn in the land he loved so well. Born in 1812, he died at Zurich in 1882, retaining to the last his manly beauty and his mental powers.

Kinkel's first epic poem was “Otto der Schutz,” and this noble work at once aroused enthusiasm, and his name was known all over Germany. His literary labors consisted principally of lyrical poems and essays on art. One epic of Kinel's, “Der Grabschmied von Antwerpen,” is masterful in conception. The last work of his, “Tanagra,” written in the Autumn of his days, is exquisite in conception and handled with exceeding grace. Without any attempt toward an exhibition of his thorough acquaintance with Greek art, “Tanagra” is a poem replete with simple classic beauty, for true classicism never is tortuous or overredundant.

It may be remembered how, some twenty years ago, the discovery was made of those exquisite terra cotta figurines found in Tanagra. As far as the researches of archaeologists go, these statuettes were either copies of famous masterpieces or were conceived by artists of acknowledged merit. Casts were made from molds after the originals, and these were touched up afterward by hands that were masters in modeling, and in this afterwork, slight as it may seem to be, the Greeks showed a skill which has never yet been approached.

The idea Kinkel conceives is a charming one. A Greek sculptor goes to the wars, has followed Alexander, and returns to his home. He still longs for that great happiness “ the one of creation. Unknown he finds refuge in the workroom of an old friend, who is a great sculptor. Seeing a lump of clay, the artist soldier begins his work. The day before he has met a beautiful girl, Helena, and impelled by his fancy the clay, worked in a tiny figure, assumes her form. Her likeness and her grace the figurine interprets. The grand old master sees it, and is struck by its chaste and dainty beauty. Next, Helena, who is an artist, recognizes it. It is herself.

In the translation of “Tanagra,” dedicated to Mr. Carl Schurz, Mrs. Hellman demonstrates how close are the affinities of the two languages, English and German; that is to say, when the task of versification is assumed by an able hand. Very happily has been conveyed the introduction and conclusion, where Kinkel gives glimpses of his own eventful life. The final strophes were written in his last days, but the poet's imagination was still keenly alive.


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