Émile Verhaeren - Zweig

7/23/2019 mile Verhaeren - Zweig

1/160

MILE VERHAERENBY

STEFAN ZWEIG

LONDON

CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LTD

1914

[Pg v]

mile Ver!ere" #r$m !" %"&%'li(e) &$*$+r!& ', C!rle( Ber"ier- 1914.


2/160

PREFACE

Four years have passed since the present volume appeared simultaneously inGerman and French. In the meantime Verhaeren's fame has been spreading; but innglish!spea"ing countries he is still not so #ell "no#n as he deserves to be.

$omething of his philosophy%if it may be called philosophy rather than a poet'sinspired visualising of the #orld%has passed into the public consciousness in agrotes&uely distorted form in #hat is "no#n as 'futurism.' $o long as futurism isassociated #ith those #ho have ac&uired a facile notoriety by polluting the pure

idea it #ould be an insult to Verhaeren to suggest that he is to be classed #ith thefuturists commonly so!called; but the #hole purpose of the present volume #illprove that the gospel of a very serious and reasoned futurism is to be found inVerhaeren's #ritings.

(f the #riter of the boo" it may be said that there #as no one more fitted than heto #rite the authentic e)position of the teaching #hich he has hailed as a ne#religion. *is relations to the +aster are not only those of a fervent disciple [Pgvi]but of an apostle #hose labour of love has in German!spea"ing lands and

beyond been cro#ned #ith signal success. *imself a lyrist of distinction $tefan

,#eig has accomplished the difficult feat #hich in this country still #aits to bedone of translating the great mass of Verhaeren's poems into actual and enduringverse. -nother boo" of his on Verlaine is already "no#n in an nglish rendering;so that he bids fair to become "no#n in this country as one of the most gifted ofthe #riters of oung!Vienna.

-s to the translation I have endeavoured to be faithful to my te)t #hich is thee)pression of a personality. /hatever divergences there are have been


3/160

necessitated by the lapse of time. For help in reading the proofs I have to than"+r. +.0.*. $adler and +r. Frit1 Voigt.

2. 3I0*44.

*-++5FI46

Nr. *+4 *+P$0-678th July7978.[Pg vii]

CONTENTS

P-50 I

0* :/ -G0* :/ 34GI+(0* I: F4-:65$'4$ F4-+-:6$'0* +(:P-50 II

=(:0+P(5-5 F4I:G0(/:$ >'4$ VI44$ 0:0-=4-I5$'?0* +40I060* 5*0*+ (F 4IF0* :/ P-0*($V5*-5:'$ P(0I= +0*(6V5*-5:'$ 65-+-

P-50 III

=($+I= P(050* 45I= :IV5$$:0*$$0* 0*I=$ (F F5V(54(V0* -50 (F V5*-5:'$ 4IF

0* 5(P-: I+P(50-:= (F *I$ /(5


4/160

PART I

DECIDING FORCES

LES FLAMANDES/LES MOINES/LES SOIRS/LES

DB0CLES/LES FLAMBEA2 NOIRS/A BORD DE

LA ROTE/LES APPARS DANS MES CHEMINS

1335139

[Pg A]

$on tempBrament son caractCre sa vie tout conspire D nous montrer son art tel&ue nous avons essayB de le dBfinir. ne profonde unitB les scelle. t n'est!ce pasvers la dBcouverte de cette unitB!lD &ui groupe en un faisceau solide les gestesles pensBes et les travau) d'un gBnie sur la terre &ue la criti&ue revenue enfin detant d'erreurs devait tendre uni&uementE

V5*-5:Rembrandt.[Pg ]

THE NEW AGE


5/160

0out bouge%et l'on dirait les hori1ons en marche..V. '4a Foule.'

0he feeling of this age of ours of this our moment in eternity is different in itsconception of life from that of our ancestors. (nly eternal earth has changed not

nor gro#n older that field gloomed by the n"no#n on #hich the monotonouslight of the seasons divides in a rhythmic round the time of blossoms and oftheir #ithering; changeless only are the action of the elements and the restlessalternation of night and day. 3ut the aspect of earth's spirit has changed all that issubHected to the toil of man. *as changed to change again. 0he evolution of the

phenomena of culture seems to proceed #ith ever greater rapidity never #as thespan of a hundred years as rich as replete as that #hich stretches to the thresholdof our o#n days. =ities have shot up #hich are as huge and be#ildering asimpenetrable and as endless as nothing else has been save those virgin forestsno# fast receding before the on#ard march of the tilled land. +ore and more the

#or" of man achieves the grandiose and elementary character that #as once:ature's secret. 0he lightning is in his hands and protection from the#eather's[Pg 8]sudden onslaughts; lands that once ya#ned far apart are no#forged together by the iron hoop #ith #hich of old only the narro# strait #asarched; oceans are united that have sought each other for thousands of years; andno# in the very air man is building a ne# road from country to country. -ll haschanged.

0out a changB les tBnCbres et les flambeau).4es droits et les devoirs out fait d'autres faisceau)

6u sol Hus&u'au soleil une neuve Bnergie6iverge un sang torride en la vie Blargie;6es usines de fonte ouvrent sous le ciel bleu6es cratCres en flamme et des fleuves en feu;6e rapides vaisseau) sans rameurs et sans voiles4a nuit sur les flots bleus Btonnent les Btoiles;0out peuple rBveillB se forge une autre loi;-utre est le crime autre est l'orgueil autre est l'e)ploit.[7]

=hanged too is the relation of individual to individual of the individual to the#hole; at once more onerous and less burdensome is the net#or" of social la#sat once more onerous and less burdensome our #hole life.

3ut a still greater thing has happened. :ot only the real forms the transitory factsof life have changed not only do #e live in other cities other houses not onlyare #e dressed in different clothes but the infinite above us too that #hichseemed unsha"able has changed from #hat it #as for our fathers and forefathers./here the actual changes the relative changes also. 0he most elementary forms
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_1_1https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_1_1


6/160

of our conception space[Pg J]and time have been displaced. $pace has becomeother than it #as for #e measure it #ith ne# velocities. 5oads that too" ourforefathers days to traverse can no# be covered in one short hour; one flyingnight transports us to #arm and lu)uriant lands that #ere once separated from us

by the hardships of a long Hourney. 0he perilous forests of the tropics #ith their

strange constellations to see #hich cost those of old a year of their lives are of asudden near to us and easy of access. /e measure differently #ith these differentvelocities of life. 0ime is more and more the victor of space. 0he eye too haslearned other distances and in cold constellations is startled to perceive the formsof primeval landscapes petrified; and the human voice seems to have gro#n athousand times stronger since it has learned to carry on a friendly conversation ahundred miles a#ay. In this ne# relationship of forces #e have a different

perception of the spanning round of the earth and the rhythm of life beatingmore brightly and s#iftly is li"e#ise becoming ne# for us. 0he distance fromspringtime to springtime is greater no# and yet less greater and yet less is theindividual hour greater and less our #hole life.

-nd therefore is it #ith ne# feelings that #e must comprehend this ne# age. For#e all feel that #e must not measure the ne# #ith the old measures ourforefathers used that #e must not live through the ne# #ith feelings out#ornthat #e[Pg K]must discover a ne# sense of distance a ne# sense of time a ne#sense of space that #e must find a ne# music for this nervous feverish rhythmaround us. 0his ne#!born human conditionality calls for a ne# morality; this ne#union of e&uals a ne# beauty; this ne# topsy!turvydom a ne# system of ethics.-nd this ne# confrontation #ith another and still ne#er #orld #ith another

n"no#n demands a ne# religion a ne# God. - ne# sense of the universe is#ith a muffled rumour #elling up in the hearts of all of us.

:e# things ho#ever must be coined into ne# #ords. - ne# age calls for ne#poets poets #hose conceptions have been nurtured by their environment poets#ho in the e)pression they give to this ne# environment themselves vibrate#ith the feverish rotation of life. 3ut so many of our poets are pusillanimous.0hey feel that their voices are out of harmony #ith reality; they feel that they arenot incorporated #ith the ne# organism and a necessary part of it; they have adull foreboding that they do not spea" the language of our contemporary life. In

our great cities they are li"e strangers stranded. 0he great roaring streams of ourne# sensations are to them terrific and inconceivable. 0hey are ready to acceptall the comfort and lu)ury of modern life; they are &uic" to ta"e advantage of thefacilities afforded by technical science and organisation; but for their poetry theyreHect these phenomena because they cannot master[Pg L]them. 0hey recoil fromthe tas" of transmuting poetical values of sensing #hatever is poetically ne# inthese ne# things. -nd so they stand aside. 0hey flee from the real the


7/160

contemporary to the immutable; they ta"e refuge in #hatsoever the eternalevolution has left untouched; they sing the stars the springtime the babbling ofsprings #hich is no# as it ever #as the myth of love; they hide behind the oldsymbols; they nestle to the old gods. :ot from the moment from the moltenflo#ing ore do they sei1e and mould the eternal%no as ever of old they dig the

symbols of the eternal out of the cold clay of the past li"e old Gree" statues.0hey are not on that account insignificant; but at best they produce somethingimportant never anything necessary.

For only that poet can be necessary to our time #ho himself feels that everythingin this time is necessary and therefore beautiful. *e must be one #hose #holeendeavour as poet and man it is to ma"e his o#n sensations vibrate in unison#ith contemporary sensations; #ho ma"es the rhythm of his poem nothing elsethan the echoed rhythm of living things; #ho adHusts the beat of his verse to the

beat of our o#n days and ta"es into his &uivering veins the streaming blood of

our time. *e must not on this account #hen see"ing to create ne# ideals be astranger to the ideals of old; for all true progress is based on the deepestunderstanding of the past. Progress[Pg M]must be for him as Guyau interprets it'4e pouvoir lors&u'on est arrivB D un Btat supBrieur d'Bprouver des Bmotions etdes sensations nouvelles sans cesser d'Ntre encore accessible D ce &ue contenaientde grand ou de beau ses prBcBdantes Bmotions.'[A]- poet of our time can only begreat #hen he conceives this time as great. 0he preoccupations of his time must

be his also; its social problem must be his personal concern. In such a poetsucceeding generations #ould see ho# man has fought a #ay to them from the

past ho# in every moment as it passed he has #restled to identify the feeling of

his o#n mind #ith that of the cosmos. -nd even though the great #or"s of such apoet should be soon disintegrated and his poems obsolete though his imagesshould have paled there #ould yet remain imperishably vivid that #hich is ofgreater moment the invisible motives of his inspiration the melody the breaththe rhythm of his time. $uch poets besides pointing the #ay to the cominggeneration are in a deeper sense the incarnation of their o#n period. *ence thetime has come to spea" of mile Verhaeren the greatest of modern poets and

perhaps the only one #ho has been conscious of #hat is poetical in contemporaryfeeling the only one #ho has shaped that feeling in verse the first poet #ho#ith s"ill incomparably inspired has chiselled our epoch into a mighty

monument of rhyme.[Pg 9]

In Verhaeren's #or" our age is mirrored. 0he ne# landscapes are in it; the sinistersilhouettes of the great cities; the seething masses of a militant democracy; thesubterranean shafts of mines; the last heavy shado#s of silent dying cloisters. -llthe intellectual forces of our time our time's ideology have here become a poem;the ne# social ideas the struggle of industrialism #ith agrarianism the vampire


8/160

force #hich lures the rural population from the health!giving fields to the burning&uarries of the great city the tragic fate of emigrants financial crises theda11ling con&uests of science the syntheses of philosophy the triumphs ofengineering the ne# colours of the impressionists. -ll the manifestations of thene# age are here reflected in a poet's soul in their action%first confused then

understood then Hoyfully acclaimed%on the sensations of a :e# uropean. *o#this #or" came into being out of #hat resistance and crises a poet has herecon&uered the consciousness of the necessity and then of the beauty of the ne#cosmic phase it shall be our tas" to sho#. If the time has indeed come to classVerhaeren it is not so much #ith the poets that his place #ill be found. *e doesnot so much stand #ith or above the verse!smiths or actual artists in verse #iththe musicians or painters as rather #ith the great organisers those #ho haveforced the ne# social currents to flo# bet#een di"es; #ith the legislators #ho

prevent the clashing of flamboyant[Pg 7O]energies; #ith the philosophers #hoaim at co!ordinating and unifying all these vastly complicated tendencies in one

brilliant synthesis. *is poetry is a created poet's #orld; it is a resolute shaping ofphases a considered ne# stheticism and a conscious ne# inspiration. *e is notonly the poet he is at the same time the preacher of our time. *e #as the first toconceive of it as beautiful but not li"e those #ho in their 1eal forembellishment tone do#n the dar" colours and bring out the bright ones; he hasconceived of it%#e shall have to sho# #ith #hat a painful and intensive effort

%after his first most obstinate reHection of it as a necessity and he has thentransformed this conception of its necessity of its purpose into beauty. =easingto loo" bac"#ards he has loo"ed for#ards. *e feels &uite in the spirit ofevolution in the spirit of :iet1sche that our generation is raised high above allthe past that it is the summit of all that is past and the turning!point to#ards thefuture. 0his #ill perhaps seem too much to many people #ho are inclined to callour generation #retched and paltry as though they had some inner "no#ledge ofthe magnificence or the paltriness of generations gone. For every generation only

becomes great by the men #ho do not despair of it only becomes great by itspoets #ho conceive of it as great by its charioteers of state #ho have confidencein its po#er of greatness. (f $ha"espeare and *ugo[Pg 77]Verhaeren says 'Ilsgrandissaient leur siCcle.'[]0hey did not depict it #ith the perspective of others

but out of the heart of their o#n greatness. (f such geniuses as 5embrandt he

says '$i plus tard dans l'Bloignement des siCcles ils semblent traduire mieu) &uepersonne leur temps c'est &u'ils l'ont recrBB d'aprCs leur cerveau et &u'ils l'ontimposB non pas tel &u'il Btait mais tel &u'ils l'ont dBformB.' [8]3ut by magnifyingtheir century by raising even ephemeral events of their o#n days into a vast

perspective they themselves became great. /hile those #ho of set purposediminish and #hile those by nature indifferent are themselves diminished anddisregarded as the centuries recede poets such as these #e honour tell li"e
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_3_3https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_4_4https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_3_3https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_4_4


9/160

illumined belfry cloc"s the hour of the time to generations yet to come. If theothers be&ueath some slight possession a poem or so aphorisms a boo" maybethese survive more mightily they survive in some great conception some greatidea of an age in that music of life to #hich the faint!hearted and the ungifted offollo#ing epochs #ill listen as it sounds from the past because they in their turn

are unable to understand the rhythm of their o#n time. 3y this manner ofinspired vision Verhaeren has come to be the great poet of our time by approvingof it as #ell as by depicting it by the fact that he did not see the ne# things asthey actually are but celebrated them[Pg 7A]as a ne# beauty. *e has approved ofall that is in our epoch; of everything to the very resistance to it #hich he hasconceived of as only a #elcome augmentation of the fighting force of our vitality.0he #hole atmosphere of our time seems compressed in the organ music of his#or"; and #hether he touches the bright "eys or the dar" #hether he rolls out alofty diapason or stri"es a gentle concord it is al#ays the on#ard!rushing forceof our time that vibrates in his poems. /hile other poets have gro#n ever morelifeless and languid ever more secluded and disheartened Verhaeren's voice hasgro#n ever more resonant and vigorous li"e an organ indeed full of reverenceand the mystical po#er of sublime prayer. - spirit positively religious not ofdespondency ho#ever but of confidence and Hoy breathes from this music ofhis freshening and &uic"ening the blood till the #orld ta"es on brighter andmore animated and more generous colours and our vitality fired by the fever ofhis verse flashes #ith a richer and younger and more virile flame.

3ut the fact that life to!day of all days needs nothing so urgently as thefreshening and &uic"ening of our vitality is good reason #hy%&uite apart from

all literary admiration%#e must read his boo"s is good reason #hy this poetmust be discussed #ith all that glad enthusiasm #hich #e have first learned forour lives from his #or".

FOOTNOTES6

[7]'-uHourd'hui'>Les Hros?.

[A]GuyauL'Esthtique Contemporaine.

[]'4'-rt' >Les Forces umultueuses?.

[8]Rembrandt.[Pg 7]

THE NEW BELGIM
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_1_1https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_2_2https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_3_3https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_4_4https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_1_1https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_2_2https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_3_3https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_4_4


10/160

ntre la France ardente et la grave -llemagne.

!.". '=harles le 0BmBraire.'In 3elgium the roads of urope meet. - fe# hours transport one from 3russelsthe heart of its iron arteries to Germany France *olland and ngland; and from3elgian ports all countries and all races are accessible across the pathless sea.0he area of the land being small it provides a miniature but infinitely variedsynthesis of the life of urope. -ll contrasts stand face to face concisely andsharply outlined. 0he train roars through the land no# past coal!mines past


11/160

furnaces and retorts that #rite the fiery script of toil on an ashen s"y; no#through golden fields or green pastures #here slee" brindled co#s are gra1ing;no# through great cities that point to heaven #ith their multitudinous chimneys;and lastly to the sea the 5ialto of the north #here mountains of cargoes areshipped and unshipped and trade traffics #ith a thousand hands. 3elgium is an

agricultural land and an industrial land; it is at the same time conservative andsocialistic 5oman =atholic and free!thin"ing; at once #ealthy and #retched.0here are colossal fortunes heaped up[Pg 78]in the monster cities; and t#o hoursthence the bitterest poverty s#eats for the dole of a living in mines and barns.-nd again in the cities still greater forces #restle #ith one another life anddeath the past and the future. 0o#ns mon"ishly secluded girt #ith ponderousmedival #alls to#ns on #hose s#art and sedgy canals lonely s#ans glide li"emil"y gondolas to#ns li"e a dream strengthless prisoned in sleep eternal. -t nogreat distance glitter the modern residential cities; 3russels #ith its glaring

boulevards #here electric inscriptions dart coruscating up and do#n the fronts ofbuildings #here motor!cars #hi1 along #here the streets rumble and modernlife t#itches #ith feverish nerves. =ontrast on contrast. From the right the0eutonic tide dashes in the Protestant faith; from the left sumptuous and rigidlyorthodo) 5oman =atholicism. -nd the race itself is the restlessly struggling

product of t#o races the Flemish and the /alloon. :a"ed clear and direct arethe contrasts #hich here defy each other; and the #hole battle can be surveyed ata glance.

3ut so strong so persistent is the ine)orable pressure of the t#o neighbouringraces that this blend has already become a ne# ferment a ne# race. lements

once contrary are no# unrecognisably mi)ed in a ne# and gro#ing product.0eutons spea" French people of 5omance stoc" are Flemish in feeling. Pol de+ont in spite of his Gallic name is a Flemish poet; Verhaeren[Pg7J]+aeterlinc" and van 4erberghe though no Frenchman can pronounce theirnames rightly are French poets. -nd this ne# 3elgian race is a strong race oneof the most capable in urope. =ontact #ith so many foreign cultures thevicinity of such contradictory nations has fertilised them; healthy rural labourhas steeled their limbs; the near sea has opened their eyes to the great distances.0heir consciousness of themselves is of no long date it can only be rec"onedfrom the time #hen their country became independent hardly a hundred years

ago. - nation younger than -merica they are in their adolescence no# andreHoicing in their ne# unsought strength. -nd Hust as in -merica the blend ofraces here together #ith the fruitful healthy fields has procreated robust men.For the 3elgian race is a race pulsing #ith vitality. :o#here in urope is life sointensely so merrily enHoyed as in Flanders no#here else is sensuality and

pleasure in e)cess so much the measure of strength. 0hey must be seenparticularly in their sensual life; it must be seen ho# the Flemish enHoy; #ith


12/160

#hat greediness #ith #hat a conscious pleasure and robust endurance. It isamong them that 2ordaens found the models for his gluttonous orgies; and theycould be found still at every "ermesse at every #a"e. $tatistics prove that in theconsumption of alcohol 3elgium stands to!day at the head of urope. verysecond house is[Pg 7K]an inn an estaminet; every to#n every village has its

bre#ery; and the bre#ers are the #ealthiest men in the country. :o#here else arefestivals so loud boisterous and unbridled; no#here else is life loved and lived#ith such a superabundant 1est and glo#. 3elgium is the land of e)cessivevitality and ever #as so. 0hey have fought for this plenitude of life for thisenHoyment full to satiety. 0heir most heroic e)ploit their great #ar #ith the$paniards #as only a struggle not so much for religion as for sensual freedom.0hese desperate revolts this immense effort #as in reality not directed against5oman =atholicism but against the morality the asceticism it enforced; not somuch against $pain as against the sinister malignity of the In&uisition; against thetaciturn bitter and insidious Puritanism #hich sought to curtail enHoyment;against the morose reserve of Philip II. -ll that they #anted at that time #as to

preserve their bright and laughing life their free dionysiac enHoyment theimperious avidity of their senses; they #ere determined not to be limited by anymeasure short of e)cess. -nd #ith them life con&uered. *ealth strength andfecundity is to this very day the mar" of the 3elgian people in to#n and country.Poverty itself is not hollo#!chee"ed and stunted here. =hubby red!chee"edchildren play in the streets; the peasants #or"ing in the fields are straight andsturdy; even the artisans are as muscular[Pg 7L] and strong as they are in=onstantin +eunier's bron1es; the #omen are moulded to bear children easily;the unbro"en vigour of the old men persists in a secure defiance of age.=onstantin +eunier #as fifty #hen he began his life!#or" here; at si)tyVerhaeren is at the 1enith of his creative po#er. Insatiable seems the strength ofthis race #hose deepest feeling has been chiselled by Verhaeren in proudstan1as

2e suis le fils de cette race6ont les cerveau) plus &ue les dents$ont solides et sont ardentst sont voraces.2e suis le fils de cette race

0enaceQui veut aprCs avoir vouluncore encore et encore plusR[7]

0his tremendous e)ertion has not been in vain. 0o!day 3elgium is relatively therichest country in urope. Its colony of the =ongo is ten times as e)tensive as themother!land. 0he 3elgians hardly "no# #here to place their capital 3elgian


13/160

money is invested in 5ussia in =hina in 2apan; they are concerned in allenterprises; their financiers control trusts in all countries. 0he middle classes tooare healthy strong and contented.

$uch rich and healthy blood is more li"ely than any other to produce good art

and above all art full of the 1est of life. For it is in countries [Pg 7M]#ith fe#possibilities of e)pansion that the desire for artistic activity is "eenest. 0heimagination of great nations is for the most part absorbed by the practicaldemands of their development. 0he best strength of a great nation is claimed by

politics by administration by the army and navy; but #here political life is ofnecessity poor #here the problems of administration are forcibly restricted menof genius almost e)clusively see" their con&uests in the domains of art.$candinavia is one e)ample 3elgium another of countries in #hich thearistocracy of intellect have #ith the happiest results been forced bac" on art andscience. In such young races the vital instinct must a priorima"e all artistic

activity strong and healthy; and even #hen they produce a decadence thisreaction this contradiction is so decided and conse&uent that strength lies in itsvery #ea"ness. For only a strong light can cast strong shado#s; only a strongsensual race can bring forth the really great and earnest mystics; because adecided reaction #hich is conscious of its aim re&uires as much energy as

positive creation.

0he to#ering structure of 3elgian art rests on a broad foundation. 0hepreparation the gro#ing under the sod too" fifty years; and then in another fiftyyears it #as reared aloft by the youth of one single generation. For every healthy

evolution is slo# most of all in the 0eutonic races #hich are not so &uic"supple and[Pg 79]de)terous as the 4atin races #ho learn by life itself rather thanby studious application. 0his literature has gro#n ring by ring li"e a tree #ith itsroots deep in a healthy soil nourished by the unyielding perseverance ofcenturies. 4i"e every confession of faith this literature has its saints its martyrsand its disciples. 0he first of the creators the forerunner #as =harles de =oster;and his great epic hyl #lenspie$elis the gospel of this ne# literature. *is fate issad li"e that of all pioneers. In him the native blend of races is more plasticallyvisualised than in all later #riters. (f 0eutonic e)traction he #as born in+unich #rote in French and #as the first man to feel as a 3elgian. *e earned

his living painfully as a teacher at the +ilitary $chool. -nd #hen his greatromance appeared it #as difficult to find a publisher and still more difficult tofind appreciation or even notice. -nd yet this #or" #ith its #onderfulconfrontation of lenspiegel as the deliverer of Flanders #ith Philip II. as-ntichrist is to this day the most beautiful symbol of the struggle of light #ithdar"ness of vitality #ith renunciation; an enduring monument in the #orld'sliterature because it is the epic of a #hole nation. /ith such a #or" of #ide


14/160

import did 3elgian literature begin a #or" that #ith its heroic battles stands li"ethe Iliad as the proud and primitive beginning of a more delicate but in itsadvanced culture more comple) literature. 0he place of[Pg AO]this #riter #hodied prematurely #as ta"en by =amille 4emonnier #ho accepted the hard tas"and the melancholy inheritance of pioneers%ingratitude and disillusion. (f this

proud and noble character also one must spea" as of a hero. For more than fortyyears he fought indefatigably for 3elgium a soldier leading the onset from firstto last launching boo" after boo" creating #riting calling to the fray andmarshalling the ne# forces; and never resting till the adHective '3elgian' ceased inParis and urope to be spo"en #ith the contempt that attaches to 'provincial'; tillli"e once the name of the Gueu) #hat #as originally a disgrace became a title ofhonour. Fearlessly not to be discouraged by any failure this superb #riter sunghis native land%fields mines to#ns and men; the angry fiery blood of youthsand maidens; and over all the ardent yearning for a brighter freer greaterreligion for rapt communion #ith the sublimity of :ature. /ith the ecstaticrevelling in colour of his illustrious ancestor 5ubens #ho gathered all the thingsof life together in a glad festival of the senses he li"e a second voluptuary at thefeast has lavished colours had his Hoy of all that is glo#ing and glaring andsatiated and li"e every genuine artist conceived of art as an intensifying of lifeas life in into)ication. For more than forty years he created in this sense andmiraculously Hust li"e the men of his country li"e the peasants[Pg A7]he paintedhe #a)ed in vigour from year to year from harvest to harvest his boo"s gro#ingever more fiery ever more drun"en #ith the 1est and glo# of life his faith in lifeever brighter and more confident. *e #as the first to feel the strength of hisyoung country #ith conscious pride and his voice rang out its loud appeal forne# fighters till he no longer stood alone till a company of other artists #ereranged around him. ach of these he supported and firmly established #ith astrong grip placing them at their vantage for the battle; and #ithout envy nay#ith Hoy he sa# his o#n #or" triumphantly overshado#ed by the acclaimedcreations of his Huniors. /ith Hoy because he probably considered not his o#nnovels but this creation of a literature his greatest and most lasting #or". For itseemed as though in these years the #hole land had become alive; as thoughevery to#n every profession every class had sent forth a poet or a painter toimmortalise them; as though this #hole 3elgium #ere eager to be symbolised in

individual phases in #or"s of art until he should come #ho #as destined totransform all to#ns and classes in a poem enshrining in it the harmonised soul ofthe land. -re not the ancient 0eutonic cities of 3ruges =ourtrai and presspiritualised in the stan1as of 5odenbach in the pastels of Fernand


15/160

of +aeterlinc" and *uysmans drin"s its deepest strength from old cloistersand b$uina$es; the sun of the fields of Flanders glo#s in the pictures of 0hBovan 5ysselberghe and =laus. 0he delicate #al"ing of maidens and the singing of

belfries have been made music in the stan1as of the gentle =harles van4erberghe; the vehement sensuality of a savage race has been spiritualised in the

refined eroticism of FBlicien 5ops. 0he /alloons have their representative in-lbert +oc"el; and ho# many others might still be named of the great creatorsthe sculptor van der $tappen; the painters *eymans $tevens; the #riters des(mbiau) 6emolder Glesener =rommelync"; #ho have all in their confidentand irresistible advance con&uered the esteem of France and the admiration ofurope. For they and Hust they #ere gifted #ith a sense of the great comple)uropean feeling #hich in their #or" is glimpsed in its birth and gro#th; for theydid not in their idea of a native land stop at the boundaries of 3elgium butincluded all the neighbouring countries because they #ere at the same time

patriots and cosmopolitans 3elgium #as to them not only the place #here allroads meet but also that #hence all roads start.


16/160

ach of these had shaped his native land from his o#n angle of vision; a #holephalan) of[Pg A]artists had added picture to picture. 0ill then this great onecame Verhaeren #ho sa# felt and loved everything in Flanders 'toute laFlandre.' (nly in his #or" did it become a unity; for he has sung everything landand sea to#ns and #or"shops cities dead and cities at their birth. *e has not

conceived of this Flanders of his as a separate phase as a province but as theheart of urope #ith the strength of its blood pulsing in#ards from outside andoutside from in#ards; he has opened out hori1ons beyond the frontiers andheightened and connected them; and #ith the same inspiration he has molten and#elded the individual together #ith the #hole until out of his #or" a life!#or"gre#%the lyric epic of Flanders. /hat de =oster half a century before had notdared to fashion from the present in #hich he despaired of finding pride po#erand the heroism of life Verhaeren has realised; and thus he has become the'carillonneur de la Flandre' the bell!ringer #ho as in olden days from the #atch!to#er has summoned the #hole land to the defence of its #ill to live and thenation to the pride and consciousness of its po#er.

0his Verhaeren could only do because he in himself represents all the contrastsall the advantages of the 3elgian race. *e too is a ferment of contrasts a ne#man made of split and divergent forces no# victoriously harmonised. From theFrench he has his language and his form;[Pg A8]from the Germans his instinctivesee"ing of God his earnestness his gravity his need of metaphysics and his


17/160

impulse to pantheism. Political instincts religious instincts =atholicism andsocialism have struggled in him; he is at once a d#eller in great cities and acottager in the open country; and the deepest impulse of his people their lac" ofmoderation and their greed of life is in the last instance the ma)im of his poeticart. (nly that their pleasure in into)ication has in him become Hoy in a noble

drun"enness in ecstasy; only that their carnal Hoy has become a delight in colour;that their mad raging is no# in him a pleasure in a rhythm that roars and thundersand bursts in foam. 0he deepest thing in his race an infle)ible vitality #hich isnot to be sha"en by crises or catastrophes has in him become universal la# aconscious intensified 1est in life. For #hen a country has become strong andreHoices in its strength it needs li"e every plethora a cry an e)ultation. 2ust as/alt /hitman #as the e)ultation of -merica in its ne# strength Verhaeren is thetriumph of the 3elgian race and of the uropean race too. For this gladconfession of life is so strong so glo#ing so virile that it cannot be thought of as

brea"ing forth from the heart of one individual but is evidently the delight of afresh young nation in its beautiful and yet unfathomed po#er.

FOOTNOTES6

[7]'+a 5ace' >Les Forces umultueuses?.[Pg AJ]

YOTH IN FLANDERS
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_1_5https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_1_5


18/160

$ei1e di)!sept et di)!huit ansR( ce dBsir d'Ntre avant l'Sge et le vrai temps=elui6ont chacun ditIl boit D larges brocs et met D mal les fillesR

.V.Les endresses %remi&res.

0he history of modern 3elgian literature begins by a #him of chance in one andthe same house. In Ghent the favourite city of the mperor =harles V. in the oldheavy Flemish to#n that is still girdled #ith ramparts lies remote from the noisystreets the grey 2esuit college of $ainte!3arbe. - cloister #ith thic" coldfro#ning #alls mute corridors silent refectories reminding one some#hat of the


19/160

beautiful colleges in ()ford save that here there is no ivy softening the #allsand no flo#ers to lay their variegated carpet over the green courts. *ere in theseventies t#o strange pairs of boys meet on the school!benches; here amongthousands of names are four #hich are destined in later days to be the pride oftheir country. First Georges 5odenbach and mile Verhaeren then +aeterlinc"

and =harles van 4erberghe%t#o pairs of friendships both of #hich are no# tornasunder by death. 0he #ea"er the more delicate of the four[Pg AK]Georges5odenbach and =harles van 4erberghe have died; mile Verhaeren and+aeterlinc" the t#o heroes of Flanders are still gro#ing and not yet at the1enith of their fame. 3ut all four began their course in the old college. 0he 2esuitfathers taught them their humanities and even to #rite poems%in 4atin it istrue to begin #ith; and in this e)ercise strange to say +aeterlinc" #as e)celled

by van 4erberghe #ith his more instinctive sense of form and Verhaeren by themore supple Georges 5odenbach. /ith rigorous earnestness the fathers trainedthem to respect the past to have faith in conventional things to thin" in oldgrooves and to hate innovations. 0he aim #as not only to "eep them =atholics

but to #in them for the priesthood these cloister #alls #ere to protect them fromthe hostile breath of the ne# #orld from the freshening #ind #hich in Flandersas every#here else #as assailing the gro#ing generation.


20/160

3ut in these four pupils the aim #as not realised least of all in Verhaeren

perhaps for the very reason that he as the scion of a strictly orthodo) family #asthe most fitted to be a priest; because his mind did not absorb convictionmechanically but achieved it by vital processes; because his inmost being #asself!surrender and a glo#ing devotion to great ideas. *o#ever the call of theopen country in #hich he had gro#n up #as too strong in him; the voice of life#as too loud in his blood for so early[Pg AL]a renunciation of all; his mind #astoo tameless to be satisfied #ith the established and the traditional. 0he


21/160

impressions of his childhood #ere more vivid than the teaching of his masters.For Verhaeren #as born in the country at $t. -mand on the $cheldt >on the A7stof +ay 7MJJ? #here the landscape rolls to the vast hori1ons of the heath and thesea. *ere in the happiest manner "indly circumstances #ove the garland of hisearlier years. *is parents #ere #ell!to!do people #ho had retired from the din of

the to#n to this little corner of Flanders; here they had a cottage of their o#n#ith a front garden abla1e #ith flo#ers of all colours. -nd immediately behindthe house began the great golden fields the tangle of flo#ering hedgero#s; andclose by #as the river #ith its slo# #aves hasting no longer feeling the nearnessof their goal the infinite ocean. (f the untrammelled days of his boyhood theageing poet has told us in his #onderful boo"Les endresses %remi&res. *e hastold us of the boy he #as #hen he ran across country; clambered into the corn!loft #here the glittering grain #as heaped; climbed steeples; #atched the

peasants at their so#ing and reaping; and listened to the maids at the #ashing!tubsinging old Flemish songs. *e #atched all trades; he rummaged in every corner.*e #ould sit #ith the #atch!ma"er marvelling at the humming little #heels thatfashioned the hour; and no less to see the glo#ing ma# of the[Pg AM]oven in the

ba"ery s#allo#ing the corn #hich only the day before had glided through hisfingers in rustling ears and #as no# already bread golden #arm and odorous.-t games he #ould #atch in astonishment the glad strength of the young fello#stumbling the reeling s"ittles over; and he #ould #ander #ith the playing bandfrom village to village from fair to fair. -nd sitting on the ban" of the $cheldthe #ould #atch the ships #ith their coloured streamers come and go and in hisdreams follo# them to the vast distances #hich he only "ne# from sailors' yarnsand pictures in old boo"s. -ll this this daily physical familiarity #ith the thingsof :ature this lived insight into the thousand activities of the #or"ing!day

became his inalienable possession. Inalienable too #as the humane feeling heac&uired that he #as one at heart #ith the people of his village. From them helearned the names of all these thousand things and the intelligence of themysterious mechanism in all s"illed handi#or" and all the petty cares and

perple)ities of these many scattered little souls of life #hich combined are thesoul of a #hole land. -nd therefore Verhaeren is the only one among modern

poets in the French tongue #ho is really popular #ith his countrymen of allran"s. *e still goes in and out among them as their e&ual sits in their circle even

no# #hen fame has long since sho#n him his place among the best and noblestchats #ith[Pg A9]the peasants in the village inn and loves to hear themdiscussing the #eather and the harvest and the thousand little things of theirnarro# #orld. *e belongs to them and they belong to him. *e loves their lifetheir cares their labour loves this #hole land #ith its tempests raging from thenorth #ith its hail and sno# its thundering sea and lo#ering clouds. It is #ith

pride that he claims "indred #ith his race and land; and indeed there is often in


22/160

his gait and in his gestures something of the peasant trampling #ith heavy stepsand hard "nee after his plough; and his eyes 'are grey as his native sea his hair isyello# li"e the corn of his fields.' 0hese elemental forces are in his #hole beingand production. ou feel that he has never lost touch #ith :ature that he is stillorganically connected #ith the fields the sea the open air; he to #hom spring is

physically painful #ho is depressed by rela)ing air #ho loves the #eather of hishome!land its vehemence and its savage tameless strength.

For this very reason he has in later yearsfelt #hat #as natively uncongenial to him

%the great cities%differently and far moreintensely than poets brought up in them./hat to the latter appeared self!evident #asto him astonishment abomination terroradmiration and love. For him the

atmosphere #e breathe in cities #as heavystifling poisoned; the streets bet#een themassed houses #ere too narro# too[PgO]congested; hourly at first in pain andthen #ith admiration he has felt the

beautiful fearfulness of the vast dimensionsthe strangeness of the ne# forms of life.2ust as #e #al" through mountain ravinesdumbfounded and terrified by theirsublimity he has #al"ed through streets of

cities first slo#ly accustoming himself tothem; thus he has e)plored them describedthem celebrated them and in the deepestsense lived them. 0heir fever has streamedinto his blood; their revolts have reared inhim li"e #ild horses; their haste and unresthas #hipped his nerves for half the span ofa man's life. 3ut then he has returned homeagain. In his fifties he has ta"en refuge oncemore in his fields under the lonely s"y of Flanders. *e lives in a lonely cottage

some#here in 3elgium #here the rail#ay does not reach enHoying himselfamong cheerful and simple people #ho fill their days #ith plain labour li"e thefriends and companions of his boyhood. /ith a Hoy intensified he goes eagerlyyear by year to the sea as though his lungs and his heart needed it to breathestrongly again to feel life #ith more Hubilant enthusiasm. In the man of si)tythere is a #onderful return of his healthy happy childhood; and to the Flandersthat inspired his first verses his last have been dedicated.


23/160

-gainst this atavism against this bright and inalienable Hoy in life thepatresof$ainte!3arbe could do nothing. 0hey could only deflect his[Pg 7]great hunger oflife from material things and turn it in the direction of science of art. 0he priestthey sought to ma"e of him he has really become only he has preachedeverything that they proscribed and fought against everything that they praised.

-t the time Verhaeren leaves school he is already filled #ith that noble yetfeverish greed of life that tameless yearning for intensive enHoyments heightenedto the degree of pain #hich is so characteristic of him. 0he priesthood #asrepugnant to him. :or #as he more allured by the prospect held out to him ofdirecting his uncle's #or"shop. It is not yet definitely the poetic vocation #hichappeals to him but he does desire a free active calling #ith unlimited

possibilities. 0o gain time for his final decision he studies Hurisprudence andbecomes a barrister. In these student years in 4ouvain Verhaeren gave free rein tohis untameable 1est in life; as a true Fleming he esche#ed moderation andlaunched into intemperance. 0o this very day he is fond of telling of his li"ingfor. good 3elgian beer and of ho# the students got drun" danced at all the"ermesses caroused and feasted #hen the fury came over them and got into all"inds of mischief #hich often enough brought them into conflict #ith the

police. ncertainty #as never a feature of his character and so his 5oman=atholicism #as in those years no silent and impersonal faith but a militantorthodo)y. - handful of hotspurs%the[Pg A]publisher 6eman #as one of themand another #as the tenor van 6yc"%set a ne#spaper going in #hich theylashed a#ay mercilessly at the corruption of the modern #orld and did not forgetto blo# their o#n trumpets. 0he university #as not slo# to veto these immaturemanifestations; but ere long they started a second periodical #hich #asho#ever more in harmony #ith the great contemporary movements.3et#een#hiles verses #ere #ritten. -nd still more passionate is the young poet'sactivity #hen in the year 7MM7 he is called to the bar in 3russels. *ere he ma"esfriends #ith men of great vitality he is #elcomed by a circle of painters andartists and a cBnacle of young talents is formed #ho have the authenticenthusiasm for art and #ho feel that they are violently opposed to theconservative bourgeoisie of 3russels. Verhaeren #ho at this time greedily adoptsall fashionable frea"ishness as something ne# and struts about in fantasticapparel promptly ac&uires notoriety by his vehement passionateness and his first

literary attempts. *e had begun to #rite verse in his school!days. 4amartine hadbeen his model then Victor *ugo #ho be#itches young people that lord ofmagnificent gestures that undisputed master of #ords. 0hese Huvenilia ofVerhaeren have never been published and probably they have little interest forin them his tameless vitality attempted e)pression in immaculate -le)andrines.+ore[Pg ]and more as his artistic insight gre# he felt that his vocation #as to

be a poet; the meagre success he achieved as a barrister confirmed him in this


24/160

conviction and so in the end follo#ing the advice of dmond Picard hediscarded the barrister's go#n #hich no# seemed to him as narro# and stiflingas he had once thought the priest's cassoc" to be.

-nd then came the hour the first decisive hour. 4emonnier #as as fond of

relating it as is Verhaeren; both #ould spea" of it #ith their fervent proud Hoy ina friendship of over thirty years; both #ith heartfelt admiration the one for theother. (nce it #as a rainy day Verhaeren burst in on 4emonnier #hom he didnot "no# trampling into the elder man's lodging #ith his heavy peasant's treadhailing him #ith his hearty gesture and blurting out '2e veu) vous lire des versR'It #as the manuscript of his first boo"Les Flamandes; and no# he recited #hilethe rain poured do#n outside #ith his hard voice and sharp scansion his greatenthusiasm and his compelling gestures those pictures palpitating #ith life ofFlanders that first free confession of patriotism and foaming vitality. -nd4emonnier encouraged him congratulated him helped him and suggested

alterations and soon the boo" appeared to the terror of Verhaeren's strictlyorthodo) family to the horror of the critics #ho #ere helpless in the face of suchan e)plosion of strength. )ecrated[Pg 8]and lauded it immediately compelledinterest. In 3elgium it is true it #as less acclaimed than declaimed against; butnevertheless it every#here e)cited a commotion and that grumbling unrest#hich al#ays heralds the advent of a ne# force.[Pg J]

7LES FLAMANDES7

2e suis le fils de cette race0enaceQui veut aprCs avoir vouluncore encore et encore plus..V.a Race.

0he life!#or" of great artists contains not only a single but a threefold #or" ofart. 0he actual creation is only the first and not al#ays the most important; thesecond must be the life of the artists themselves; the third must be theharmoniously finished organically connected relationship bet#een the act ofcreating and the thing created bet#een poetry and life. 0o survey ho# innergro#th is connected #ith e)ternal formation ho# crises of physical reality areconnected #ith artistic decadence ho# development and completioninterpenetrate as much in personal e)perience as in the artistic creation must bean e&ual artistic rapture must disengage as pure a line of beauty as the individual


25/160

#or". In Verhaeren these conditions of the threefold #or" of art are accomplishedin full. *arsh and abrupt as the contrasts in his boo"s seem to be the totality ofhis development is yet rounded off to a clear line to the figure of a circle. In the

beginning the end #as contained and in the end[Pg K]the beginning the boldcurve returns to itself. 4i"e one #ho travels round the #orld and circles the vast

circumference of the globe he comes bac" in the end to his starting!point.3eginning and end touch in the motive of his #or". 0o the country to #hich hisyouth belonged his old age returns Flanders inspired his first boo" and toFlanders his last boo"s are dedicated.

0rue it is bet#een these t#o boo"sLes FlamandesandLes (ls ou)antsbet#een the #or" of the man of five!and!t#enty and that of the man of si)ty liesthe #orld of an evolution #ith all its points of vie# and achievements. (nlyno# #hen the line that #as at first so capricious has returned to itself can itsform be surveyed and its harmony perceived. - purely e)ternal observation has

become penetration the eye no longer e)clusively regards the e)ternalphenomena of things but all has been sei1ed in his soul from #ithin and imagedin accordance #ith its reality. :o# nothing is seen isolated from the point ofvie# of curiosity or passing interest but everything is loo"ed upon as somethingthat is that has gro#n and that is still gro#ing. 0he motive is the same in thefirst and in the last boo"s; only in the first boo" #e have isolated contemplation#hile in the great creations of the last period the vast hori1ons of the modern#orld are set behind the scenes #ith the shado#s of the past on the one sideand as #ell #ith fiery presentiments of the future[Pg L]shedding a ne# lightover the landscape. 0he painter #ho only portrayed the outer surface the patina

has developed into the poet he #ho in a musical vibration vivifies the psychicand the inconceivable. 0hese t#o #or"s stand in the same relation to each otheras /agner's first operasRien*iand annh+user do to his later creations totheRin$and%arsifal #hat #as at first only intuitive becomes consciouslycreative. -nd as in /agner's case so too #ith Verhaeren there are to this very day

people #ho prefer the #or"s that are still prisoned in the traditional form to those#hich #ere created later and #ho are thus in reality greater strangers to the poetthan those #ho from principle assume a hostile attitude to his artistic #or".

Les Flamandes Verhaeren's first #or" appeared in a period of literary

commotion. ,ola's realistic novels had Hust become the obHect of discussion; andthey had stirred up not France only but the adHacent countries as #ell. In3elgium =amille 4emonnier #as the interpreter of this ne# naturalism #hichregarded absolute truth as more important than beauty and #hich sa# the soleaim of imaginative literature in photography in the e)act scientifically accuratereproduction of reality. 0o!day no# that e)cessive naturalism has beenovercome #e "no# that this theory only brings us half!#ay along the road; that


26/160

beauty may live by the side of[Pg M]truth; that on the other hand truth is notidentical #ith art but that it #as only necessary to establish a transmutation ofthe value of beauty; that it #as in the actual in realities that beauty #as to besought. very ne# theory if it is to succeed needs a strong dose of e)aggeration.-nd the idea of realising reality in poetry seduced young Verhaeren into carefully

avoiding in the description of his native province all that is sentimental andromantic and deluded him #ith the hope of e)pressing in his verse only #hat iscoarse primitive and savage. $omething e)ternal and something internal natureand intention combined to cause this effect. For the hatred of all that is soft and#ea" rounded off and in repose is in Verhaeren's blood. *is temperament #asfrom the first fiery and loved to respond to strong provocation #ith a violent

blo#. 0here #as ever in him a love of the brutal the hard the rough the angular;he had al#ays a li"ing for #hat is glaring and intensive loud and noisy. It is onlyin his latest boo"s that than"s to his cooler blood he has attained classical

perfection and purity. In those days moreover his hatred of sentimentalidealisation the hatred that in Germany fulminated against 6efregger's dra#ing!room 0yrolese -uerbach's scented peasants and the spruce mythology of

poetical pictures led him deliberately to emphasise #hat is brutal unstheticand as it #as then felt unpoetical;[Pg 9]led him as it #ere to trample #ithheavy shoes in the tedious footsteps of French poets. 3arbarian this #as the#ord they tried to "ill him #ith not so much on account of the harshness andcoarseness of his diction #hich often reminds one of the guttural sounds ofGerman as because of the savage selection of his instinct #hich al#ays

preferred #hat is ringingly resonant and ferociously alive #hich never fed onnectar and ambrosia but tore red and steaming shreds of flesh from the body oflife. -nd genuinely barbarous savage #ith 0eutonic strength is this his inroadinto French literature reminding one of those migrations of the 0eutons into the4atin lands #here they rushed ponderously to battle #ith #ild and raucous criesto learn after a time a higher culture and the finer instincts of life from thosethey had con&uered. Verhaeren in this boo" does not describe #hat is amiableand dreamy in Flanders not idylls but 'les fureurs d'estomac de ventre et dedBbauche'[7]ail the e)plosions of the lust of life the orgies of peasants and evenof the animal #orld. 3efore him his old schoolfello# 5odenbach had describedFlanders to the French in poems that sounded gently #ith a silvery note li"e the

peal of belfries hovering over roofs; he had reminded them of that unforgettablemelancholy of the evening over the canals of 3ruges of the magic of themoonlight over fields framed #ith di"es[Pg 8O] and hedges of #illo#s. 3utVerhaeren closes his ears to hints of death; he describes life at its maddest 'ledBcor monstrueu) des grasses "ermesses'[A]popular festivals in #hichinto)ication and sensual pleasure sting the unbridled strength of the cro#d in#hich the demands of the body and the greed of money come into conflict and
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_1_6https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_2_7https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_1_6https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_2_7


27/160

the bestial nature of man overthro#s the painfully learned lessons of morality.-nd even in these descriptions #hich often teem #ith the e)uberance of5abelais one feels that even this e)plosive life is not mad enough for him thathe yearns to intensify life out and beyond reality 'Hadis les gars avaient les reins

plus fermes et les garces plus beau tBton.' []0hese young fello#s are too #ea" for

him the #enches too gentle; he cries for the Flanders of olden time as it lives inthe glo#ing pictures of 5ubens and 2ordaens and 3reughel. 0hese are his truemasters they the revellers #ho created their masterpieces bet#een t#o orgies#hose laughter and feasting ring into the motives of their pictures. $ome of the

poems inLes Flamandes are direct imitations of certain interiors and sensualgenre!pictures lads afire #ith lust forcing #enches under the hedges; peasants intheir drun"en Hubilation dancing round the inn table. *is desire is to sing thatsuperabundance of vitality #hich relieves itself by e)cess [Pg 87]e)cess flunginto e)cess even in sensual pleasures. -nd his o#n colours and #ords #hich arelaid on #ith lavish profusion and flo# along in li&uid fire are themselves adebauch a 'rut' >a favourite #ord of his?. 0his vaunting display of seething

pictures is nothing less than an orgy. - terrific sensuality rages to e)haustion asmuch in the e)ecution as in the motive a delight in these creatures #ho have themadness of rutting stallions #ho root about in odorous meats and in theflo#ering flesh of #omen #ho of set purpose gorge themselves #ith beer and#ine and then in the dance and in embraces discharge all the fire they haves#allo#ed. :o# and again a reposeful picture alternates firmly fi)ed in the dar"frame of a sonnet. 3ut the hot #ave streams over these breathing!spaces andagain the mood is that of 5ubens and of 2ordaens those mighty revellers.

3ut naturalistic art is pictorial not poetic. -nd it is the great defect of this boo"that it #as #ritten by an inspired painter only not yet by a poet. 0he #ords arecoloured but they are not free; they do not yet roc" themselves in their o#nrhythm; they do not yet storm along to soar aloft #ith the inspiration; they are#ild horses regularly trotting along in the shafts of the -le)andrine. 0here is adisparity bet#een the inner intractability and the e)ternal regularity of these

poems. 0he ore has not yet been molten long enough in the crucible of life to[Pg8A]burst the hereditary mould. ou feel that the avidity of life #hich is thesubstance of the #or" has really been seen 'D travers un tempBrament' that here astrong personality is in revolt against all tradition a strong personality #hose

ponderous onslaught #as bound to stri"e terror into the cautious and the short!sighted. 3ut the strength and the art are not yet emancipated. Verhaeren is alreadya passionate onloo"er but he is still only an onloo"er one #ho stands #ithoutand not #ithin the vorte) #ho #atches everything #ith inspired sympathy but#ho has not yet e)perienced it. 0his land of Flanders has not yet become a part ofthe poet's sensibility; the ne# point of vie# and the ne# form for it are not yetachieved; there is yet #anting that final smelting of the artistic e)citement #hich


28/160

is bound to burst all bonds and restrictions to flame along in its o#n free feelingin an enraptured into)ication.

FOOTNOTES6

[7]'4es Vieu) +aTtres' >Les Flamandes?.[A]'4es Vieu) +aTtres' >Les Flamandes?.

[]'0ruandailles' >,bid.?.[Pg 8]

THE MON8S

+oines venus vers nous des hori1ons gothi&ues+ais dont l'Sme mais dont l'esprit meurt de demain....+es vers vous bStiront de mysti&ues autels..V. '-u) +oines.'

5ubens that lavish reveller is the genius of the Flemish 1est in living; but 1est inliving is only the temperament and not the soul of Flanders. 3efore him there#ere the earnest masters of the cloisters the primitives the van yc"s +emlingGerhard 6avid 5oger van der /eyden; and after them came 5embrandt themeditative visionary the restless see"er after ne# values. 3elgium is something

else beside the merry land of "ermesses; the healthy sensual people are not thesoul of Flanders. Glaring lights cast strong shado#s. -ll vitality that is stronglyconscious of itself produces its counterpart seclusion and asceticism; it is Hust thehealthiest the elemental races%the 5ussians of to!day for instance%#ho amongtheir strong have the #ea" among their gluttons of life those #ho avert theirfaces from it among those #ho assent some #ho deny. 3y the side of theambitious teeming 3elgium #e have spo"en of there is a se&uestered 3elgium#hich is falling into ruins. -rt e)clusively in 5ubens's sense could ta"e noaccount of all those solitary cities 3ruges pres[Pg 88]6i)mude through#hose noiseless streets the mon"s hasten li"e floc"s of ravens in long

processions in #hose canals the dumb #hite shado#s of gliding nuns aremirrored. 0here mid life's raging river are broad islands of dream #here menfind refuge from realities. ven in the great 3elgian cities there are suchse&uestered haunts of silence the b$uina$es- those little to#ns in the to#n#hither ageing men and #omen have retired renouncing the #orld for the peaceof the cloister. Quite as much as the passion of life the 5oman =atholic faith andmon"ish renunciation are no#here so deeply and firmly rooted as in this
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_1_6https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_2_7https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_3_8https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_1_6https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_2_7https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_3_8


29/160

3elgium #here sensual pleasure is so noisy in its e)cess. *ere again an e)tremeof contrasts is revealed fro#ning in the face of the materialistic vie# of lifestands the spiritual vie#. /hile the masses in the e)uberance of their health andstrength proclaim life aloud and pounce on its eternal pleasures aside and cut offfrom them stand another far lesser company to #hom life is only a #aiting for

death #hose silence is as persistent as the e)ultation of the others. very#herehere austere faith has its blac" roots in the vigorous fruitful soil. For religiousfeeling al#ays remains alive among a people that has once although centuriesmay have passed since fought #ith every fibre of its being for its faith. 0his is asubterranean 3elgium that #or"s in secret and that easily escapes the cursoryglance for[Pg 8J] it lives in shado#s and silence. From this silence ho#everfrom this averted earnestness 3elgian art has derived that mystical nourishment#hich has lent its baffling strength to the #or"s of +aeterlinc" the pictures ofFernand


30/160

0his boo" too no doubt had no other aim than to be pictorial descriptive. Inrounded sonnets as though etched by 5embrandt's needle he fi)ed thechiaroscuro of the cloister's corridors the hours of prayer the earnest meetings ofthe mon"s the silence in the intervals of the liturgy. 0he evenings over thelandscape #ere described in a ritual language #ith the images of faith the sun

as it sets in crimson flaming li"e the #ine in the chalice; steeples li"e luminouscrosses in a silent s"y; the rustling corn bo#ing #hen the bell rings to evensong.[Pg 8L]0he poetry of devotion and repose #as here revived the harmony of theorgan; the beauty of corridors garlanded #ith ivy; the touching idyll of the lonelycemetery; the peaceful dying of the prior; the visiting of the sic" and the Icomfort it brings. :othing #as allo#ed in the deep light of the colours in thegrave repose of the theme save #hat could be fitted into the strictly religiousframe of the picture.

3ut here the pictorial method proved to be I insufficient for the poetic effect. 0he

problem of religious feeling is too close to the heart to be reached by out#ardeven by plastic manifestations. - thing #hich is so eminently hostile to thesensuous nay #hich is the very symbol of I all that is contrary to sensuousnesscannot be reached by a pictures&ue appeal to the senses; the description of anintellectual problem must cease to be descriptive and become psychology. -ndso thus early in his career Verhaeren is forced a#ay from the pictures&ue. Firstho#ever he attempts the plastic method he gives us sombre statues of mon"s;

but even as statues they are only types of an inner life symbols of the #ays toGod. Verhaeren develops in his mon"s the difference of their characters #hichare still effective even under the soutane; and by his delicate characterisation he

sho#s the I manifold possibilities of religious feeling. 0he I feudal mon" a nobleof ancient lineage #ould ma"e a con&uest of God as once his ancestors [Pg8M]con&uered castle and forest lands #ith spur and s#ord. 0he moine flambeauhe that is burning #ith fervour #ould possess *im #ith his passion li"e a#oman. 0he savage mon" he that has come from the heart of a forest can onlycomprehend *im in heathen #ise only fear *im as the #ielder of thunder andlightning #hile the gentle mon" he that loves the Virgin #ith a troubadour'stimid tenderness flees from the fear of *im. (ne mon" #ould fathom *im bythe learning of boo"s and by logic; another does not understand *im cannot layhold on *im and yet finds *im every#here in all things in all he e)periences.

0hus all the characters of life the harshest contrasts are Hostled together &uelledonly by the monastery rules. 3ut they are only in Hu)taposition Hust as the painterloves all his colours and things e&ually Hust as he places things in Hu)taposition#ithout estimating them according to their value. $o far there is nothing that

binds them together in#ardly there is no conflict of forces no great idea. :eitherare the verses as yet free; they too have the effect of being bound by the strictdiscipline of the mon"s. 'Il s'environne d'une sorte de froide lumiCre parnassienne


31/160

&ui en fait une Uuvre plus anonyme malgrB la mar&ue du poCte poinonnBe Dmaintes places sur le mBtal poli'[7]says -lbert +oc"el the most subtle of stheticcritics of the boo". Verhaeren must himself[Pg 89]have felt this insufficiencyfor conscious of not having solved his problems in terms of poetry he hasremoulded both aspects of the country rene#ed both boo"s in another form after

many yearsLes oinesin the tragedyLe Clotre- Les Flamandesin the greatpentalogy oute la Flandre.

Les oines#as the last of Verhaeren's descriptive boo"s the last in #hich hestood on the outer side of things contemplating them dispassionately. 3ut alreadyhere there is too much temperament in him to allo# him to loo" at things asaltogether unconnected and undisciplined; the Hoy of magnifying and intensifying

by feeling already stirs in him. -t the end of the boo" he no longer sees themon"s as isolated individuals but gathers them all together in a great synthesis inhis finale. 3ehind them the poet sees order a secret la# a great force of life.

0hey these hermits #ho have renounced #ho are scattered over the #orld in athousand monasteries are to the poet the last remnants of a great >departed

beauty and they are so much the more grandiose as they have lost all feeling forour o#n time. 0hey are the last ruins of moribund =hristianity in a ne# #orld

proHecting in tragic loneliness into our o#n days. '$euls vous survive1 grands aumonde chrBtien mortR'[A]he hails them in admiration for they have built the great*ouse of God and for many generations sacrificed[Pg JO]their blood for the *osteternally #hite. In admiration he hails them. :ot in faith and love but inadmiration for their fearless energy and above all because they go on fightingundaunted for something that is dead and lost; because their beauty serves none

other than itself; because they proHect into our o#n time li"e the ancient belfriesof the land #hich no longer call to prayer. In a land #here everything else servesa purpose pleasure and gold they stand lonely; and they die #ithout a cry and#ithout a moan fighting against an invisible enemy they the last defenders of

beauty. For at that time at that early stage of his career beauty for Verhaeren #asstill identical #ith the past because he had not yet discovered beauty for himselfin the ne# things; in the mon"s he celebrates the last romanticists because hehad not yet found poetry in the things of reality not yet found the ne# romancethe heroism of the #or"ing!day. *e loves the mon"s as great dreamers asthe chercheurs de chim&res sublimes but he cannot help them cannot defend

#hat they possess for behind them already stand their heirs. 0hese heirs are thepoets%a curious echo of 6avid $trauss's idea about religion%#ho #ill have tobe #hat religion #ith its faithful #as to the past the guardians and eternalpromoters of beauty. 0hey it #ill be%here rings strangely the deepest intentionof Verhaeren's later #or"%#ho #ill #ave their ne# faith over the #orld li"e a

banner they[Pg J7]'les poCtes venus trop tard pour Ntre prNtres' []#ho shall bethe priests of a ne# fervour. -ll religions all dogmas are brittle and transitory
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_1_9https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_2_10https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_3_11https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_1_9https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_2_10https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_3_11


32/160

=hrist dies as Pan dies; and even this poetic faith the last and highest con&uest ofthe mind must in its time pass a#ay.

=ar il ne reste rien &ue l'art sur cette terrePour tenter un cerveau puissant et solitaire

t le griser de rouge et toni&ue li&ueur.In this great hymn to the future Verhaeren first turns a#ay from the past andsee"s the path to the future. For the poetic idea is here understood #ith ne# andgreater feelings than in the beginning of his career. Poetry is for Verhaeren aconfession not only as applied to an individual in Goethe's phrase but in areligious sense as #ell as the highest moral confession.

+uch as these t#o boo"s are mar"ed by the effort to describe Flanders as itactually is stronger than this effort is the yearning at the heart of them to escapefrom the present to the past. very temperament e)ceeds reality. Flanders #as

here described in the sense of an ideal; but the ideal in both cases #as proHectedon the past. 3eauty young Verhaeren had sought in the mon"s the symbols of the

past; strength and the fire of life he had sought in the old Flemish masters. *estill needed the costume of the past to discover the heroic and the beautiful in the

present Hust li"e many of our[Pg JA]poets #ho #hen they #ould paint strongmen must perforce place their dramas in the Florentine renaissance and #ho ifthey #ould fashion beauty dec" their characters #ith Gree" costumes. 0o findstrength and beauty or in one #ord poetry in the real things that surround us ishere still denied to Verhaeren; and therefore he has diso#ned his second boo" as#ell as his first. In the distance bet#een the old and the ne# #or"s the long road

may be seen and seen #ith pride #hich leads from the traditional poet to thetruly contemporary poet.

0hough not yet divided #ith a master hand though not yet in the light of realitythe inner contrast of the country the conflict bet#een body and soul bet#een the

Hoy of life and the longing for death bet#een pleasure and renunciation thealternative bet#een 'yes' and 'no' #as yet already contained in the contrast ofthese t#o boo"s. -nd in a really emotional poet this contrast could not remainone that #as purely e)ternal; it #as bound to condense to an inner problem to a

personal decision bet#een past and present. 0#o conceptions of the #orld both

inherited and in the blood have here attained consciousness in one man; andthough in life they may act independently in Hu)taposition in the individual theconflict must be fought out the victory of the one or the other must be decided

by force or else by something higher by an internal reconciliation. 0his conflictfor a conception of[Pg J]the #orld pierces through the constant contrast

bet#een the acceptance and the denial of life in the poet a conflict that for tenlong years undermined his artistic and human e)periences #ith terrific crises and


33/160

brought him to the verge of annihilation. 0he hostility #hich divides his ' countryinto t#o camps seems to have ta"en refuge in his soul to fight it out in adesperate and mortal duel past and future seem to be fighting for a ne#synthesis. 3ut only from such crises from such pitiless struggles #ith the forcesof one's o#n soul do the vast conceptions of the universe and their ne# creative

reconciliation gro#.

FOOTNOTES6

[7]-lbert +oc"el!mile "erhaeren.

[A]'-u) +oines.'

[]'-u) +oines.'[Pg J8]

THE BREA85DOWN

:ous sommes tous des =hrists &ui embrassons nos croi).. V.'4a 2oie'

very feeling every sensation is in the last instance the transformation of pain.verything that in vibration or by contact touches the epithelium affects it as

pain. -s pain #hich then by the secret chemistry of the nerves transmitted from

centre to centre is transformed into impressions colours sounds andconceptions. 0he poet #hose last secret really is that he is more sensitive thanothers that he purifies these pains of contact into feeling #ith a still moredelicate filter must have finer nerves than anybody else. /here others onlyreceive a vague impression he must have a clear perception to #hich his feelingmust respond and the value of #hich he must be able to estimate. In Verhaeren'svery first boo"s a particular "ind of reaction to every incitement #as perceptible.*is feeling really responds only to strong intensive sharp irritation; its delicacy#as not abnormal only the energy of the reaction #as remar"able. *is firstartistic incitement; ho#ever that of Flemish landscapes #as only one of the

retina glaring colours pictorial charm;[Pg JJ]only inLes oineshad for the firsttime more delicate psychic shades been crystallised. In the meantime atransformation had ta"en place in his e)terior life. Verhaeren had turned asidefrom the contemplation of :ature to concentrate his strength on the cultivation ofhis mind. *e had travelled e)tensively had been in Paris and 4ondon in $painand Germany; #ith impetuous haste he had assimilated all great ideas all ne#

phases all the manifold theories of e)istence. /ithout a pause incessantly
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_1_9https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_2_10https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_3_11https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_1_9https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_2_10https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#FNanchor_3_11


34/160

e)periences assail him and tire him out. - thousand impressions accost him eachdemanding an ans#er; great sombre cities discharge their electric fire upon himand fill his nerves #ith leaping flame. 0he s"y above him is obscured by theclouds of cities; in 4ondon he #anders about as though #ildered in a forest. 0hisgrey misty city that seems as though it #ere built of steel casts its #hole

melancholy over the soul of him #ho lives there in loneliness ignorant of thelanguage and #ho is so much the more lonely as all these manifestations of thene# life in great cities are still unintelligible to him. *e is still unable to capturethe poetry that is in them and so they leap at him and penetrate him #ith aconfused unintelligible pain. -nd in this novel atmosphere the intenserefinement of his nerves proceeds at such a pace that already the slightest contact#ith the outer #orld produces a &uivering reaction. very noise every colourevery thought[Pg JK] presses in upon him as though #ith sharp needles; hishealthy sensibility becomes hypertrophied; that fineness of hearing of #hich oneis conscious say in sea!sic"ness #hich perceives every noise even the slightestsound as though it #ere the blo# of a hammer undermines his #hole organism;every rapidly!passing smell corrodes him li"e an acid; every ray of light pric"shim li"e a red!hot needle. 0he process is aggravated by a purely physical illness#hich corresponds to his psychic ailment. 2ust at that time Verhaeren #asattac"ed by a nervous affection of the stomach one of those repercussions of the

psychic on the physical system in #hich it is hard to say #hether the ailingstomach causes the neurasthenic condition or the #ea"ness of the nerves thestagnation of the digestive functions. 3oth ailments are in#ardly co!ordinated

both are a reHection of the outer impression an impotent refusal of the chemicalconversion. 2ust as the stomach feels all food as pain as a foreign body so theear repels every sound as an intrusion so the eye reHects every impression as

pain. 0his nervous reHection of the outer #orld #as already then in Verhaeren'slife pathological. 0he bell on the door had to be removed because it shoc"ed hisnerves; those #ho lived in the house had to #ear felt slippers instead of shoes;the #indo#s #ere closed to the noise of the street. 0hese years in Verhaeren's lifeare the lo#est depth the crisis of his vitality. It is in such periods of[PgJL]depression that invalids shut themselves off from the #orld from theirfello#!men from the light of day from the din of e)istence from boo"s from allcontact #ith the outer #orld because they instinctively feel that everything can

be a rene#al of their pain and nothing an enrichment of their life. 0hey see" tosoften the #orld to tone its colours do#n; they bury themselves in the monotonyof solitude. 0his 'soudaine lassitude' [7]then impinges on to the moral nature; the#ill losing the sense of life is paralysed; all standards of value collapse; idealsfounder in the most frightful :ihilism. 0he earth becomes a chaos the s"y anempty space; everything is reduced to nothingness to an absolute negation. $uchcrises in the life of a poet are almost al#ays sterile. -nd it is therefore of


35/160

incalculable value that here a poet should have observed himself and given us aclear picture of himself in this state that #ithout fear of the ugliness theconfusion of his ego he should have described in terms of art the history of a

psychic crisis. In Verhaeren's trilogyLes /oirs- Les 0b1cles- Les Flambeau2Noirs #e have a document that must be priceless to pathologists as to

psychologists. For here a deep!seated #ill to e)tract the last conse&uence fromevery phase of life has reproduced the stadium of a mental illness right to theverge of madness; here a poet has #ith the persistence of a physician pursued [PgJM] the symptoms of his suffering through every stage of lacerating pain andimmortalised in poems the process of the inflammation of his nerves.

0he landscape of this boo" is no longer that of his native province; indeed it canhardly be called one of earth. It is a grandiose landscape of dreams hori1ons asthough on some other planet as though in one of those #orlds #hich have cooledinto moons #here the #armth of the earth has died out and an icy calm chills the

vast far!seen spaces deserted of man. -lready in the boo" of the mon"s 5ubens'smerry landscape had been clouded over; and in the ne)t3u (ord de la Route thegrey hand of a cloud had eclipsed the sun. 3ut here all the colours of life are

burnt out not a star shines do#n from this steel!grey metallic s"y; only a cruelfree1ing moon glides across it from time to time li"e a sardonic smile. 0hese are

boo"s of pallid nights #ith the immense #ings of clouds closing the s"y over anarro#ed #orld in #hich the hours cling to things li"e heavy and clammychains. 0hey are #or"s filled #ith a glacial cold. 'Il gCle ...' [A]one poem beginsand this shuddering tone pierces li"e the ho#ling of dogs ever and ever againover an illimitable plain. 0he sun is dead dead are the flo#ers the trees; the very

marshes are fro1en in these #hite midnights

t la crainte saisit d'un immortel hivert d'un grand 6ieu soudain glacial et splendide.[][Pg J9]

In his fever the poet is for ever dreaming of this cold as though in a secretyearning for its cooling breath. :o one spea"s to him only the #inds ho#lsenselessly through the streets li"e dogs round a house. (ften dreams come butthey arefleurs du mal; they dart out of the ice burning yello# poisonous. +oreand more monotonous gro# the days more and more fearful; they fall do#n li"edrops heavy and blac".

+es Hours touHours plus lourds s'en vont roulant leur coursR [8]

In thought and sound these verses e)press ail the frightful horror of thisdesolation. Impotently the tic"ing of the cloc" hammers this endless void andmeasures a barren time. 6ar"er and dar"er gro#s the #orld more and more
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_2_13https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_3_14https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_4_15https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_2_13https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_3_14https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_4_15


36/160

oppressive; the concave mirror of solitude distorts the poet's dreams into frightfulgrimaces and spirits #hisper evil thoughts in his restless heart.

-nd li"e a fog li"e a heavy stifling cloud fatigue sin"s do#n on his soul. Firstpleasure in things had died and then the very #ill to pleasure. 0he soul craves

nothing no#. 0he nerves have #ithdra#n their antenn from the outer #orld;they are afraid of every impression; they are spent. /hatever chances to driftagainst them no longer becomes colour sound impression; the senses are toofeeble for the chemical conversion of impressions and so everything remains atthe stage of pain a dull gna#ing[Pg KO]pain. Feeling #hich the nerves are no#

po#erless to feed starves; desire is sun" in sleep. -utumn has come; all theflo#ers have #ithered; and #inter comes apace.

Il fait novembre en mon Sme.t c'est le vent du nord &ui clame

=omme une bNte dans mon Sme.

[J]

$lo#ly but irresistible as a s#elling tide emerges an evil thought the idea of thesenselessness of life the thought of death. -s the last of yearnings soars up the

prayer

+ourirR comme des fleurs trop Bnormes mourirR[K]

For the poet's #hole body is as it #ere sore from this contact #ith the outer#orld from these little gna#ing pains. :ot a single great feeling can stand erecteverything is eaten a#ay by this little gna#ing t#itching pain. 3ut no# the manin his torture springs up as a beast tormented by the stings of insects tears itschains asunder and rushes madly and blindly along. 0he patient #ould fain fleefrom his bed of torture but he cannot retrace his steps. :o man can 'serecommencer enfant avec calcul.'[L]0ravels dreams do nothing but deaden the

pain; and then the torment of the a#a"ening sets in again #ith redoubledstrength. (nly one #ay is open the road #hich leads for#ard the road toannihilation. (ut of a thousand petty pains the #ill longs for one single pain thatshall[Pg K7]end all the body that is being burnt piecemeal cries for the lightning.0he sic" man desires%as fever!patients #ill tear their #ounds open%to ma"ethis pain #hich tortures #ithout destroying so great and murderous that it #ill

"ill outright to save his pride he #ould fain be himself the cause of hisdestruction. Pain he says to himself shall not continue to be a series of pin!pric"s; he refuses to 'pourrir immensBment emmaillotB d'ennui';[M]he as"s to bedestroyed by a vast fiery savage pain; he demands a beautiful and tragicdeath.he 4ill to e2perience becomes here the 4ill to suffer pain and even death.*e #ill be glad to suffer any torture but not this one lo# little thing; he can nolonger endure to feel himself so contemptible so #retched.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_5_16https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_6_17https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_7_18https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_8_19https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_5_16https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_6_17https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_7_18https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35387/35387-h/35387-h.htm#Footnote_8_19


37/160

:'entendre plus se taire en sa maison d'BbCneQu'un silence total dont auraient peur les morts. [9]

-nd #ith a flagellant's pleasure the patient nurses this fire of fever till it flamesup in a bright bla1e. 0he deepest secret of Verhaeren's art #as from the first his

Hoy in intemperance the strength of his e)aggeration. -nd so too he snatches upthis pain this neurasthenia to a #onderful fiery and grandiose ecstasy. - cry apleasure brea"s out of this idea of liberation. For the first time the #ord 'Hoy'bla1es again in the cry

4e Hoie enfin me vient de souffrir par moi!mNmeParce &ue He le veu).[7O][Pg KA]

0rue only a perverse Hoy a sophism the false triumph over life of the suicide#ho believes he has con&uered fate #hen truth to tell it has con&uered him. 3ut

this self!deception is already sublime.3y this sudden interference of the #ill the physical torture of the nerves becomesa psychic event; the illness of the body encroaches upon the intellect; theneurasthenia becomes a 'dBformation morale'; the suffering schism of the poet'sego is of itself subdivided so to spea" into t#o elements one that e)cites painand one that suffers pain. 0he psychic #ould fain tear itself free from the

physical the soul #ould fain #ithdra# from the tortured body

Pour s'en aller vers les lointains et se dBfaire6e soi et des autres un Hourn un voyage ardent et mol comme l'amourt lBgendaire ainsi &u'un dBpart de galCreR [77]

3ut the t#o are relentlessly bound up #ith each other no flight is possibleho#ever much disgust drives the poet to rescue at least a part of himself bysnatching it into a purer calmer and higher state. :ever I believe has theaversion of a sic" man to himself the #ill to health of a living man been morecruel and more grandiose than in this boo" of a poet's diabolical revolt againsthimself. *is suffering soul is torn into t#o parts. In a fearful personification thehangman and the condemned criminal #restle[Pg K]for the mastery. '$e

cravacher dans sa pensBe et dans son sangR' [7A]and finally in a paro)ysm of fury'me cracher moi!mNme'[7]these are the horribly shrilling cries of self!hatred andself!disgust. /ith all the strings of her #hipped strength the soul tears to freeherself from the rotting and tormented body and her deepest torture is that thisseparation is impossible. In this distraction flic"e

Émile Verhaeren - Zweig

Documents

Transcript of Émile Verhaeren - Zweig