Circles

Blake, The ancient of days 1794
Blake, The ancient of days 1794

In July 1809 an 18 year old mining engineer took a break from tunnelling and climbed the mountain above him, the ‘Riesenkoppe’ or ‘Giant Peak’. As he looked around, Theodor Körner was able to see clearly into the lands of ‘three kings’: Bohemia, Silesia and Poland. Far on the western horizon, he was also able to make out the borders of his own homeland, Saxony. Paying attention to these ever widening circles, he felt a deeper connection with a closer circle, the social circle of those he loved.


Blühende Fluren, 
Schimmernde Städte, 
Dreier Könige 
Glückliche Länder 
Schau ich begeistert, 
Schau ich mit hoher, 
Mit inniger Lust.  

Auch meines Vaterlands 
Gränze erblick ich, 
Wo mich das Leben 
Freundlich begrüßte, 
Wo mich der Liebe 
Heilige Sehnsucht 
Glühend ergriff.  

Sei mir gesegnet 
Hier in der Ferne, 
Liebliche Heimat! 
Sei mir gesegnet, 
Land meiner Träume,
Kreis meiner Lieben, 
Sei mir gegrüßt.

Blossoming meadows
Shimmering towns,
Three kings'
Happy countries,
I behold them with a thrill,
I behold them with noble,
With inner, delight.

Also my fatherland's
Borders - I can make them out - 
Where life
Greeted me with friendship,
Where love's
Sacred longing
Took hold of me and caught fire.

Let me bless you
Here from afar,
Dear homeland!
Let me bless you,
Country of my dreams!
Circle of my loved ones,
Let me greet you!

Körner, Auf der Riesenkoppe	D 611

Only four years later, Körner (after a short career as a dramatist and poet in Vienna) was fighting as a volunteer in the ‘War of Liberation’ against the occupying French. He continued to write poetry, much of which evokes the atmosphere of military life. In Trinklied vor der Schlacht (Drinking song before the battle) he again used the idea of a ‘circle’ to capture the sense of solidarity and connection that was basic to his sense of values.


Schlacht, du brichst an!
Grüßt sie in freudigem Kreise,
Laut nach germanischer Weise.
     Brüder heran!

Battle, you are about to start!
Greet it in a joyful circle,
Loudly, following a Germanic tune.
Brothers, come on!

Körner, Trinklied vor der Schlacht 	D 169

When this poem was published the following year it was all the more powerful since the readers were aware that the poet / soldier had in fact died in a skirmish the day after writing the text. The image of comradely soldiers carousing in a brotherly circle contrasts with the military reality of being inspected row by row or fighting in regimented lines within strict hierarchies. It evokes memories of the knights of the round table, where even King Arthur was only one among equals. There was no head of the table, noone was superior or inferior.

Rellstab uses a similar image in Kriegers Ahnung (D 957/2), but here the comradeship of the circle of soldiers only heightens the speaker’s sense of foreboding and loneliness on the eve of battle.


In tiefer Ruh liegt um mich her
Der Waffenbrüder Kreis.
Mir ist das Herz so bang und schwer,
Von Sehnsucht mir so heiß.

Lying around me in deep repose
Is the circle of my brothers in arms;
My heart feels so anxious and heavy,
I am so hot with longing.

Rellstab, Kriegers Ahnung	D 957/2

However, most of the Schubert song texts which refer to a social circle are drinking songs, or similar celebrations of conviviality, e.g. Trinklied D 75, Bundeslied D 258, Zum Punsche D 492, and Jagdlied D 521. Here the glass is passed around the circle, with the aim of including everyone. There is no provision for teetotallers or other non-conformists, though. Inclusivity can easily exclude.

A number of poets acknowledge that human beings might not have a totally positive experience of this type of circle. Schober’s frequently underrated text for An die Musik includes the phrase ‘life’s savage circle’, which captures some of the distress that drives our need for the solace of music:


Du holde Kunst, in wie viel grauen Stunden, 
Wo mich des Lebens wilder Kreis umstrickt, 
Hast du mein Herz zu warmer Lieb entzunden, 
Hast mich in eine beßre Welt entrückt.  

Oh beauteous art, in so many dreary hours,
Where I have been swept up in the savage circle of life,
You have ignited my heart, giving it a warmer love.
You have carried me off into a better world.

Franz von Schober, An die Musik	D 547

The image of the circle or cycle embodies a strange ambiguity: it is both eternal and bounded. In Idens Nachtgesang, the speaker points to the endless cycle of the stars and promises a similarly infinite devotion:


Freund, du bist mein, nicht für die kurze Reise,
Die durch das Labyrinth des Lebens führt;
Sieh, sieh dies Sphären dort, die ewig schönen Kreise,
Wo fester unser Band sich schnürt.

Freund, ich bin dein, nicht für den Sand der Zeiten,
Der schnellversiegend Chronos Uhr entfleußt,
Dein für den Riesenstrom heilvoller Ewigkeiten,
Der aus des Ew'gen Urne scheußt.

Friend, you are mine, not just for a short journey,
Leading through the labyrinth of life;
Look, look at those spheres over there, the eternal beautiful circle
Where our union will be tied more tightly.

Friend, I am yours, not just for the sands of time
Which so quickly run out as they flow through Chronos's timepiece,
I am yours for the gigantic river of healthy eternities
Which pour out of the urn of the Eternal One.

Kosegarten, Idens Nachtgesang  D 227

Goethe’s Grenzen der Menscheit (D 716) uses the related image of a ‘ring’ to contrast the dimension of the divine (the eternal, the unchanging cycle) with the human domain (bounded and limited by constraints). The ring sets a limit but the idea of the limitless is inherent within it. When one ring (one human life) becomes part of a chain, it shares the characteristics of boundedness and unboundedness.


Was unterscheidet
Götter von Menschen?
Dass viele Wellen
Vor jenen wandeln,
Ein ewiger Strom:
Uns hebt die Welle,
Verschlingt die Welle,
Und wir versinken.

Ein kleiner Ring
Begränzt unser Leben,
Und viele Geschlechter
Reihen sich dauernd
An ihres Daseins
Unendliche Kette.

What distinguishes
Gods from humans?
The fact that many waves
Pass by them,
An eternal stream:
However, the wave lifts us up,
The wave engulfs us
And we sink.

A small ring
Borders our life,
And many generations
Succeed each other unceasingly
With their being making up
An unending chain.

Goethe, Grenzen der Menscheit (Human limitations)	D 716

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