Lob der Tränen, D 711

In praise of tears

(Poet's title: Lob der Tränen)

All translations into English that appear on this website, unless otherwise stated, are by Malcolm Wren. You are free to use them on condition that you acknowledge Malcolm Wren as the translator and schubertsong.uk as the source. Unless otherwise stated, the comments and essays that appear after the texts and translations are by Malcolm Wren and are © Copyright.

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Lorenzo! hast thou ever weigh'd a sigh?	
Or study'd the philosophy of tears?
(A science, yet unlectur'd in our schools!)
Hast thou descended into the breast,
And seen their source?
If not, descend with me
And trace these briny riv'lets to their springs.

Edward Young, Night Thoughts (Book V: The Relapse), 1742-45

This is the quotation used at the beginning of a TED talk about emotional tears (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-kH6wZ01I0) by the professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Tilburg University, Ad Vingerhoets. He appears to be one of the few scientists who really have ‘study’d the philosophy of tears’, a topic which is most definitely ‘yet unlectur’d in our schools’.[1] The question his work aims to address is, given that humans are the only species known to shed tears related to emotional states, what is the benefit of crying? This is essentially the same issue that Schlegel’s poem set out to tackle.

Schlegel’s approach is to contrast the easy pleasures of life with the more challenging and distressing experiences which are ultimately more fulfilling and more meaningful. Even the delights of a spring day, the attractions of sex and alcohol, fun and dancing will ultimately pale. The human heart is more fully at home in pain and melancholy. Although we tend to think that tears blur our vision, Schlegel suggests that this opacity turns our eyes into a mirror which allows us to see our inner selves more truly. The wetness of tears is also useful: they extinguish the ‘wild fires’ that break out within us and, like rain reviving wilting flowers, they help our parched spirits blossom.

Schlegel’s third stanza, about the role of tears in connecting us with other people (in love and sympathy), is the same point that Professor Vingerhoets makes in his TED talk: that human beings are unique as a species in being ‘ultra-social’. We help the weak and the disabled and we have more capacity for empathy than any other animal, and this is probably related to our unique ability to shed emotional tears. Or, as Schlegel puts it, tears enable us to break out of our limitations and take us into ‘the sea of love’.

The text ends with an exhortation to be united with the ‘sacred source’ of all the tears shed by suffering humanity in order to escape from the distress of the human condition in general. Or, as Edward Young put it, ‘descend with me / And trace these briny riv’lets to their springs.’

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[1] https://archive.tedx.amsterdam/2015/11/uniqueness-human-crying-interview-ad-vingerhoets/
See also: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/201804/why-do-we-cry-exploring-the-psychology-emotional-tears

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Original Spelling

Lob der Thränen

Laue Lüfte,
Blumendüfte,
Alle Lenz- und Jugendlust;
Frischer Lippen
Küsse nippen,
Sanft gewiegt an zarter Brust;
Dann der Trauben
Nektar rauben;
Reihentanz und Spiel und Scherz:
Was die Sinnen
Nur gewinnen:
Ach! erfüllt es je das Herz?

Wenn die feuchten
Augen leuchten
Von der Wehmuth lindem Thau,
Dann entsiegelt,
Drin gespiegelt,
Sich dem Blick die Himmels-Au.
Wie erquicklich
Augenblicklich
Löscht es jede wilde Gluth!
Wie vom Regen
Blumen pflegen,
Hebet sich der matte Muth.

Nicht mit süßen
Wasserflüssen
Zwang Prometheus unsern Leim:
Nein, mit Thränen;
Drum im Sehnen
Und im Schmerz sind wir daheim.
Bitter schwellen
Diese Quellen
Für den Erd' umfangnen Sinn,
Doch sie drängen
Aus den Engen
In das Meer der Liebe hin.

Ew'ges Sehnen
Floß in Thränen,
Und umgab die starre Welt,
Die in Armen
Sein Erbarmen
Immerdar umflutend hält.
Soll dein Wesen
Denn genesen, 
Von dem Erdenstaube los,
Mußt im Weinen
Dich vereinen
Jener Wasser heil'gem Schooß.

Confirmed by Peter Rastl with Schubert’s source, A. W. Schlegel’s poetische Werke. Zweyter Theil. Neueste Auflage. Wien 1816. Bey B. Ph. Bauer, pages 14-16; and with August Wilhelm Schlegels poetische Werke. Erster Theil. Heidelberg bey Mohr und Zimmer 1811, pages 242-244.

First published in Prometheus. Eine Zeitschrift. Herausgegeben von Leo v. Seckendorf und Jos. Lud. Stoll. Zweytes Heft. Wien, in Geistinger’s Buchhandlung. 1808, pages 70-71, with the title Lied.

To see an early edition of the text, go to page 14  [22 von 252] here: http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ204922008