Homesickness
(Poet's title: Das Heimweh)
Set by Schubert:
D 456
[July 1816]
Oft in einsam stillen Stunden
Hab ich ein Gefühl empfunden
Unerklärbar, wunderbar!
Das wie Sehnsucht nach der Ferne
Hoch hinauf in bessre Sterne,
Wie ein leises Ahnen war.
Jetzt, wo von der Heimat Frieden
Ich so lang schon abgeschieden
Und in weiter Fremde bin,
Fühlt ein ähnlich heißes Sehnen
Unter sanften Wehmutstränen
Tief bewegt mein innrer Sinn.
Dieses, weiß ich zu erklären,
Ist ein inniges Begehren
Nach dem Freunde, liebend mich,
In die alten süßen Bande,
Nach dem teuren Vaterlande,
Und das Heimweh nennt es sich.
Wie, wenn jenes Unerklärte,
Dessen heil’ge Glut ich nährte
Stets im stillen Herzensraum,
Wenn es auch ein Heimweh wäre
Nach der höhern, bessern Sphäre,
Und ein ahnungsvoller Traum?
Wenn in Stunden sel’ger Weihe
Sich der frühern Wonnen Reihe
Dunkel wär mein Geist bewusst;
Wenn sich neue Sinne fänden,
Die das Höhere verständen
In der tiefbewegten Brust?
Ja, so ist’s! Des Heimwehs Schmerzen
Zeigen meinem treuen Herzen
Eines Vaterlandes Glück,
Und was nie der Mund noch nannte,
Ist aus früherm Vaterlande
Ein beseelter Sonnenblick.
Frequently, alone at quiet times
I have experienced a feeling,
Inexplicable, wonderful,
That is like a longing for what is far away,
High up amongst better stars,
And which was like a gentle intimation.
Now, where, from the peace of home
I have been separated for so long,
Where I am in a distant alien place,
There is a similar feeling of hot longing
As I cry soft melancholy tears
And my inner mind is deeply disturbed.
This, I know I can explain it,
Is an inner wish
For my friend, who loves me,
Amongst those old sweet connections,
And for my dear fatherland,
And it is called ‘homesickness’.
How? If that something inexplicable
Whose holy glow suckled me
Still remains in the quiet space of my heart,
Could that also be a form of homesickness
For those higher, better spheres
And a dream that is full of intimations?
When in times of soulful dedication
The former system of bliss
Appeared in vague consciousness in my spirit;
Could new states of awareness be discovered
Which would lead to some understanding of what is higher
In my deeply moved breast?
Yes! That is how it is! The pains of homesickness
Show my devoted heart
The happiness of a fatherland,
And what the mouth has never yet named
Comes from that former fatherland,
It is a ray of soulful sunshine!
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.
☙
Themes and images in this text:
Chest / breast Food, feeding and nursing Gazes, glimpses and glances Hearts Heat High, low and deep Home (Heimat) Longing and yearning Melancholy Mouths Near and far Stars The sun Tears and crying
In 1813 Winkler was on his travels. He had left Dresden and was living in Alexandria when he wrote about his sense of homesickness. He uses his experience to explore the relationship between the physical and the metaphorical meaning of the term.
On the most basic level, missing home seems to be unproblematic. We are away from loved ones and familiar comforts and habits. It often takes distance to begin to appreciate how much we value and depend on what we have left behind. Yet it is this very simplicity of the concept which makes the metaphorical sense of homesickness so problematic, according to Winkler. When I feel (as I have done so often) that I am not at home even at home, when I have an inkling that I belong elsewhere (as so many inveterate travellers do) where is the fatherland that I suspect I have been banished from? How can I miss something that I have never known?
His answer is similar to that of many ancient inhabitants of Alexandria, which at various time was home to mystics and spiritual teachers with an interest in such questions. The yearning we feel is connected with the illumination offered by inner knowledge (some writers called this ‘Gnosis’) and points to the possibility of being reunited with the One, our ‘true’ Father. Winkler’s final stanza offers a modern version of Gnosticism. The sun looks down on us (‘Sonnenblick’ involves an untranslatable ambiguity – the sun is emitting its rays but is also an eye that is seeing us at the same time), and if we show true devotion (and our sense of longing is a hint that we have the right attitude) we are connected to our genuine ‘fatherland’. On one level we are aware that we have never been there and that we do not even know its name, yet on a deeper (or is it higher?) level we already know it intimately as home.
☙
Original Spelling and note on the text Das Heimweh Oft in einsam stillen Stunden Hab' ich ein Gefühl empfunden Unerklärbar1, wunderbar, Das wie Sehnsucht nach der Ferne, Hoch hinauf in bessre Sterne, Wie ein leises Ahnen war. Jetzt, wo von der Heimath Frieden Ich so lang schon abgeschieden Und in weiter Fremde bin, Fühlt ein ähnlich heißes Sehnen Unter sanften Wehmuthsthränen Tief bewegt mein inn'rer Sinn. Dieses, weiß ich zu erklären, Ist ein inniges Begehren Nach dem Freunde, liebend mich, In die alten süßen Bande, Nach dem theuren Vaterlande, Und das H e i m w e h nennt es sich. Wie? wenn jenes Unerklärte, Dessen heil'ge Glut ich nährte Stets im stillen Herzensraum, Wenn es auch ein Heimweh wäre Nach der höhern, bessern Sphäre, Und ein ahnungsvoller Traum? Wenn in Stunden seel'ger Weihe Sich der frühern Wonnen Reihe Dunkel wär' mein Geist bewußt; Wenn sich neue Sinne fänden, Die das Höhere verständen In der tiefbewegten Brust? Ja! so ist's! des Heimweh's Schmerzen Zeigen meinem treuen Herzen Eines Vaterlandes Glück, Und was nie der Mund noch nannte, Ist aus früherm Vaterlande Ein beseelter Sonnenblick! 1 Schubert changed 'Unerklärlich' to 'Unerklärbar' (no essential change in meaning)
Confirmed by Peter Rastl with W.G. Becker’s Taschenbuch zum geselligen Vergnügen. Herausgegeben von Friedrich Kind. Fünf und Zwanzigster Jahrgang. 1815. Leipzig bei Joh. Friedrich Gleditsch, pages 61-62; with Die Lyra. Eine Auswahl deutscher Gedichte, […] Herausgegeben von C. F. Solbrig, Deklamator. Leipzig, 1816. bei Carl Friedrich Franz, pages 31-32; and with Carinthia. Ein Wochenblatt zum Nutzen und Vergnügen 1815. Von einer Gesellschaft Vaterlandsfreunde. Klagenfurt gedruckt mit v.Kleinmayerischen Schriften. (24.) Samstag, den 17. Juny 1815.
Note: When this song was published by Friedlaender (Peters edition), not all the stanzas of the poem were at hand, so he asked Max Kalbeck to provide two additional stanzas, which were then included in the publication.
To see an early edition of the text, go to page 61 [131 von 472] here: http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ225779803