Mantis 22 (Summer 2024)
Disillusion; Dissolution
Karoline von Günderrode
Melete
An Melete
Schüze, o sinnende Muse! mir gnädig die ärmlichen Blätter!
Fülle des Lorbeers bringt reichlich der lauere Süd,
Aber den Norden umziehn die Stürme und eisichte Regen;
Sparsamer sprießen empor Blüthen aus dürftiger Aue.
Der Kuß im Traume, aus einem
ungedruckten Romane
Es hat ein Kuß mir Leben eingehaucht,
Gestillet meines Busens tiefstes Schmachten,
Komm, Dunkelheit! mich traulich zu Schüze
Daß neue Wonne meine Lippe saugt.
In Träume war solch Leben eingetaucht,
Drum leb’ ich, ewig Träume zu betrachten,
Kann aller andern Freuden Glanz verachten,
Weil nur die Nacht so süßen Balsam haucht.
Der Tag ist karg an liebesüßen Wonnen,
Es schmerzt mich seines Lichtes eitles Prangen
Und mich verzehren seiner Sonne Gluthen.
Drum birg dich Aug’ dem Glanze irr’dscher Sonnen!
Hüll’ dich in Nacht, sie stillet dein Verlangen
Und heilt den Schmerz, wie Lethes kühle Fluthen.
Melete
To Melete
Kindly protect, Oh pensive Muse, my humble leaves!
The balmy southern wind abets the laurel’s abundance,
But storms and the iciest rains sweep the north;
Flowers bloom more sparingly from the poorer meadow.
Translated by Alani Rosa Hicks-Bartlett
The Kiss in a Dream, From an Unpublished Novel
A kiss has breathed life into me,
Soothed my bosom’s deepest yearning,
Come, darkness! Enfold me in sweet stillness
So that my lip can drink new pleasures.
Such a life was immersed in dreams,
And so I live to contemplate dreams forever,
I can loathe the brilliance of all other delights,
Because only the night exhales such a sweet balm.
The day is barren of love-sweet pleasures,
I am pained by the vain resplendence of its light
And I am consumed by the blaze of its sun.
So shield your eyes from the brilliance of earthly suns!
Envelop yourself in the night, it quenches your desire
And heals the pain, like the cool waters of Lethe.
Translated by Alani Rosa Hicks-Bartlett
Primarily known for her melancholic, nostalgic, and brooding romantic poems that astutely reworked traditional styles and classical tropes to draw more attention to women’s roles, KAROLINE VON GÜNDERRODE (1780-1806) is an important poet of the German tradition. However, amongst Anglophone readers she has not yet received the critical attention that she and her impressive poetic production deserve. A protofeminist author often writing under the pen name “Tian,” Günderrode frequently turned her exacting eye to the disparity between genders, limiting societal strictures, and women’s lack of autonomy and opportunity. She did so in her poems as well as in other writings of resistance and appraisal that denounced repressive traditional values.
ALANI ROSA HICKS-BARTLETT is a writer and translator who lives on the East Coast, where she finds herself increasingly in a nudiustertian mode. Her recent work has appeared in Cagibi, ANMLY, carte blanche, The Stillwater Review, IthacaLit, Gathering Storm, Broad River Review, The Fourth River, and Mantis, among others. She is currently working a collection of villanelles, and a translation of Medieval French poetry.