' (; ''West–Eastern Diwan'') is a diwan, or collection of lyrical poems, by the German poet

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

. It was inspired by Goethe's readings of the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

national poet A national poet or national bard is a poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular national culture. The national poet as culture hero is a long-standing symbol, to be distinguished ...

Hafez (), known by his pen name Hafez ( or 'the keeper'; 1325–1390) or Hafiz, “Ḥāfeẓ” designates someoone who has learned the Qurʾān by heart" also known by his nickname Lisan al-Ghaib ('the tongue of the unseen'), was a Persian lyri ...

Composition

''West–Eastern Diwan'' was written between 1814 and 1819, the year when it was first published. It was inspired by Goethe's correspondence with Marianne von Willemer and the translation of Hafez's poems by the orientalist Joseph von Hammer. An expanded version was printed in 1827. It is part of Goethe's late work and the last great cycle of poetry he wrote. The initial issue consisted of twelve books: * Book of the Singer (Moganni Nameh) * Book of Hafiz (Hafis Nameh) * Book of Love (Uschk Nameh) * Book of Reflection (Tefkir Nameh) * Book of Ill Humour (Rendsch Nameh) * Book of Maxims (Hikmet Nameh) * Book of Timur (Timur Nameh) * Book of Zuleika (Suleika Nameh) * Book of the Cupbearer (Saki Nameh) * Book of Parables (Mathal Nameh) * Book of the Parsees (Parsi Nameh) * Book of Paradise (Chuld Nameh) The work can be seen as a symbol for a stimulating exchange and mixture between

Orient The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

and

Occident The Occident is a term for the West, traditionally comprising anything that belongs to the Western world. It is the antonym of the term ''Orient'', referring to the Eastern world. In English, it has largely fallen into disuse. The term occidental ...

. The phrase "west–eastern" refers not only to an exchange between Germany and the Middle East, but also between Latin and Persian cultures, as well as the Christian and Muslim cultures. The twelve books consist of poetry of all different kinds:

parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whe ...

s, historical

allusion Allusion, or alluding, is a figure of speech that makes a reference to someone or something by name (a person, object, location, etc.) without explaining how it relates to the given context, so that the audience must realize the connection in the ...

s, pieces of invective, politically or religiously inclined poetry mirroring the attempt to bring together Orient and Occident. For a better understanding, Goethe added "Notes and Queries", in which he comments on historical figures, events, terms and places.

Reception

''West-Eastern Diwan'' influenced poets such as

Friedrich Rückert Johann Michael Friedrich Rückert (16 May 1788 – 31 January 1866) was a German poet, translation, translator, and professor of Oriental languages. Biography Johann Michael Friedrich Rückert was born 16 May 1788 in Schweinfurt and was the e ...

, who in 1822 issued his ' (Eastern Roses) collection of Oriental poetry, as well as

Christian Morgenstern Christian Otto Josef Wolfgang Morgenstern (6 May 1871 – 31 March 1914) was a German writer and poet from Munich. Morgenstern married Margareta Gosebruch von Liechtenstern on 7 March 1910. He worked for a while as a journalist in Berlin ...

and

Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin ( ; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German-Jewish philosopher, cultural critic, media theorist, and essayist. An eclectic thinker who combined elements of German idealism, Jewish mysticism, Western M ...

. In 1923 the Persian-language poet Sir

Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...

issued the ''Payam-e-Mashriq'' (''

Message from the East ''Payam-i-Mashriq'' (, or ''Message from the East'', published in Persian) is a philosophical poetic work written by Muhammad Iqbal and published in 1923 as a reply to Goethe's '' West-östlicher Diwan''. Introduction Payam-i-Mashriq is an ...

'') in reply to Goethe's salute.
''Payam-i Mashriq'' (1923) – Introduction
allamaiqbal.com Various poems were set to music by

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

(D 717 "Suleika II", Op. 31; D 719 "Geheimes", Op. 14 No. 2; D 720 "Suleika I", Op. 14 No. 1),

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

(Op. 25 '' Myrthen'': No. 2 "Freisinn", No. 5 "Sitz' ich allein", No. 6 "Setze mir nicht", No. 8 "Talisman", No. 9 "Lied der Suleika"),

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

(Op. 34 No. 4 "Suleika: Ach, um deine feuchten Schwingen"; Op. 57 No. 3 "Suleika: Was bedeutet die Bewegung?"),

Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (; ; 13 March 1860 – 22 February 1903) was an Austrian composer, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, so ...

(''Goethe-Lieder''),

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

(Op. 67 No. 4 "Wer wird von der Welt verlangen"), Waldemar von Baußnern (Symphonic Cantata ''Hafis''),

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

, and

Othmar Schoeck Othmar Schoeck (1 September 1886 – 8 March 1957) was a Swiss List of Romantic-era composers, Romantic classical composer, opera composer, musician, and Conductor (music), conductor. He was known mainly for his considerable output of lied, art ...

References

External links

Title page and contemporary cover of the first edition

"Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von"
by Hamid Tafazoli, in ''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English-language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encyc ...

''
West-östlicher Divan
from

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...

Germany
''West–östlicher Divan'' text website

English version website
{{DEFAULTSORT:West-ostlicher Diwan Poetry by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe German poetry collections 1819 poems

Composition

Reception

See also

References

External links