In pursuing the discussions I have not, knowingly, wounded the feelings of any one, nor even by a word passed judgment against any. Others, I trust, will award to me the same equitable treatment, and not hastily, in judging, give sentence against me. I leave to every one the reward of his labour, aiming myself only to gather fruits that may be useful, and now and then a flower for enjoyment. What pleasure would it give me to have made more accessible, more natural, and more delightful the view of the Sacred Scriptures, which they exhibit from the side from which I have laboured to present them. The influence of the impression thus produced would be of wide extent, much wider than I can explain by a few brief remarks. The observations, which, to many readers might appear too learned, I could wish to have passed over by all such. They They are inserted for the sake of others, to whom the reasons of my translation must be given. No word is employed without necessity, or for a display of learning; for my vocation is, not to be a verbal critick of the Hebrew language, but to make the Hebrew books intelligible by placing them in their proper light, and to show their proper application and use. Weimar, April 24, 1783. HERDER, * I OF THE ORIGIN AND ESSENTIAL CHARACTER OF Hebrew Poetry had its origin in 1. The union of outward form with inward feeling. How far therefore it is Divine, and how far human. First essays in poetry among the Hebrews. The most ancient tablet of images. Language and poetry, an imitation of that creative agency, which determines the intelligi. ble essence and outward form of its creations. Whether the poetical images and feelings of one nation, especially an ancient one, are to be judged by those of other nations. Character of the most ancient poetry. Whether individual images can be taken out of their connexions and compared to any purpose with each other. Example in Job's description of the horse. 2. Personification. Origin of this in the human mind. Its effects on morals and poetry. Examples of it from nature, history, and the idea of the Divinity. 3. Fable. Origin of this, and its use in the earliest development of reason, the formation of manners, and maxims of prudence. Respect in which it was held in the East, and its influence on poetry. 4. Tradition. Difference between this and history. Essays in poetical family traditions. 5. Poetical invention. Its design. Examples of it in the Cherub and other inventions, in the kingdom of the dead, &c. Collection of these species under the general conception of the in its different forms. Second species of poetry, the Song. Distinguished from mere figura tive discourse. It is expressive of higher emotion, brings movement and purpose into the whole of a production, aims at the expression of harmony, and in the most ancient times was adapted to a chorus. Combination of figurative discourse and the song. Genius of Hebrew poetry, as learned from its origin. Appendix. Some of the grounds of the subjective origin of Hebrew poetry. Hitherto, in contemplating the most ancient and sublime phenomena exhibited by the poetry of the Hebrews, we have only stood at the foot of the mountain, and observed objects as they were presented to our view. We will now sit down, and arrange in order the results of our observation. The best conception of a thing is obtained from a knowledge of its origin. We proceed now, therefore, to treat of the origin of Hebrew poetry. 1. This, as I showed in treating of the radical words of the language and the fullness of their meaning, is form and feeling. From without, the forms of sense flow into the soul, which puts upon them the impress of its own feeling, and seeks to express them outwardly by gestures, tones, and other significant indications. The whole universe with its movements and forms is for the outward intuition of man, a vast tablet, on which are pictured all forms of living beings. He stands in a sea of living billows, and the fountain of life, which is within his own being, flows forth and re-acts against them. Thus, what flows in upon him from without, according as he feels it and impresses his own feeling upon it, forms the genius of his poetry in its original elements. It may therefore be denominated alike human and Divine, for it is in fact both. It was God, who created the fountain of feeling in man, who placed the universe with all its numberless currents setting in upon him, and mingled them with the feelings of his own breast. He gave him also language and the powers of poetical invention, and thus far is the origin of poetry Divine. It is human in respect to the measure and peculiarity of this feeling, and of the expression, which is given to it; for only human organs feel and utter the emotions and conceptions of the poet. Poetry is a Divine language, yet not in the sense that we understand by it what the Divine Being in himself feels and utters; whatever was given to the, most godlike men, even through a higher influ ence, to feel and experience in themselves, was still human. If we knew more of the psychological and historical circumstances, connected with these higher influences, and with the intercourse of the Elohim with the first children of creation, we might perhaps give also a more definite conclusion respecting the origin of their language and mode of representation. But, since the most ancient history of the human mind has denied us this, we must argue from the effect to the cause, from the outward working to the inward form of feeling, and thus we treat of the origin of poetry only as human. The spirit of poetry, therefore, was first exhibited in a dictionary of significant names, and (expressions full of imagery and of feeling, and I know of no poetry in the world, in which this origin is exhibited in greater purity than in this. The first specimen, which presents itself in it,* is a series of pictures exhibiting a view of the universe, and arranged in accordance with the dictates of human feeling. Light is the first uttered word of the creator, and the instrument of Divine efficiency in the sensitive human soul. By means of this the creation is unfolded and expanded. The heavens and the earth, night and day, the diurnal and nocturnal luminaries, creatures in the sea and on the land, are measured and estimated with reference to the human eye, to the wants, and the powers of feeling and of arrangement peculiar to man. The wheel of creation revolves with a circumference embracing all that his eye can reach, and stands still in himself as the centre of the circle, the visible God of this lower world. In giving names to all, and ordering all from the impulse of his own inward feeling, and with reference to himself, he becomes an imitator of the Divinity, a second Creator, a true dons, a creative poet. Following this origin of the poetick art, instead of placing its essence in an imitation of nature, as has generally been done, we might still more boldly place it in an imitation of that Divine agency, which creates, and gives * Gen. 1 -form and determinateness to the objects of its creation. Only the creative thoughts of God, however, are truly objective have actuality in their outward expression, and stand forth -existent and living in the products of creative power. Man can only give names to these creations, arrange and link them 'together; beyond this, his thoughts remain but lifeless forms, this words and the impulses of his feelings are not in themselves living products. Yet, the clearer the intuition, with which we contemplate and systematize the objects of creation, the more unsophisticated and full the impulse of feeling, which impels us to impress every thing with the purest character and fullest measure of humanity--that which marks the analogy of our being to that of God-the more beautiful, the more perfect, and, let us not doubt, the more powerful will be our poetick art. In this feeling of natural beauty and sublimity the child often has the advantage of the man of gray hairs, and nations of the greatest simplicity have in their natural imagery and expressions of natural feeling, the most elevated and touching poetry. I doubt whether this origin of poetry can be better and more beautifully expressed than it is by the Hebrew W. The word means to imprint to impress, to impress a form, a likeness; and so to speak in proverbs, as the of the Hebrew poetry are proverbs, wise sentences of the highest import; and again to decide, to put in order, to speak as a king or judge, finally, to reign, to have dominion, to be powerful by the word of one's mouth. Here we have the history of the origin of poetry and of the part of it, which is most powerful in its influence. It would scarcely have been deserving of remark, were it not necessary to prevent frequent misconception and abuse, that the poetical images and feelings of one people, and of one age can never be judged, censured, and rejected according to the standard of another people, and another age. Had the Creator so ordered it, that we had all been born upon the same spot of earth, at the same time, with the same feel |