I said I would post the Schiller poem mentioned today, the link to Spivak's discussion of sati will be clear, but the proximity of the much discussed erscheint (appearance) and hüllenlos (unveilled) shouldn't be overlooked. We will come back to this again.
Die Kunstler/The Artists:
Glückselige, die sie - aus Millionen
Die reinsten - ihrem Dienst geweiht,
In deren Brust sie würdigte zu thronen,
Durch deren Mund die Mächtige gebeut,
Die sie auf ewig flammenden Altären
Erkor das heil'ge Feuer ihr zu nähren,
Vor deren Aug allein sie hüllenlos erscheint,
Die sie in sanftem Bund um sich vereint!
Freut euch der ehrenvollen Stufe,
Worauf die hohe Ordnung euch gestellt!
In die erhabne Geisterwelt
Wart ihr der Menschheit erste Stufe!
The purest among millions, happy they
Whom to her service she has sanctified,
Whose mouths the mighty one's commands convey,
Within whose breasts she deigneth to abide;
Whom she ordained to feed her holy fire
Upon her altar's ever-flaming pyre,--
Whose eyes alone her unveiled graces meet,
And whom she gathers round in union sweet
In the much-honored place be glad
Where noble order bade ye climb,
For in the spirit-world sublime,
Man's loftiest rank ye've ever had!
Whom to her service she has sanctified,
Whose mouths the mighty one's commands convey,
Within whose breasts she deigneth to abide;
Whom she ordained to feed her holy fire
Upon her altar's ever-flaming pyre,--
Whose eyes alone her unveiled graces meet,
And whom she gathers round in union sweet
In the much-honored place be glad
Where noble order bade ye climb,
For in the spirit-world sublime,
Man's loftiest rank ye've ever had!
Comment by Sourav
ReplyDelete(added by me because for some reason this blog is having teething problems with access. I usually use wordpress and now am reminded why I left blogger originally - where my blog was hosted 2004-5). Here is the comment:
Even though there is about a hundred years gap ( this poem as per Google was written in 1789) this reminds me the half a century long cultural obsession in Europe around ' The Dance of the Seven Veils' performance ( triggered by Oscar Wilde's 1891 ' Salome' ). And I am quite enjoying the fact that one thing reminding and leading one to another in an endless chain is encouraged in Cultural Studies rather than chastised. So there.