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In the Woods

by Eduard Mörike (1804-1875)
translated from German by Alan Steinle

While lying on the grass beneath the leaves,
I listen to a cuckoo’s mournful song.
His melody flows gently out along
the valley, and I clearly hear him grieve.

The worst vexation that I can conceive:
society’s pale faces, stern and long.
But here they don’t contend or do me wrong,
for when I’m in the woods I find reprieve.

But if the people only knew how I
can lie and waste my time so leisurely,
they would be sure to envy my pursuits.

While I am gazing at the distant sky,
the words and lines and stanzas come to me
and form a sonnet just like twining shoots.

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Translator’s Note: Eduard Friedrich Mörike was born in Ludwigsburg. He was a German Lutheran pastor, a Romantic poet, and a novelist. While in a humanist grammar school, he studied the classics, and this background influenced his later writings. Many of his lyrics were set to music, and some became popular folk songs. However, one of his most admired works was a humorous novella about Mozart and artists in a world that doesn’t understand art. Apparently, the present sonnet was written and/or published in 1830 when Mörike was in his twenties.

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Original German

Am Walde

Eduard Mörike

Am Waldsaum kann ich lange Nachmittage,
Dem Kukuk horchend, in dem Grase liegen;
Er scheint das Tal gemaechlich einzuwiegen
Im friedevollen Gleichklang seiner Klage.

Da ist mir wohl, und meine schlimmste Plage,
Den Fratzen der Gesellschaft mich zu fuegen,
Hier wird sie mich doch endlich nicht bekriegen,
Wo ich auf eigne Weise mich behage.

Und wenn die feinen Leute nur erst daechten,
Wie schoen Poeten ihre Zeit verschwenden,
Sie wuerden mich zuletzt noch gar beneiden.

Denn des Sonetts gedraengte Kraenze flechten
Sich wie von selber unter meinen Haenden,
Indes die Augen in der Ferne weiden.

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Alan Steinle, originally from Oklahoma, is a writer, editor, and translator. You can find many of his Spanish translations here.

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20 Responses

  1. Julian D. Woodruff

    Thank you, Mr. Steinle. It’s good to see Moerike here, and your sensitive translation. Like me, when I struggled with a translation of Groth here 3 years ago, you gave up on trying to replicate the feminine line endings of the German, which in both your selection and mine seem to do a lot for the creation of a relaxed, reflective mood (though a native German speaker might not give much notice, I suppose). But you’ve done well to make up for the sacrifice by finding quiet end-syllables–in vowels (e.g., “leaves”) and liquescents (e.g., “song”). I hope you’ll send in more translations.

    Reply
    • Alan Steinle

      Hello, Julian. I didn’t even consider using feminine line endings, although maybe I should have. I tend to think in standard English meters, and I don’t usually try to replicate the exact form of the original, except for the rhyme scheme. What is most important to me is the overall meaning and tone of the poem, although using many of the original words, translated literally, often contributes to this goal.

      Reply
  2. Stephen M. Dickey

    Very skillfully done. This was a pleasure to read, both on its own and against the original.
    I hope you won’t consider it translational kibitzing if I respectfully offer a couple of alternatives. In line 12, one could have “as my eyes pasture in/on the distant sky”, and “weave” could fit in where you have “form” in line 14.

    Reply
    • Alan Steinle

      I appreciate your suggestions. I found this in the Collins German-English dictionary:

      seine Blicke or Augen an etw (dative) weiden to feast one’s eyes on sth

      So the last stanza might be better expressed as this:

      I feast my eyes upon the distant sky
      as words and lines and stanzas come to me
      and weave a sonnet just like twining shoots.

      I like the word “weave.” The only objection I have is that “form” is more passive and better expresses the idea that these sonnets are virtually falling into the author’s lap.

      Reply
  3. Paul A. Freeman

    Lovely, Alan. And perfect for the weekend, after all the week’s turbulances and tribulations. The last six line, especially, bring the spiritual world and the need to unwind to the fore.

    I also though the formality of the piece added a layer of gravitas to ‘In the Woods’ which is much appreciated as I swelter in the desert heat.

    I don’t speak German, but could ‘and sounds / sounding clearly as he grieves’ fit in at the end of line 4 so there’s no disconnect between ‘leaves’ and ‘grieve’.

    Either way, this is a poem to come back to when ‘they’ are getting me down.

    Thanks for the read, Alan.

    Reply
    • Alan Steinle

      Maybe this would be better?

      While lying on the grass beneath the leaves,
      I listen to a cuckoo’s mournful song.
      His melody flows gently out along
      the valley, and I listen as he grieves.

      Reply
  4. Roy Eugene Peterson

    As a former linguist and translator of Russian, German, and Vietnamese, I noted some departures from the original text that set a slightly different tone, but you worked well to carry the essence into English with the rhymes.

    Here is my own translation without trying to make it rhyme:

    “I can spend long afternoons on the edge of the forest,
    Listening to the cuckoo lying on the grass;
    He seems to be hugging the valley leisurely
    With the peaceful harmony of his complaint.”

    This is not a criticism but a recognition of subtle changes. I applaud your translation into English classical poetry.

    Reply
    • Alan Steinle

      Thanks, Roy. I must admit that I’m not an expert at German. Apart from the high school German that I took long ago, I haven’t had much experience with it. This translation came from the idea of translating as many sonnets in different languages as possible. However, I ended up translating only one sonnet in German and one sonnet in French (aside from the Spanish sonnets that I have translated). I used Google translate and looked up individual words to make a literal translation. Then I paraphrased that to make an English sonnet. In any case, I appreciate all the suggestions given so far. They are better than AI suggestions and poems, in my opinion.

      Reply
      • Roy Eugene Peterson

        Thank you, Adam. You did a good job. After thinking about it, I would change one of my own words in the translation from “hugging” to “inveighing.” With the meaning of communicating with some hostility involved, “inveighing” fits better with “complaining.”
        As I said, you are commended for keeping the essence of the poem and achieving the trick of making it rhyme in English.

  5. Cheryl Corey

    I love the relaxed mood that you create in this poem. The closing phrase, ” a sonnet just like twining shoots”, is wonderful. Regarding your Spanish translation book, is it available anywhere else? I’m not into e-books. Thanks, Alan.

    Reply
    • Alan Steinle

      Hello, Cheryl. If you search for my name at Lulu.com, you will also find a PDF version, which you can print if you want to.

      Reply
  6. Daniel Howard

    This is a charming translation which has introduced me to a poem I hadn’t preciously read. Thanks

    Reply
  7. Christina Lesinski

    I don’t speak German at all, Alan, but I can imagine that this was challenging and commend you for your efforts. It sounded very smooth and flowing to me. And because I don’t speak German, I am grateful that you have given me the opportunity to read this in English. It is very serene and makes me indeed envy the speaker who can tuck himself away in the woods and throw his cares away for a little while. Good choice!

    Reply
    • Alan Steinle

      Thanks, Christina. Nature and poetry seem like a good combination to me, too. If only people could be as spontaneous as birds.

      Reply
  8. Margaret Coats

    Alan, you’ve made a good poem in English and inspired a good discussion on translation. It is always necessary to take some liberties in order to move from a poem in one language to a poem in a different language–for a translation of meaning only can end up with the poetry lost. It’s good that you anchor yourself with fidelity to the rhyme scheme and important words. I find especially with languages where I am weak, it is almost a requirement to give the poem long study to insure that I become as familiar as possible with everything it has to convey. You have an interesting project of translating sonnets from varied languages. The lyric form becomes your province. I wish you well in it.

    Reply
    • Alan Steinle

      Hello, Margaret. Thanks for your comments. As I said, I only translated two sonnets in this project. At this point, I’m not working on any more.

      Reply
  9. Yael

    Pretty good translation, but I believe that an older and idiomatic meaning of Fratze applies in this poem. You rendered the meaning of Fratzen (plural of Fratze) in a semi-literal sense, even though a Fratze is usually more than pale, long or stern. It is ugly, despicable, grotesque, and even demonic, unless it is used on small children as a term of endearment. But I believe you missed the idiomatic expression of Die Fratzen der Gesellschaft. This describes the annoying, nonsensical, and non-functional customs and small talk of the mainstream dominant society to which most people try to adhere. Some people do it out of tradition or a sense of duty to their upbringing, and others out of fear to stick out or be seen as different, crazy, or untrustworthy. Not this poet however, as he has dispensed with all such habits of small talk and behavior, and in this poem he describes what he does instead. Notice that the third line of the second stanza does not refer to the Fratzen der Gesellschaft of the second line which precedes it, but instead refers to die schlimmste Plage in the first line of the second stanza.

    Reply

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