I've appended the quote at the end, bracketing in the umlauts with
underlines. The context of the quote in the article was as a contrast to
Comte who was characterized as delighted with the prospect of a nature,
devoid of both humanity and divinity (the article actually contends that in
the very act of forbidding anthropomorphism, folks such as Boyle and Comte
were asserting a strong anthropocentrism). In retrospect, it seems possible
Schiller was comparing the nature of the ancient Greeks to the nature
portrayed in post-Newtonian science?
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 22:05:57 +0200
To: Rolfe Windward <IBALWIN who-is-at MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU
From: raeithel who-is-at INFORMATIK.UNI-HAMBURG.DE(Arne Raeithel)
Subject: Re: Schiller's regret (help)
See, Rolfe, I am active for you. I am not a knower of German High Classics.
In fact, I find it somewhat too romantic, high-brow, elitist...
The passage you quote has these three points [...], and I have the suspicion
that the grammatical subject changes in between. If it does, then the
first two lines could say:
Unconscious of the pleasures she is giving us [as a gift]
never been enchanted by her beauty/greatness/glory
and this could be said of the old Greeks, but then this doesn't fit.
Then next lines seem to speak of Newton's disenchanted Nature:
Like the dead beat of the pendulum clock,
she is serving slavishly the law of gravity
nature who has been robbed of Gods.
Looking back at my translations: the first two lines might speak about
the post-Newtonians. But then, it seems, the quote cannot come from a
poem about "The Gods of Greece".
Puzzled: Arne.
p.s. Since it fits with Dewey Dykstra's message
about the *TWO* LAWS OF GRAVITY
you might consider editing this
and let the xmca public see my feeble translator's powers...
-----------------------------------
At 16:02 22.05.1996 -0700, Rolfe Windward wrote:
>Arne, could I ask a favor? I came across this quote from Schiller but am
>uncertain of the source and can not find a translation. I think it refers
>to his regret over the split between humanity and nature but I regret to
>say that my German is inadequate to the task of translation (actually, it
>is only adequate to sing Brahams' lieder now and then). If you can think of
>a translation source, that would be great but I'd like your sense of what
>he is saying too if you don't mind. I'm sending it as a short WFW 6.0 file
>since Eudora does not give me adequate font control.
>Many thanks, Rolfe
"UnbewuBt der Freuden, die sie schenket,
Nie entz_u_ckt von ihrer Herrlichkeit ...
Gleich dem toten Schlag der Pendeluhr,
Dient sie knechtisch dem Gesetz der Schwere,
Die entg_o_tterte Natur."
-Friedrich Schiller (possibly from Die G_o_tter Griechenlands)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Rolfe Windward (UCLA GSE&IS, Curriculum & Teaching)
rwindwar who-is-at ucla.edu (text/BinHex/MIME/Uuencode)
CompuServe: 70014,0646 (text/binary/GIF/JPEG)
"The real is the realization of one of many possibilities."
-Elya Prigogine