New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1896-09-30
THE HISTORY OF POETRY
Prof. Jappe Talks Of the Art Of Expressing
Ones Self In Postry
contin'ued.I

the epic, accounts Of the creation ant
the prehistoric times of mankind, mum
Der of excellent national war songs
hymns and the song Of songs, in add
ton to prophetical poetry we meet how
ever with no dramatic works.
It will not be necessary for m,
to explain the derivation and mean
ing of the terms epic, lyric and dralnat
| ic, the three fundamental divisions q
poetry as to form, indeed the only three
that are possible, and which have come
up historically in the order given.
The first simple poetry that we find
traces Of in every people is merely de.
scriptive man allows the objects to work
upon him with unrestricted force; great
events fill HIM with admiration or hor-
ror; he observes others almost exclusive
ly and does not yet know what self-ob-
servation is. No Delphic temple has as
yet greeted him with the motto -
"know thyself." When now, under the
impression of what is sublime or awful,
hi expresses himself in poetic way, he
will simply reflect the rays that fell up
on him; he will give an artless and more
or less minute descri ption of the events
and tho 1noo1if1oc %1,r% L.. I,
mind; and as his story goes from mouth
to mouth, it will slowly but surely be
changed and eventually enlarged. This
is epic poetry, also called objective po-
etry; but I should add that it is epic
poetry only in the narrowest meaning Of
the term, since it comprises only the So
called national epopees.
In a more advanced state of civiliza-
ton the person endowed with pcetical
talents is not satisfied with giving facts
and descriptions and letting them work
upon the hearers or readers as they
worked upon the author himself. He
wants to show accurately what he him.
self felt,represents his own self in state
of emotion, and has the intention to work
on the feelings of others by expounding
his own sentiments. While the epic poet
is, so to speak, behind the scene, the ly-
rio poet occupies prominent place on
it; the feelings of the lyric poet may
have been caused by events and facts
outside of himself; they may take these
as starting point, but his subjective
views are the main thing. It is obvious
that lyric poems must be short when
to an epopee, and the very
term lyric shows their Immediate and
natural connection with music, the sub
jectivc art.
The union at last Of the epic and lyric
element at the most advanced state of
poetry in nation takes place in dramat-
ic poetry. A drama, i. e. an action, is
represented as just taking place, pro-
duced by inner motives that the persons
acting express; we see them act, and we
feel with them. Ear and eye are stimuli
taneously worked upon; "while the epo-
pee," says W. Wackernagel, represents
exterior facts as passed, and the lyric
poem interior states of the mind, dra-
matte poetry represents the latter in, and
through, the former. Beyond this third
kind there is none more, and there can
not be any in this both the inner and
the outer world are received into the do
maiH of poetry; in epic and lyric poetry
they are separated, form contrasts; in
dramatic poetry they are united and, we
might say, cast together
The first beginnings of Greek poetry
are lost in the prehistoric times; mythol-
ogy and tradition tell US about such men
as Orpheus, Limos, Musaeus, etc, who,
were, as we believe, the most marvel
Gus singers and poets. They have of
course never existed; only the first rudi-
ments of the poetical and musical arts
were attributed to superhuman geniusses
such as they are said to have been; adj
miration and veneration for those who
did the first step towards national pc.
etry caused the splendid imagination of
the Greeks to invent such characters and
many stories about them. For at an ear
~ date the Greeks recognized the civil.
izlng influence of poetry and music; and
in Orpheus they made the at once miti.
eating and enchanting force of the sing.
er andplayer SO strong that even animals
beasts ofprey, yea inanimate nature, were
entirely overwhelmed by it and listened
spell-bound.
It seems to. have been with the Greek
as with the Germanic tribes during tn
early ages; the faculty Of poetical fictiol
was SO general that there were in tn
time before 1000 B. G. no professions