August Graf von Platen-HallermÜnde was born in Ansbach, Bavaria, October 24, 1796, and died near Syracuse, Sicily, December 5, 1835. The son of a noble family, Platen is, barring his Weltschmerz (world weariness, compare Lenau) and the fact that he spent a good part of his life in foreign lands, the exact opposite of Heine. While Heine affects a certain carelessness of rhyme and rhythm and diction, Platen observes a studied elegance. His verse form is faultless as if chiselled in marble, his rhymes the most careful and pure. His ballads have a stately majesty of rhythm that reflects the inherent nobility of the poet. On the whole, his stanzas are characterized by a full and sonorous ring, although effects of delicate grace are not wanting (67). Platen is one of the greatest masters of form in German literature and is unrivalled as a master of the sonnet.

66. ALARICH (Alaric), the great leader of the Goths, having conquered Rome, succumbed to a fever when 34 years old (410 A.D.), and was buried by his troops near Cosenza (Cosentia) in the river Busento. Notice the stately dignity of the long trochaic line without any marked caesural pause. Any attempt to introduce the latter spoils the majestic ring of the verse.

1. LISPELN, best rendered, are lisped, or resound faintly.

7. vied with each other for places in the rows along the stream.

67. The lily swaying to and fro in the water is perfectly pictured by the rhythm, especially by the recurring five-syllable rhymes.

68. The peculiar effect is largely due to the preponderance of rhymes on a or o which have proved an insurmountable obstacle for every translator. Even Longfellow failed. His rhymes of light, night, change the whole effect.

9. IN ACHT NEHMEN. to watch, in poetry is often construed with the genitive.

14. Refers to the harmony of the spheres.

18. Deceptively remote distance.

20. AUFS NEUE, anew.

69. PINDAR, the greatest of the Greek lyric poets, died according to legend as here described. He is justly famous for his majestic odes, and Platen revered him as his master.

9. SCHAUSPIEL, here theater.

11. It was customary in Greece for an older man to cultivate the friendship of a youth, e.g., Socrates and Alcibiades.

12. In the Greek drama the action was interspersed with choral odes, which were sung to the accompaniment of flutes.