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Page 1 of 21902 · PDF PAGE 100
Elizabeth. So sure? You want me to confess ae;ain The deep pure love, the love indicible. Tannhauser (to himself). Words, thoughts, that fail her? How should acts exceed ? (Aloud^ Better sit thus and read each other's thoughts — 1 in the blue eyes, in the hazel you ! Then, bending, I may touch my lips upon Sweet thoughtful brows. Elizabeth. Your kisses move my soul. Strange thoughts and unimagined destinies Take ship, and harbour in the heart of me. Tannhauser. Words mean too much, and never mean enough. Look, only look ! Elizabeth. I am so hap…
1902 · PDF PAGE 70
…e godhead could not bring That human lig^ht and livinar ! I will win. He must have banished Her—and dreams of me. Tannhauser {in sleep). Elizabeth ! Venus. His far-off baby-love ! I triunipli, then ! The Goddess hatli withdrawn. His mind works back to childhood, babydom, Will grow to manhood and remember me. Tannhauser {awaking, leaps to his feet). Freedom! Elizabeth! All hail to Her ! Radiant Goddess ! Liberty and love ! Venus. What sayest thou ? Curse Her ! Tannhauser. My Elizabeth! 68
1902 · PDF PAGE 133
Elizabeth. Oh no! Grant me one boon—the one that I shall ask Ever in this world ! Promise me! Tannhauser. Alas! One promise gave I once to woman — that Drove me to this illusion of your love, And broke your heart. Elizabeth. Oh no, I shall not die. Have I not Mary and the angels yet .'' Tannhauser. You are so pure, so pitiful —your word Cannot bring evil. Yes, I promise you ! Elizabeth. Go then the bitter pilgrimage to Rome, Gain absolution for this piteous past From him that owns the twin all-opening keys That bar your infinite on either side.…
1902 · PDF PAGE 97
I SCENE I. A room in the palace of the Landgrave. Elizabeth. AM ashamed to look upon thy face ! Tannhauser. O Love ! Pure mystery of hfe ! Elizabeth. Not so. Learn how this came. My father would have made A match of lands and titles. I declined, Minded to keep my high virginity. He laughed, was cruel. So I said at last : " Tannhauser only ! " Was this modesty .'' Listen. You loved me when I was a child ; And, in my childish way, I looked to you, Loved sitting at your knee and toying with 95
1902 · PDF PAGE 71
… still, Not with these shouts and wavings of the arms, Struts and unseemly gestures. Tannhauser ! Tannhauser. She waits for me, my sweet Elizabeth ! Venus or Lilith, I have loved thee well ! Now, to my freedom ! Venus. Your Elizabeth ! • Tannhauser. Ay, to those pure and alabaster brows, The tender fingers, and the maiden smile. Burn the whore's bed ! Unpaint the cruel lips ! 69
1902 · PDF PAGE 134
Tannhauser. I have no hope nor trust in man at all ; But I will go. Fare well, Elizabeth ! [^Going, returns and kneels before her. Dare you once kiss these grey and withered brows ? As 'twere some flower that fell amid my hair, The lotus of eternal hope and life. Elizabeth. Dare I } 1 kiss you once upon the brow, Praying that God will make the purpose clear. And on the eyes —that He may lend them light. [ Tannhauser rises, and silently departs. Oh God ! Oh God ! That I have loved him so ! Be merciful ! Be merciful ! to him, The great high soul,…
1902 · PDF PAGE 132
…tre and the whole. Fool's talk it is ! Consider the futility of mind ! Realize utterly how mean, how dull, How fruitless is Philosophy ! Elizabeth. Indeed My brain is baffled. But I see your point. Talking of God, even imagining. Insane! But for aspiring — that I will ! Tannhauser. That is true marriage, in my estimate. Aspire together to one Deity .-' Yes ! But to love thee otherwise than that ? Elizabeth. This one thing clearly do I understand : We shall not marry. It is well, my lord. Tannhauser. Miserable, miserable me ! I bring Hate and di…
1902 · PDF PAGE 99
Elizabeth. The proof! The proof ! Dear God, how true it is That such high worthiness sees nothing there In his own heart (save what is very Christ) But wickedness ! TannhAuser {aside). This is my punishment ! This faith, this hope, this love—to me —to me ! Elizabeth. Yet, once my word went forth into the world. Suddenly came the fear that you were still Accessible to men —mig^ht hear, misfht come ! The kind, grave face of you— that light outshone The mystical ideal. Therefore too I minded me of our old baby-love, And —marriages are made in heav…
1902 · PDF PAGE 130
…t path Seem, even deluded, to approach once more Infinity. For all the limitless Hath no distinction —evil is no more, And good no more. Elizabeth. But God is absolute Good ! Tannhauser. No ! He is Not ! That negative alone Shadows His shadow to our mortal mind. Elizabeth. That is too deep ; I cannot fathom you. 128
1902 · PDF PAGE 128
Tannhauser. My soul is sick of riddling. Fare you well ! \^£xtt the Unknown Minstrei. Wake, wake, poor child, poor child, Elizabeth ! Elizabeth. What says my dear one ? I have been with God. Tannhauser {aside). How shall I speak ? A violent good-bye, As one distraught, ashamed .-* I had unbared My bosom to these folk, but the sole pride, My father's gift —to be a gentleman — Forbade the dying, welcome otherwise, At any despicable hands as theirs. They, they might boast —we hundred swords or so Set on the mighty Tannhauser, and slew him. We, sca…
1902 · PDF PAGE 20
PERSONS CONCERNED THE WORLD OF GODS. Isis. Hathoor. THE WORLD OF MEN. Tannhauser. Elizabeth. An Unknown Minstrel. The Landgrave. Wolfram, \ Bertram, fA/ the Court of the Landgrave. Heinrich, ' A Shepherd Boy. Pilgrims, Foresters, Courtiers, etc. THE WORLD OF DEMONS. The Evil and Averse Hathoor, called Venus.
1902 · PDF PAGE 90
…rave. God avert omens ! Soft you, Tannhauser, You heard the heralds ? Tannhauser. Never a word of them ! Landgrave. You must remember my Elizabeth, My daughter — I designed to marry her To a most noble youth — 88
1902 · PDF PAGE 101
SCENE II. The Court assembled in the Great Hall. Landgrave enthroned, Elizabeth by his side. Facing them are the competing minstrels. Around, courtiers and fair ladies. Landgrave. Welcome all minstrels ! Let us celebrate In the old fashion, dear to Germany, My child's betrothal to this noble youth. Great lord, true knight, and honest gentleman, So long who journeyed on the holy quest Forgotten of these younger days, and now Come back among us to receive reward For those long sufferings ; in days of peace. In fruitful love, and marriage happines…
1902 · PDF PAGE 78
And given me a magic star to stand Over the house that hides Elizabeth. [A shepherd-boy is discovered upon a rock hard by. Shepherd-boy. Ta-lirra-lirra ! Hillo ho! The morning! \_He plays upon his flute. Tannhauser. These w^ere the melodies that I despised ! Oh God ! Be merciful to sinful me, And keep me in the Way of Truth. But Thou ! Forgive, forgive ! Lead, lead me to Thy Light ! Shepherd-boy {sings). Light in the sky Dawns to the East ! Song-bird and beast Wake and reply. Let me not die, Now, at the least ! Lord of the Light ! Queen of the …
1902 · PDF PAGE 91
…ls, unfamiliar ! But the theme I knew. And therefore leaps my bosom up : I rob your verderer of his nag, and ho ! Low the long gallop to Elizabeth ! Wolfram. Lucky and brave. How we all envy you ! Heinrich. Envy ? This day when he comes back to us ! Why, we are lucky too ! We thought you dead ! M 89
1902 · PDF PAGE 56
… divided in Her dark domain. Tannhauser. Already I have tasted once of this In its own lesser way. Ten years ago I loved a maiden called Elizabeth. A child she was, so delicate and frail, Far, white, and lonely as the coldest star Set beyond gaze of any eye but God's ; And, to forget her, found due somnolence In such a warm brown bosom as thine own 54
1902 · PDF PAGE 73
…er ! Who makes up the equal soul Of all the wickedness beneath the sun ? Lilith ! Seek out thy children to devour ! Leave me. I go to my Elizabeth. Venus. no ! It kills me ! That is naked truth. 1 am the soul and symbol of desire. Yet individual to thy love. Stay ! Stay ! One last caress, and then I let thee go, And — die. I fear, and I detest, this death. I am not mortal, doomed to it ! I slip Into mere slime ; no resurrection waits Me, made the vilest of the stars that fell. 71
1902 · PDF PAGE 107
… imagines himself to be still in Venusberg. Tannhauser {aside). I have been dreaming that I left this place, Escaped with life, wooed my Elizabeth ; My dreams are always strange in Venusberg. [ Taking his harp. Sing thee again, dear lady, of our joy .•* Listen, then, listen ! For some sombre finger. Other than mine, impulses on the string. This tune I knew not ! See, the strings are moved Subtly as if by witchcraft — or by God ! [Sings. In the Beginning God began, And saw the Night of Time begin ! Chaos, a speck ; and space, a span ; Ruinous cy…
1902 · PDF PAGE 124
…o the dayspring and the night, Dividing and uniting even here : The middle path — life interfused with death — Pure love ; the secret of Elizabeth ! This is my secret —in the man's delight To lose that stubborn ecstasy for God ! To this clear knowledge hath my path been trod In deepest hell— in the profoundest sky! This knowledge —the true immortality, I came unto through pain and tears. Tigerish hopes, and serpent loves, and dragon fears, Most bitter kisses, salted springs and dry ; In those deep caverns and slow-moving years. When dwelt I, in…
1902 · PDF PAGE 131
… you, He the Undefinable ! Not good ! Not wise! Not anything at all That heart can grasp, or reason frame, or soul Shadow the sense of ! Elizabeth. He is far too great ! I see ! Tannhauser. Not great ! The consciousness of man Their many generations moulded so To fix in definite ideas, and clothe Their Maker in the rags. If skies are vast, So gems are tiny : who shall choose between ? Who reads the riddle of the Universe ? All words ! Thus, from his rock-wrought peeking-poiiit Out speers the hermit. " See, the sun is dead ! " It shines elsewher…