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Page 1 of 11902 · PDF PAGE 106
Landgrave. Passion and music—but no Principle ! How different is Tannhauser! ( To the unknown minstrel^ You, sir, next ! Sing of pure love and noble womanhood. Our court loves not these wastrel troubadours, Loose locks, flushed faces, soul's unseemliness. The Unknown Minstrel (sings). Amid earth's motley, Gaia's cap and bells, This too material, too unreal life, Sing, sing the crown of tender miracles, The pure true wife ! Sing not of love, the unutterable one, The love divine that Mary has to men. Seek not the winepress and the rising sun Beyo…
1902 · PDF PAGE 129
Elizabeth. I heard, I pure, I virginal, your song ; The shameful story of your intercourse With —fiend or woman ? And your burning will, Even in that horror, to the Highest ; at last Your choice of me— the middle course of them, Pure human love ? And, if your song be true. As I, who heard the voice, the earnestness, Saw the deep eyes, and truth aflame in them. Know—then the choice be Mary's and not mine ! I love you better, were that possible ; Will make you a true wife, and lead your hand. Or be led by you, in the pleasant path. For me, I ente…
1902 · PDF PAGE 58
…t to touch the mere impalpable. To formulate the formless. Otherwise Christ did as well— thine own words turn again ! TannhAuser. Ah, if pure love could grow material ! There are pure women ! 56
1902 · PDF PAGE 98
…possible :— Had they but known it —just as one should say : " Bring down St Michael : let me marry him ! " They knew the angels were too pure ; but you, They guessed not how exalted were your hopes ; How utterly unselfish, pure, and true, Your great heart beat ! TannhAuser {with bitterness). I hardly knew, myself! {Aside.) Here is the virgin insight of the truth ! Or—cannot purity be brought to know Aught but itself? Some poets tell us that ! {Aloud.) I am unworthy even to speak to you. 96
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 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 71
…, 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 133
…ion 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. Then ! look with freshness, hope, and fortitude Still to the summit— the ideal God. 131
1902 · PDF PAGE 125
… ! Gentlemen and peers, What say you ? shall he live to boast himself, The abandoned, perjured, the apostate soul. Daring to come to our pure court to brag Of his incredible vileness ? To link up The saintly purity of this my child With his seducer's heart of hell ! My voice ! Death ! Your cry echoes me ? Voices. Death ! Death ! Tannhauser. Leap out, Sword of my fathers ! you have heard my harp ! Its music stings your vile hypocrisy Into mere hatred. Truth is terrible ! You, cousin, taken in adultery ! You, Wolfram, lover of the kitchen maids !…
1902 · PDF PAGE 86
The pure, unsullied soul. Even so, forsooth ! They tell no secrets in the scullery. And there is Heinrich, wastrel of the Court, Yet hides a heart beneath the foolish face. And lo ! The Landgrave ! Flushed, undignified ! The chase was long—if he could see himself! Wind, wind the mort ! What call will answer me When I step forward ? Am I dead, I wonder, Or merely on my hare-brain quest ? Three years Since I was seen in Germany ! \^He descends the hill and enters the company. Hail, friends ! Good cousin Landgrave, merry be the meet ! Landgrave. H…
1902 · PDF PAGE 124
…t and clear, As twilight to 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-movi…
1902 · PDF PAGE 121
… It fitteth not thy body to behold That living light of Hell, The unluminous, dead flame. Until that body from the crucible Hath passed, pure gold ! 119
1902 · PDF PAGE 143
…ills his sorrow, and Her sympathy, My common soul, that I am fain to fall Upon my face, and cry aloud to God : " O Thou, Sole Wise, Sole Pure, Sole Merciful, Who hast thus shewn Thy mystery to man : Grant that his coming may be very soon ! " See, the sobs shake me like a little child. The moon is crescent, waxing in the West. Take the last kiss, dear. What is the strange song ? [ The great Goddess ariseth, weeping for the slain Osiris Tannkduser. Isis. Isis am I, and from my life are fed All stars and suns, all moons that wax and wane, 141