History Literature / Lenore

Dost fear the dead, dear maid?"\\
-->-- William, from ''Leonora'' (translated by Benjamin Beresford)

->''"Dost tremble, love? The moon shines bright.\\
Huzzah! the dead ride quick at night!\\
Dost fear, my love, the spirits?"''

"Lenore"--also translated into English as "Ellenore", "Leonora", "Leonore" and "William and Helen"--is a German [[GothicHorror Gothic]] ballad by Gottfried August Bürger (1747-1794), published in 1774.

Her parents' clumsy attempts to console her only make Lenore freak out more and more, culminating in her [[RageAgainstTheHeavens accusing God of cruelty and injustice]]. Her mother warns her earnestly against the sin of blasphemy, but to no effect: Lenore declares that without Wilhelm, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor neither her life nor her salvation have any meaning to her.]]

Lenore is crying the night away in despair, when, at midnight, a knock comes at the door: It is Wilhelm! Instantly he declares to the overjoyed Lenore that he wants to marry her this very night, if only she will ride with him to his present place of residence.--If you know a thing or two about {{ghost stor|y}}ies, you probably know that Lenore is making a mistake when she mounts that black steed behind Wilhelm.

A straightforward ghost story based on an ancient plot (No. 365: "The Specter Bridegroom" in the Aarne-Thompson tale type index), "Lenore" struck a chord with readers, who seem to have developed an appetite for supernatural horror around the time. Its popularity also spread to Britain by way of numerous translations (there are at least ten, including one—as "William and Helen"--by Creator/WalterScott) and made it a seminal work of GothicHorror.

* TogetherInDeath: Lenore is overcome with despair when she realizes that her lover Wilhelm may not come back from the war, and says that she does not want to live without Wilhelm. At midnight, much to Lenore's joy, Wilhelm appears on a horse to take Lenore away with him. However, Wilhelm is, in fact, dead, and their ride ends on the graveyard where Wilhelm is buried. Lenore dies of terror on Wilhelm's grave, and thus is ultimately reunited with her lover.

[[http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Lenore Original text]] and translations by [[http://allpoetry.com/poem/8479465-William-and-Helen-by-Sir_Walter_Scott Walter Scott]] and [[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lenore_(1900) Dante Gabriel Rossetti]].

"Lenore" is also considered a seminal work for its form. In the second half of the 18th century the literary world started to get interested in folk traditions, including the songs of ''Bänkelsänger'' (who related various events and misdeeds at fairs) and the "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry". A lot of these were in monotonous, rather lame-footed verse, so Bürger as a poet decided to pay intense attention to the rhythm and used onomatopoeic words in crafting his ballad. It became a smash hit from the salons of the aristocracy to open-air recitals on fairgrounds and began a fashion for ballads among German poets, leading among other things to Goethe writing "The Sorcerer's Apprenctice" and "Literature/TheErlKing". So Bürger could justly be proud of his achievement and once called himself the [[BadassBoast Genghis Khan of ballads]]. As he wrote to his fellow poet Heinrich Christian Boie: "Is it possible that human senses something so delightful? All those who make ballads after me will indubitably be my vassals and will take their tone from me as their fief." To Boie, who lived in the same university town as he did, Bürger also wrote a "how-to" on 6 May, 1773:

* TogetherInDeath: Lenore is overcome with despair when she realizes that her lover Wilhelm may not come back from the war, and says that she does not want to live without Wilhelm. At midnight, much to Lenore's joy, Wilhelm appears on a horse to take Lenore away with him. However, Wilhelm is, in fact, dead, and their ride ends on the graveyard where Wilhelm is buried. Lenore dies of terror on Wilhelm's grave, and thus is ultimately reunited with Wilhelm.

"Lenore" is also considered a seminal work for its form. In the second half of the 18th century the literary world started to get interested in folk traditions, including the songs of ''Bänkelsänger'' (who related various events and misdeeds at fairs) and the "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry". A lot of these were in monotonous, rather lame-footed verse, so Bürger as a poet decided to pay intense attention to the rhythm and used onomatopoeic words in crafting his ballad. It became a smash hit from the salons of the aristocracy to open-air recitals on fairgrounds and began a fashion for ballads among German poets, leading among other things to Goethe writing "The Sorcerer's Apprenctice" and "TheErlKing". So Bürger could justly be proud of his achievement and once called himself the [[BadassBoast Genghis Khan of ballads]]. As he wrote to his fellow poet Heinrich Christian Boie: "Is it possible that human senses something so delightful? All those who make ballads after me will indubitably be my vassals and will take their tone from me as their fief." To Boie, who lived in the same university town as he did, Bürger also wrote a "how-to" on 6 May, 1773:

[[http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Lenore Original text]] and translations by [[http://allpoetry.com/poem/8479465-William-and-Helen-by-Sir_Walter_Scott Walter Scott]], [[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lenore_(1900) Dante Gabriel Rossetti]], [[http://www.bookdrum.com/books/a-tale-of-two-cities/140/bookmark/193822.html William Whewell]], and [[http://www.uta.edu/english/rosenberg/lenore Alfred Ayres]].

* TogetherInDeath: Lenore is overcome with despair when she realizes that her lover Wilhelm may not come back from the war, and says that she does not want to live without Wilhelm. At midnight, much to Lenore's joy, Wilhelm appears on a horse to take Lenore away with him. However, Wilhelm is, in fact, dead, and their ride ends on the graveyard where Wilhelm is buried. When Lenore dies of terror on Wilhelm's grave, she is ultimately reunited with Wilhelm.