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Fwd: Vaniada and Gingko Biloba various entries in ADA/Cf.Goethe´s poem
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----- Forwarded message from jansy@aetern.us -----
Date: Mon, 30 May 2005 15:55:57 -0300
From: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Reply-To: Jansy Berndt de Souza Mello <jansy@aetern.us>
Subject: Vaniada and Gingko Biloba various entries in ADA/ Cf.Goethe´s poem
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Dear Don, I don´t know if you can forward this material to the list. I got it
from the internet, while researching Goethe´s Gingko Biloba poem ( from the
"Westöstlichen Diwan) to compare it with the various references to Maidenhair
fern and Gingko leaves in ADA.
this is the address: www.xs4all.nl/~kwanten/goethe.htm
The German poet, scientist, botanist and philosopher, dedicated the poem below
to his former lover Marianne von Willemer. The Ginkgo leaf symbolizes Goethe's
theme, one and double. The Ginkgo tree that was Goethe's inspiration to write
the poem in 1815, grew in Heidelberg, Germany. On the picture below you see the
poem in Goethe's original handwriting.
This poem was published in Goethe's work 'West-östlichen Divan' (book Suleika)
of 1819, titled 'Gingo biloba' for literally reasons.
Copy of the original of Goethe's poem with Ginkgo-leaves pasted on it by Goethe
himself.
15, September 1815.
Original ( fair copy) in Goethe Museum, Düsseldorf (Germany).
21,4 x 32,7 cm
This leaf from a tree in the East,
Has been given to my garden.
It reveals a certain secret,
Which pleases me and thoughtful people.
Does it represent One living creature
Which has divided itself?
Or are these Two, which have decided,
That they should be as One?
To reply to such a Question,
I found the right answer:
Do you notice in my songs and verses
That I am One and Two?
----- End forwarded message -----
