I The Anaphora Poem Analysis

In the third poem, the speaker addresses the beloved for the first time. He has stepped into new territory and states that he had not known awe or desire before he met her. He begs her to choose him as a servant and to forgive the mistakes he is going to make. Three different images or ideas predominate the poem: a religious aspect, the concept of love as serving and the speaker’s youth and inexperience. After the trochees of the first two poems, the iambic metre of the third poem creates a sense of increased tempo. The focus has turned from a relatively calm contemplation of the scenery to the subjective experience of desire that has been transformed from the dreamlike state of the second poem to a more conscious and concrete longing. Throughout the entire song, the text helps the performers to coordinate the highly flexible tempi and dynamics that convey the intensity of emotions.
The first verse sets the atmosphere for the whole poem as the speaker humbly declares that he has come to new territory. The inversion of the first sentence is striking as it emphasises the speaker’s status as a newcomer while the pronoun “ich” (I) gets an unimportant place, unaccentuated and hidden in the middle of the sentence. The speaker describes himself with the word “Neuling”, which might either convey that he has just entered the garden and has never seen anything like it, or that he is young and inexperienced as a servant or lover. The noun “gehege” is noticeable, as it usually refers to an enclosure for animals in zoos or to an enclosed area in which game is cared for and hunted by huntsmen. The phrase “dein gehege” might allude either to the beloved’s high social rank as indicated by her ownership of such a place or to her imprisonment, the belonging to another man, which will be confirmed in the following poem. The word also implies the crossing of a border, both in the landscape and emotionally. The beginning of the song can be challenging to coordinate. Due to the abrupt start and the unison rhythms, it is crucial to agree on the tempo and the quality of the dotted rhythms. The text can help both performers to find the right atmosphere. Kerrigan and Lessem point out the march-like effect of the dotted notes. My singers and I, however, tried to avoid a march-like character as it would not match the speaker’s eager uncertainty. We instead decided to play and sing more towards the accents and phrase ends instead of emphasising one and one group. The rhythmic energy tempts the performers to be too direct, but the beginning should be soft and searching yet with an underlying tension and very clear. To achieve the right kind of tension, we realised it is helpful not to take too much time after the fermata at the end of the previous song before the start of this song. It is important that the sixteenth notes are not too light, and that the singer consciously uses the consonants. I find that I can convey the speaker’s energy and eagerness on the one hand and his insecurity on the other hand by playing non-legato in the left hand and legato lines that move towards the end of each bar in the right hand. If we manage to feel this start together, the rest of the song will also work well together. The anaphora “Kein staunen […]/Kein wunsch” in the second and third verse lends emphasis to the …show more content…
The combination of alliteration and pararhyme in “meinen mienen” adds to the intensity of the poetry and requires a nuance of time for the singer to taste the words without losing the underlying energy. The third verse shares the verb with the second verse. Thus, the sentence gets shorter and more emphatic. The phrase “eh ich dich blickte” (before I saw you) is inserted before “rege” instead of added at the end. The important event of seeing the beloved for the first time is thus emphasised. Despite the many voices in the piano and the expressive hairpin dynamics, it is crucial not to get too loud too early, so the tension increases gradually towards that important