Das zerbrochene Ringlein

"Das zerbrochene Ringlein" (The broken little ring) is a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff, which can be found also titled as Lied (lay, or song), first published 1813 by Justinus Kerner et al. in the almanac Deutscher Dichterwald (German Poets’ Forest) under the pseudonym "Florens" and afterwords in his novel Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts.[1] 1807/08 Eichendorff pondered in his diaries about his unhappy love affair with Käthchen Förster, the daughter of a Heidelberg cellarman, during his student days.[2] This fact is remembered by a memorial stone at the Philosophenweg (Philosophers' Walk) in Heidelberg, along the Neckar.

Das zerbrochene Ringlein
by Joseph von Eichendorff
The poem as a song in Allgemeines Deutsches Kommersbuch, Lahr, 1896
First published in1813 (1813)
LanguageGerman
Subject(s)unhappy love
Rhyme schemeabab
PublisherJustinus Kerner
Lines20

In 1814, Eichendorf's love poem was set to music by Friedrich Glück,[3] and became popular under the title "In einem kühlen Grunde" (In a cool valley), taken from the first verse of the first stanza. The poem can be heard in recent versions by Comedian Harmonists, Heino, and Max Raabe, among others.[4]

Romantic old mill by Robert Kummer, 1840

Text

Das zerbrochene Ringlein



In einem kühlen Grunde

Da geht ein Mühlenrad

Mein' Liebste ist verschwunden,

Die dort gewohnet hat.



Sie hat mir Treu versprochen,

Gab mir ein’n Ring dabei,

Sie hat die Treu" gebrochen,

Mein Ringlein sprang entzwei.



Ich möcht' als Spielmann reisen

Weit in die Welt hinaus,

Und singen meine Weisen,

Und geh'n von Haus zu Haus.

 

Ich möcht’ als Reiter fliegen

Wohl in die blut'ge Schlacht,

Um stille Feuer liegen

Im Feld bei dunkler Nacht.

 

Hör' ich das Mühlrad gehen:

Ich weiß nicht, was ich will —

Ich möcht' am liebsten sterben,

Da wär's auf einmal still!

The Broken Ring



Within a watered valley

A mill turns night and day;

And there my love was dwelling

Before she went away.



A little ring she gave me,

A pledge to bind her heart;

But since her troth she’s broken,

My ring has come apart.



I fain would go as minstrel

And wander far away,

And earn my bread by singing

My songs from day to day.



I fain would mount a charger

And glory seek in fight,

By silent camp-fires lying,

When falls the dark of night.



For when I hear the mill-wheel,

I know not what I will —

I fain would die, then surely

It would at last be still![5]

References
  1. Joseph von Eichendorff: Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts (Memoirs of a good-for-nothing), Vereinsbuchhandlung, Berlin 1826, p. 227. http://images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Aus_dem_Leben_eines_Taugenichts_und_das_Marmorbild.djvu/page231-1260px-Aus_dem_Leben_eines_Taugenichts_und_das_Marmorbild.djvu.jpg&imgrefurl=https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Seite:Aus_dem_Leben_eines_Taugenichts_und_das_Marmorbild.djvu/231&h=2149&w=1260&tbnid=f_V8BBCi1W7HPM:&docid=fft9F56IqhU1cM&itg=1&ei=NLpRVqCJC4amsAGh06fwAg&tbm=isch&iact=rc&uact=3&page=1&start=0&ved=0ahUKEwig8_r7iKTJAhUGEywKHaHpCS4QrQMIbzAZ
  2. Cf. Günther Schiwy: Eichendorf. Der Dichter in seiner Zeit. Eine Biographie. Verlag C.H. Beck, München 2000, pp. 243-249. ISBN 3-406-46673-7
  3. Friedrich Glück#Bekannte Werke
  4. Interpretationen unter dem Titel „Die Klage“
  5. Translated by Geoffrey Herbert Chase. In: German Poetry from 1750 to 1900. Ed. by Robert M. Browning. The German Library, vol. 39. General ed. Volkmar Sander. The Continuum Publishing Company, New York 1984, p. 146-147.
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