for love. One of the greatest of writers for children of all time, Johanna Spyri, began first to write when she had to give up longed-for grandchildren; she has made grandchildren for herself in her poetry.[1]
Walter von der Vogelweide, who often mourned over his poverty, tells in his poems frequently of unveiled wish dreams which his chivalry-loving ideals let come to pass.
I wot it came to be
All lands were serving me;
My soul was light and free,
No care to burden me;
The body, at its ease,
Was moving as it pleased;
Nought there was to trouble me.
May God decree what is to be—
A fairer dream I ne'er shall see.
In still more detail he relates a wish dream in the following poem:
Lady, take this wreath,—
I said to a beauteous maiden;—
And you will grace the dance
With the flowers, fair to see.
Had I but precious stones,
You should be decked therewith;
Believe my promises,
Behold my faithfulness!
She took what I held out,
Like a joyous child,
And her cheeks flushed
Like roses among the lilies.
Graciously she bowed her head,
But dropped her beauteous eyes—
And this was my reward,
None greater did I crave!
Through what she did to me
I must at this summer time
Search the eyes of all maidens,
My anxious quest to end—
- ↑ Since then the wonderful analysis of Freud has appeared: "Der Wahn und die Träume," in W. Jensen's "Gradiva," as the first volume of these "Schriften." Unfortunately we know too little of the psychological relation in which the poet of this Pompeyan phantasy stood to it. Probably in a very intimate relation; it is one of the "living" poems.
