Wanderers Nachtlied – 245 years ago

245 years ago, Goethe wrote his Wanderers Nachtlied in the Goethehäuschen. A poem that even found its way to the Kazakh national poet Abay.

On a warm summer night of September 6, 1780, Germany’s most popular poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, was resting with friends in a small wooden hut near the summit of the Kickelhahn mountain near Ilmenau after a long hike through the Thuringian Forest. As the evening progressed, a poem came to him, one that would capture the view from the window of the wonderful natural surroundings and his current mood. He carved it in German into the wooden wall of the todays popular Goethehäuschen:

Ueber allen Gipfeln
Ist Ruh’,
In allen Wipfeln
Spürest Du
Kaum einen Hauch;
Die Vögelein schweigen im Walde.
Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

This poem became later popular as the Wanderers Nachtlied. In a direct translation into English language it would sound like this:

Above all the peaks
Is peace,
In all the treetops
You feel
Hardly a breath;
The little birds are silent in the woods.
Just wait! Soon
You too will rest.

This poem quickly gained popularity in Europe when it was published without authorization in a magazine by August Adolph von Hennings, over 20 years later, in 1800. It was translated in multiple languages and enjoyed a triumphant journey around the world, reaching the Kazakh poet Abai Qunanbaiuly in what is now eastern Kazakhstan. Abai read it in the Russian version, translated by the Russian poet Lermontov in 1840, and was quickly inspired by the poem as well, leading him to translate it into Kazakh at the end of the 19th century as well:

Қараңғы түнде тау қалғып,
Ұйқыға кетер балбырап.
Даланы жым-жырт дел-сал ғып,
Түн басады салбырап.
Шаң шығармас жол-дағы,
Сілкіне алмас жапырақ. Тыншығарсың сен-дағы
Сабыр қылсаң азырақ.

However, it wasn’t a direct translation. He adapted the poem to the Kazakh landscape and his surroundings. The English translation would therefore be as follows:

In the gloomy night,
The dormant mountain is resting.
The night is slowly deepening,
By making the slumbering steppe in silence.
The road is dustless,
Not a leaf can be shaken. You’ll finally find your rest,
If you wait a little bit.

Doesn’t it sound beautiful in Kazakh too? It’s wonderful to see how poetry and literature connect not only people, but also countries all over the world. In the Goethehäuschen, you’ll find Goethe’s original poem alongside translations of other poets from around the globe – including Abay’s Kazakh translation.

We wish you a lovely summer day!