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FOLKLORE, A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION IN MIHAI EMINESCU’S POETRY

Cristina Furtună Assist. Lecturer, PhD, Valahia University Târgoviște

Abstract:The poet looks into the artistic creation by means of folk songs and folktales which

would guide his entire aesthetic design until the end of his days. In one of his posthumous poems, he recalls the time when he would insatiably listen to the folktales told by the villagers of Ipoteşti.

His folkloric knowledge increased immensely during his pilgrimages throughout the country

when, with a notebook in his pocket, he would go from village to village and record features of the language spoken by the people in various counties, songs, folktales, etc.

Eminescu was well-aware and proud of this deep knowledge of the people. In his first writings,

Eminescu relied on the works of the great classics and on folk creation. Thus, the poem De-aş

avea, full of grace and optimism, published in Familia magazine in 1866, when the poet was only 16, is a combination of poetic elements taken from Alecsandri and the folklore.

In his work, Eminescu managed to make a significant contribution to highlighting the genius of

the people. The peopleřs life experience can be felt in his entire creation. The poet reworked folk sources but, more often than not he left the basic theme, which he dealt upon, untouched.

In this paper, we shall deal with some of the poems inspired by the folk creation: La mijloc de

codru des, Ce te legeni, and we shall also mention the folkloric influence in the poem Călin-file din poveste.

Keywords: folkloric creation, Eminescu, forest, Călin, wedding of insects.

In his manuscripts, Mihai Eminescu left us a rich folkloric material, poems, tall tales

and proverbs collected by him or by others. This material was first brought to light

partially in 1902 by Ilarie Chendi1, then by D. Murăraşu

2 and recently given to folk

literature researchers and lovers in an unabridged form in the fourth volume of the critical

edition of the poetřs work, supervised by the academician Perpessicius3.

Although he had the example of V. Alecsandri, M. Eminescu did not publish a

collection of folk poems, nor did he intend to publish one, because he did not collect

traditional productions for folkloric purposes. As early as 1866, he would confess to the

two seminarians he was travelling with from Târgu Mureş to Blaj, namely Ion Cotta and

Tudor Cojocaru, that he was collecting folk songs for his own poetic laboratory. But it is

precisely this orientation of his interest in folklore and his concern for recording the

authentic fact with its own artistic value, the depth with which he treated the folklore

issues of national culture that marked a particular moment in the manner of regarding folk

literature within the literary development in the second half of the 19th century.

M. Beniuc pointed out that ŖEminescuřs poetry cannot be understood, nor can

peopleřs love for it be accounted for without a profound knowledge of the living

relationship the poet has with his country and our people, with their literature and art,

the historical past of our nation and with the best literary and cultural achievements of

our land, which preceded Eminescuřs poetic activityŗ4.

1M. Eminescu. Opere complete. I. Literatura populară. Preface by I. Chendi, Bucureşti: Editura Universul, 1902. 2M. Eminescu, Literatura populară comentată de D. Murăraşu, Craiova, f.a. 3M. Eminescu. Opere VI. Literatura populară, critical edition supervised by Perpessicius. Bucureşti, 1963. 4M. Beniuc. Eminescu azi. În:Studii eminesciene. Bucureşt: Editura pentru Literatură , 1965, pp. 10-19.

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According to Mihai Eminescu, folklore comprises not only solitary songs or tales,

but the entire world of folk poetry as an essential part of literary tradition, as an

expression of the peopleřs view of life, of their way of living.

In 1874, he reaffirmed, complementing his own thoughts, what he had declared with

youthful pathos in 1866: ŖThe past has always fascinated me. Chronicles and folk songs

currently make up a material in which I find the essence of inspirationŗ5.

Mihai Eminescuřs interest in folklore is being achieved within two coordinates, two

levels which complement each other: the direct connection with folk creation, the level of

collections and the level of theoretical issues6.

Once, George Călinescu asserted that Mihai Eminescu would search everywhere for

the purity of style.

For his poetic arsenal and his theoretical documentation he only gathered authentic

materials which would help him go deep into folk psychology, extract folklore poetics

system data, enrich his language with elements from all Romanian dialects.

Mihai Eminescu integrates folk literature into his broad view of national culture and

explains the way in which the connections between the two major branches of Romanian

literature establish naturally.

With regard to the same view does he also formulate his opinion on the role of folk

literature in shaping the cultivated literature: ŖA truly enduring literature Ŕ he writes Ŕ

which should please us and be original to otherscan only be grounded on the living idiom

of our own people, its traditions, customs and history, on its genius. Whatever one might

produce beyond the truly national genius will not have value and durability either for us

or for foreignersŗ7. Historical and language documents Ŗare not only of archaeological

interest. They are Romania itself, the very genius of Romanian peopleŗ8.

In his memoirs on the great poet, Slavici very well describes Eminescuřs love for

folk creation: ŖMany of Eminescuřs most beautiful poems are folkloric not only in terms

of the language, rhythm, rhyme and temperament, but also in the way of thinking and

feeling. With him, this match with the folk way was deliberate… Eminescu insisted on

adjusting to the people in every respect for it was the only way for him to succeed and

carry onŗ9.

And further on: ŖThat is why his work has penetrated into increasingly larger

circles and is seizing more and more the hearts and the minds, therefore he becomes

greater and rises high in everyoneřs thoughtsŗ10

.

One may also say that the poet looks into the artistic creation by means of folk

songs and folktales which would guide his entire aesthetic design until the end of his

days. In one of his posthumous poems, he recalls the time when he would insatiably listen

to the folktales told by the villagers of Ipoteşti.

His folkloric knowledge increased immensely during his pilgrimages throughout the

country when, with a notebook in his pocket, he would go from village to village and

record features of the language spoken by the people in various counties, songs, folktales,

etc.

Eminescu was well-aware and proud of this deep knowledge of the people. In his

first writings, Eminescu relied on the works of the great classics and on folk creation.

Thus, the poem De-aş avea, full of grace and optimism, published in Familia magazine in

5I.E. Torouţiu. Studii şi documente literare, vol. VI, Editura Universul, Bucreşti, 1933, p. 127. 6 Mihai, Pop. Eminescu și folclorul. In: Studii eminesciene. București: Editura pentru Literatură, 1965, p. 200.

7M. Eminescu. Timpul, 8 May 1880, V, p. 103. 8M. Eminescu. Timpul, 1 April 1882, VII, p. 70. 9 Ioan, Slavici. Amintiri. București: Cultura Națională, 1924, p. 10. 10 Ibid., p.25.

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1866, when the poet was only 16, is a combination of poetic elements taken from

Alecsandri and from folklore.

The poetřs manuscripts contain numerous annotations regarding the importance of

folk poetry. In one of them, Eminescu writes: ŖThe charm of folk poetry lies in its being

the most concise expression of feeling and thinking. Leaving aside all that is unnatural, it

is no less than the language of feeling and for this language to be always fresh one often

gives up rhyming and, while in search for the most appropriate word, one does not need

to strive to build the verse. And let us hope there will still be souls that will not be

offended by the clumsy rhyme or the simplicity of an old word, but will rather adjust

better to the more-clear-than-water and more-precious-than-gold spring of our folk

poetry than drinking from the water spring of sugar and orangesŗ11

.

The last sentence expresses the poetřs disgust with the formalistic literature of the

age.

Applying his deep knowledge of folklore to the issues of the entire literature,

Eminescu gives an admirable definition of the folk character of literary creation: ŖFolk

literature is but the thought and the products of the peopleřs fantasy, which become

literature when they are produced through writing, or productions of the cultivated class

that match the peopleřs thinking so well that, if the folk has not made them, they might as

well haveŗ12

.

For Eminescu, the genius of the people lies at the very foundation of literature: ŖBut

a truly enduring literature, which should please us and be original to others,can only be

grounded on the living idiom of our own people, its traditions, customs and history, on its

genius.ŗ13

In his work, Eminescu managed to make a significant contribution to highlighting

the genius of the people. The peopleřs life experience can be felt in his entire creation.

The poet reworked folk sources but, more often than not, he left the basic theme, which he

dealt upon, almost untouched. Some other times, starting from the folk motif, he

transformed it, enriched it with original creations of high value. Thus, in his manuscripts

of folkloric collections the following poem can be found: ŖCe te legeni, plopule, / Fără

ploaie, fără vânt / Cu crengile la pământ? / Dar eu cum să nu mă legăn, / Că ei s-au

vorovit, / Trei băieţi din Baia Mare, / Ca pe mine să mă taie, / Să mă taie-n trei sfârtaie, /

Să mă puie pe trei cară, / Să mă ducă-n Timişoara, / Să mă facă-un fus de moarăŗ14

(roughly translated as ŖPoplar, why do you swing so low / Without rain or breeze / With

your branches bending so? / Why should I not be swinging / For three boys from Baia

Mare / Have talked to cut me down, / To cut me down in three / And put me in three carts

/ And take me to Timişoara / Make a mill axle out of meŗ).

Starting from this motif, the poet created the poem Ce te legeni... (Forest, Why

DřYou Swing So Low), a threnodial song in which the forest finds itself, in the brink of

winter, stripped of its vegetal clothes and deserted by birds, deprived of all that used to be

its richness, its motion, its very life: ŖCe te legeni, codrule, / Fără ploaie, fără vânt, / Cu

crengile la pământ?/ - De ce nu m-aş legăna, / Dacă trece vremea mea! / Ziua scade,

noapea creşte/ Şi frunzişul mi-l răreşte. / Bate vântul frunza-n dungă - / Cântăreţii mi-i

alungă; / Bate vântul dintr-o parte - / Iarna ici, vara-i departe. / Şi de ce să nu mă plec, /

Dacă păsările trec!ŗ15

(Forest, why dřyou swing so low_ / With your branches bending

11 M. Eminescu. Timpul, 8 May 1880, V, p. 103.

12 M. Eminescu. Timpul, 1 April 1882, VII, p. 70. 13 Ibid., p.70. 14 M. Eminescu. Poezii. Biblioteca școlarului. București: Editura Tineretului, 1965, p. 152. 15 Ibid., p. 154.

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so, / Thereřs no rain and no winds blow! / ŖYou should not be wondřring why / For my

time so swift does fly. / Nights grow longer, days grow shorter / Leaving of my leaves a

quarter; / Sideways does the wind strikes leaves, / Me of songsters it bereaves Ŕ / Cutting

like a scimitar; / Winterřs here and summerřs far; / What else could I do but sway / While

birds go in flight away?ŗ16

).

By describing nature as a folk artist does, Eminescu does not develop its beauty on

numerous metaphors and hyperboles, but seeks to render its charm in the simplest and

most direct poetic expressions. Many times, the poet even borrows the folkloric metre so

as the greatness of nature should be best described by means of its natural simplicity: La

mijloc de codru des/ Toate păsările ies,/ Din huceag de aluniş,/ La voiosul luminiş,/

Luminiş de lângă baltă,/ Care-n trestia înaltă/ Legănându-se din unde,/ În adâncu-i se

pătrunde/ Şi de lună şi de soare/ Şi de păsări călătoare,/ Şi de lună şi de stele/ Şi de zbor

de rândunele/ Şi de chipul dragei meleŗ. (La mijloc de codru)17

(Midst the Dense Old

Forest Stout: Midst the dense old forest stout / All the merry birds fly out, / Quit the hazel

thicket there / Out into the sunny air, / Round the pool grown high with sedge / Fiy about

the water's edge / Where, by little waves deflected, / On its shining face reflected, / Image

of the moon is lying, / And of birds of passage flying, / And of stars and heavens blue, /

And of swallows not a few, / And my darling's image too.18

)

Versification contributes to highlighting the feelings expressed by the poem. In

Freamăt de codru (The Murmur of the Forest), Eminescu uses the polymorphic sestet (i.e.

the stanza containing six lines) with enclosed rhymes. The first line rhymes with the sixth,

the second with the fifth and so on. The lines have eight syllables each, except the last one

which has only four syllables, achieving, through this contrast, some kind of emphasis, of

focus on the idea or feeling expressed in that particular stanza: ŖTresărind scânteie lacul/

Şi se leagănă sub soare;/ Eu, privindu-l din pădure,/ Las aleanul să mă fure/ Şi ascult de

la răcoare/ Pitpalacul.ŗ19

(On the pond bright sparks are falling, / Wavelets in the

sunlight glisten; / Gazing on the woods with rapture, / Do I let my spirit capture /

Drowsiness, and lie and listen... / Quails are calling20

).

The last verse, which here contains only one word with onomatopoeic value,

suddenly throws a determined contour on both the scenery and the nostalgia which seizes

the artist.

Mihai Eminescu was one of the best connoisseurs of the Romanian language both in

terms of its lexical richness and of its grammatical structure. He was keen on getting to

know the traditional (old and regional) aspect by means of collections of folk creations,

acquisitions of documents and old writings, researching all regions inhabited by

Romanians21

.

The poet was, at the same time, a cherisher of the language that he considered the

measure of a peopleřs level of civilisation. It was on many occasions that he voiced his

opinion regarding the Romanian language, which he thought of as being a rich empress

and expressed his confidence in the role of the living language of the people to always

underlie the development of literary language. ŖAnd let us hope there will still be souls

16 M. Eminescu, Poeme/Poems, Romanian-English bilingual edition, Translated by Leon Leviţchi and Andrei Bantaş,

Bucureşti: Editura Minerva, 1978, p. 471. 17 M. Eminescu. Poezii. Biblioteca școlarului. București: Editura Tineretului, 1965, p. 151. 18 M. Eminescu, Poems, English version by Corneliu M. Popescu, Bucureşti: Editura Eminescu, 1978, available at http://www.gabrielditu.com/eminescu/midst_dense_old_forest.asp, accessed 2 December 2017. 19 M. Eminescu. Poezii. Biblioteca școlarului. București: Editura Tineretului, 1965, pp. 55-56.

20 M. Eminescu, Poems, English version by Corneliu M. Popescu, Bucureşti: Editura Eminescu, 1978, available at http://www.gabrielditu.com/eminescu/murmur_of_forest.asp, accessed 2 December 2017. 21 Iorgu, Iordan. Observații cu privire la limba poeziilor. În: Studii eminesciene. București: Editura pentru Literatură, 1965, p. 521.

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that will not be offended by the clumsy rhyme or the simplicity of an old word, but will

rather adjust better to the more-clear-than-water and more-precious-than-gold spring of

our folk poetryŗ22

.

In a poem like Revedere (Return), the poet renders the joy of eternal youth and

vitality of nature by means of the image of the forest.

In its final form, the poem Sara pe deal (ŘTis Eve on the Hillside) is structured along

two parallel lines: the gradual dissolution of the dusk into the night and the similar glide

of the two lovers one towards the other. The movement, which is common to both levels,

is intangible, but have the same inexorable force: as nothing can prevent night from

falling, nothing could ever prevent the two lovers from meeting. In fact, no obstacle is in

their way, their encounter is like a favour done by unanimously benevolent gods; still, the

feeling of love, by its being included in a parallelism with nature, seems to have the same

intensity, calm and enveloping as the clouds drifting in the sky.

In a descriptive poem, the selection of nature images implies an intention of the poet

that he reveals. In Sara pe deal, the above-mentioned parallelism entails concordances of

tonality and a certain orientation of images.

The pastel-like aspect of the poem is due to the presence of some elements of

nature: turme Řflocksř, oamenii cu coasa în spinare Řpeasants, their scythes on their

backsř, luna Řmoonř, stele Řstarsř, deal şi vale Řhill and valleyřetc. They make up a

panoramic view, including the terrestrial world, structured on two levels: the hill and

the valleys, then the sky with the stars. The unity of the poetic space, so widely

dimensioned, is achieved by evoking the constitutive objects within the same emotional

register. The spectator is at a fixed point of observation, gazing at various elements of

nature, without really resting on any of them so as to be able to note and evoke clearly

distinctive particularities. A certain generality envelops the evocation, but it is an effect

of the perspective and indicates a certain state of mind23

.

In the poem Călin (file de poveste), Eminescu reshaped with much artistry a

number of tales, both in prose and especially in verse. In 1870, he published the tale in

prose Făt-Frumos din lacrimă (Prince Charming from a Teardrop), in which he blends

and merges elements from folktales.

Starting from tales he had collected in his journeys through the country, he created,

during his studies abroad, the tale in verse Călin Nebunul.

Călin Nebunul is a simple and modest lad, which is why he is considered a

blockhead and thus ridiculed. His great hidden virtues come to light in times of hardships,

in his fight against the elements of nature, against zmei and balauri, in order to save three

innocent girls, an emperorřs daughters, from death. Călin does all this not driven by the

thought of a reward, but only with the intent of striking at injustice, cruelty and deception.

Călin Nebunul is a model of faithful adaptation, in verse, of a folk theme. The poet

did not change the course of events told in the tale or the description of characters. He

gave the tall tale elements a great evocative power, enriching, highlighting, emphasising

with much craft various sides of human nature and of the incidents that the folktale

creator had hastily skipped.

In Călin (file de poveste) (Călin, pages from a tale), published in 1876, the poet

preserved the initial version only in the episode in which the hero finds the emperorřs

daughter in the forlorn hut. Otherwise, the entire poem is changed, as Călin (file de

22 Nicolescu, Aurel. Analize gramaticale şi stilistice. Editura Albatros, Bucureşti, 1981, p. 196. 23 Alexandru, Rosetti. Limba poeziilor lui Eminescu. Bucureşti: Editura de Stat pentru Literatură şi Artă, nr. 44, Mica bibliotecă critică, f.a., pp. 34-36.

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poveste) is, in terms of its thematico-ideological content, completely different from Călin

Nebunul.

Nature is part of lifeřs events, as is in the entire creation of the poet, being a means

of illustrating human feelings, an element which creates and completes an atmosphere.

The climax of the poem is the wedding in the forest, in which the whole nature

takes part. The episode includes the traditional elements of the folktale: codru de aramă

Řcopper woodsř, codru de argint Řsilver forestř, a nature which becomes alive by

personification, impressing not only through beauty, but also through abundance.

Thousands of butterflies and Řmany a swarm of golden bees / Busy at visiting the honey

flowers pass in among the treesř (mii de roiuri de albine curg în râuri sclipitoare)…

Everything makes one imagine that typically fairy-like atmosphere of tall tales which is

necessary for the preparation of the royal wedding: ŖDe treci codrii de aramă, de departe

vezi albind / Ș-auzi mândra glăsuire a pădurii de argint. / Acolo lână izvoară, iarba pare

de omăt,/ Flori albastre tremur ude în văzduhul tămâiet; / Pare-că și trunchii vecinici

poartă suflete sub coajă,/ Ce suspină printre ramuri cu a glasului lor vrajă./ Iar prin

mândrul întuneric al pădurii de argint / Vezi izvoare zdrumicate peste pietre licurind;/

Ele trec cu harnici unde și suspin-n flori molatic,/ Când coboară-n ropot dulce din

tăpșanul prăvălatic,/ Ele sar în bulgări fluizi peste prundul din răstoace, / În cuibar

rotind de ape, peste care luna zace./ Mii de fluturi mici, albaștri, mii de roiuri de albine/

Curg în râuri sclipitoare peste flori de miere pline,/ Împlu aerul văratic de mireasmă și

răcoare/ A popoarelor de muște sărbători murmuitoare.ŗ24

(ŖIf through the copper woods

you pass, the silver woods shine far away, / There you will hear a thousand throats

proclaim the forest's roundelay. / The grass beside the bubbling spring shines like snow in

sunlight fair / And blue flowers drenched in moisture rise and tremble in the perfumed air.

/ It seems the tall and ancient trees have souls beneath their bar concealed, / Souls that oft

amid their boughs by singing voices are revealed, / While down the hidden forest glades,

beneath the twilight's silver haze, / One sees the rapid brooklets leap along their shining

pebbly ways. / In hurrying, gleaming ripples bright, sighing among the flowers they go /

And tumbling down the torrent's track murmur and gurgle as they flow, / Swelling in

liquid masses clear over the shallow gravel beds, / A swirling, eddying, dancing stream,

on which the moon her silver sheds. / Many small blue butterflies, and many a swarm of

golden bees / Busy at visiting the honey flowers pass in among the trees, / And a host of

darting, shining flies of different kinds and hues / Make the summer air vibrate with

colours that the eyes confuse.ŗ25

)

The scenery is full of lights and colours. The silver woods shine, the grass shines

like snow, the glimmer of springs is clear, as is the blue of the flowers and butterflies. All

is accompanied by the magic music of the forest. The ancient trees, which seem to have

souls beneath their bar concealed, suspire through the air, the brooklets leap along their

shining pebbly ways, the bees, the flowers, the flies spread out the murmur of their

cheerful agitation.

The interlacing of visual and acoustic images, which make one hear a thousand

throats proclaim the forest's roundelay, creates an atmosphere that is filled with optimism

and buoyancy, perfectly matching the picture of the wedding ceremony.

Now, the fairy-like feel of the tale is gradually increasing. Emperors and empresses

from all corners of the world (din patru părți a lumii), paladins with golden hair, dragons

24 M. Eminescu. Poezii. Biblioteca școlarului. București: Editura Tineretului, 1965, p. 66. 25 M. Eminescu, Poems, English version by Corneliu M. Popescu, Bucureşti: Editura Eminescu, 1978, available at http://www.gabrielditu.com/eminescu/calin.asp, accessed 2 December 2017.

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dressed in wondrous mail attend the wedding. The clown Pepelea is also here, while the

moon is the bridesmaid and the sun is the groomsman.

Everything culminates with the wedding of the bridegroom butterfly (mire flutur)

and the bride, a timid violet moth (mireasaviorică), in which the small creatures of the

forest take part. The composition of the episode is highly original. The personification of

insects creates miniature portraits full of life, showing a deep power of observation and

characterisation of natureřs elements.

The tiny creatures of the forest cross the bridge of cobweb woven over the bushes.

The hardworking ants carry: Ŗ...în gură de făină marii saci,/ Ca să coacă pentru nuntă și

plăcinte și colaciŗ26

(Ŗ…sacks of flour and little lumps of yeast / In their strong mouths, to

bake puddings and cakes for the wedding feastŗ).

The bees bring honey and pure gold dust, from which the woodworm, goldsmith

fine, will make fantastic jewelleries.

The wedding cortege is rural. In front of it comes a cricket usher and round him

leaps a host of fleas, their tiny feet in iron shod. The priest is the potbellied (Ŗrotund în

pântecŗ) drone dressed in portentous velvet robe who:ŖSomnoros pe nas ca popii

glăsuiește-ncet un cântecŗ27

(Ŗin a drowsy nasal drawl mimics the priestly monotoneŗ).

Curling his moustache, the bridegroom butterfly sits in a nutshell coach pulled by

grasshoppers. After him, comes a host of butterflies, wedding guests, of every sort, in

light hearted cavalcade, playful, gallant, full of sport (Ŗde multe neamuri, cu inime ușoare,

toți șăgalnici și berbanțiŗ), the mosquitoes fiddlers, the beetles and bugs.

The portrait of the cricket usher is highly jocular and vivid. Upon his hind legs, he

bows before the guests clicking his spurs and, formal just like a diplomat, coughs, buttons

up his coat and earnestly utters his request: ŖSă iertați, boieri, ca nunta s-o pornim și noi

alături.ŗ28

(ŖPardon us, Lords And Ladies, if we have by yours our wedding feastŗ).

This episode points not only to the connection between the life of nature and manřs

existence, but also to that between real and fantastic elements which underlie the entire

poem.

The vocabulary is rich in elements taken from the peopleřs everyday life and is

employed by the poet in lyrical interventions and descriptions. He very suggestively

characterises certain situations and features.

Such words, expressions and folkloric phrases consolidate the legendary corpus of

the poem inspired by the peopleřs artistic tradition.

ŖMihai Eminescuřs poetic work has enriched the heritage of the national language

with expressions, words, constructions that bear the mark of his geniusŗ29

.

In conclusion, Eminescu does not depict the incidents of a love, but live itself, does

not depict the charms of a woman, but the woman herself; de does not provide separate

bits of nature, pieces of scenery, but all that is more general in nature. It goes without

saying that, in order to render the general, he uses colours of the particular. But what he

intends to give us is the general, the love, the woman, the nature. In all his poetry, he was

influenced by the folk song30

.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

26 M. Ibid., p. 67. 27 Ibid.

28 Ibid., p. 68. 29 Alexandru, Rosetti. Limba poeziilor lui Eminescu. Bucureşti: Editura de Stat pentru Literatură şi Artă, nr. 44, Mica bibliotecă critică, f.a., p. 69. 30 Garabet, Ibrăileanu. Studii literare. București: Editura Tineretului, Biblioteca școlarului, 1962, p. 148.

Iulian Boldea (Editor) - Literature, Discourses and the Power of Multicultural Dialogue

Arhipelag XXI Press, Tîrgu Mureș, 2017. eISBN: 978-606-8624-12-9

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