Wieland's Der Vogelsang: Prodesse Between Enlightenment and Idealism

Abstract

Whenever asked about the ultimate purpose of literature, Wieland responded in good enlightenment fashion by emphasizing that literary art, in addition to providing pleasure, should instruct.' What he understood by such instruction, however,-its specific nature and manner of realization in practice-underwent a profound change which is reflected in the shift from overt didacticism in his early writings to implied didacticism in the works beginning with Don Sylvio (1764).' His later attitude finds poetic expression in a short verse narrative called Der Vogelsang, oder die drei Lehren (1778), which is a recreation or adaptation of Le lai de 1'oiselet, an anonymous early thirteenth century French fabliau first published by Etienne Barbazan in 1756.:3 Especially in comparison with its source, this work provides an opportunity to study Wieland's understanding of the didactic dimension of literature and to view one portion of the interface between enlightenment and idealism. The narrator sets the scene in Swabia some five hundred years in the past and then describes the opulent estate of a medieval parvenu called der reiche Hans. On this estate there is a paradisiacal grove formed by a seven-fold circle of linden trees with branches intertwined so as to create eternal twilight; in the center a rose hedge surrounds a marble fountain which bubbles forth clear, ice-cold refreshment. Twice a day a little bird endowed by fairies with magical powers appears at the fountain to sing. As long as it is present the beauty of the grove endures; as soon as it leaves, however, the foliage withers, the flowers die, and the fountain runs dry, leaving nothing but rock and sand behind. One day the Philistine Hans snares the bird in order to receive a handsome reward from the king. Finding its arguments of no avail, the bird buys its freedom by promising to tell Hans three things,