August Graf von Platen-Hallermünde

A German poet with a strong desire for the formal beauty of neoclassicism. Born into a declining aristocratic family in Ansbach, North Germany, he grew up in the patriotic and Protestant world of Prussia. At the age of 10, his hometown of Ansbach was transferred to Bavaria, a state of the Rhine Confederation that was allied with France, and his environment changed dramatically. From 1814 to 1818, he served in France as a Bavarian officer, but he realized that soldiers were not citizens but merely machines of the monarch, and he criticized the anti-national and selfish policies of the absolute dictatorship as well as the stagnation in his own country. The political developments in his own country dashed Platen's hopes of reforming life and moving forward toward freedom. His poetry moved away from politics, and, influenced by romanticism, he began to find solace and hope in religion. He studied at the universities of Würzburg and Erlangen (1818-25), experimenting with various poetic forms, and through his friendship with the poet Rückert, he learned Persian and Arabic languages ​​and literature, and composed gazelles that made full use of Persian poetic forms while exploring the concept of beauty (1821-23). ​​In 1823, he published New Gazelles. His trip to Venice produced Venetian Sonnets (1825). From 1826, he stayed in Italy until his death in Syracuse, Sicily. He also wrote plays such as The Sinister Folk (1826) and Romantic Oedipus (1829).

Platen was highly regarded in the 19th century, and his reputation increased further at the end of the century when the Georgenists saw him as a forerunner of Symbolism, but his reputation subsequently declined as he was seen as an aestheticist who was out of touch with the times and with life.

[Yokota Chie]

"Poetry Collection (Excerpts)" translated by Jiro Kawamura (included in "World Famous Poetry Collection 6", 1960, Heibonsha)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

擬古典主義の形式美を求める強い意志をもったドイツの詩人。北ドイツ、アンスバッハの斜陽貴族の家に生まれる。プロイセンの愛国的、新教の世界に育つ。10歳のとき、生まれ故郷アンスバッハがフランスと結ぶライン同盟国バイエルンに移行し、環境は一転。1814～18年、バイエルンの士官としてフランスへ従軍したが、兵士は市民ではなく君主の機械にすぎないことを痛感し、絶対制の反国民的・利己的政策を、また自国内の停滞を批判した。自国の政治上の成り行きが、生活改革と自由への前進を目ざすプラーテンの希望を打ちのめした。彼の詩は政治を離れ、ロマン派の影響もあって、宗教に慰めと希望をみいだすようになる。ウュルツブルクとエルランゲンの大学に学び（1818～25）、さまざまな詩形に挑戦、詩人リュッケルトとの交友によりペルシア、アラビアの言語・文学を学び、美の概念を問題としつつ、ペルシアの詩形を駆使したガゼールをつくる（1821～23）。23年に『新ガゼール集』を出版。ベニスの旅から『ベネチアのソネット』（1825）が生まれる。26年以降、シチリアのシラクサで病没するまでイタリアに滞在した。ほかに『不吉なフォーク』（1826）、『ロマン的エーディプス』（1829）などの戯曲もある。

　プラーテンは、19世紀には評価も高く、世紀末にはゲオルゲ派が、象徴派の先駆としたためさらに評価を高めたが、以後その名声は、時代と人生から離れた唯美主義とみなされて落ちた。

［横田ちゑ］

『川村二郎訳『詩集（抄）』（『世界名詩集大成6』所収・1960・平凡社）』

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