The year 1840 was a turning point in the history of Germany. On the one hand, the critical application of Hegel's philosophy to theology and politics had brought about a scientific revolution. On the other hand, the coronation of Frederick William IV saw the emergence of a bourgeois movement whose constitutional aspirations still possessed a wholly radical veneer, varying from the vague "political poetry" of the period to the new phenomenon of a daily press with revolutionary powers.
What was Gottfried doing during this period? Together with Mockel he founded the "Maybug" (Maikäfer) "a Journal for non-Philistines"(p. 209) and the Maybug Club. The aim of this paper was nothing more than "to provide a cheerful and enjoyable evening for a group of friends once a week and to give the participants the opportunity to present their works for criticism by a benevolent, artistically-minded audience" (pp. 209-1O).
The actual purpose of the Maybug Club was to solve the riddle of the Blue Flower. The meetings took place in Mockel's house, where, surrounded by a group of insignificant students Mockel paraded as "Queen" (p. 210)and Kinkel as "Minister" (p. 225). Here our two misunderstood beautiful souls found it possible to make up for the "injustice the harsh world had done them" (p. 296); each could acknowledge the right of the other to the respective roles of Heinrich von Ofterdingen and the Blue Flower. Gottfried to whom the aping of other people's roles had become second nature must have felt happy to have created such a "theatre for connoisseurs" (p. 254).
The farce itself acted as the prelude to practical developments:
"These evenings provided the opportunity to see Mockel also in the house of her parents" (p. 212).
Moreover, the Maybug Club copied also the Göttinger Hain [23] poets, only with the difference that the latter represented a stage in the development of German literature while the former remained on the level of an insignificant local caricature. The "merry Maybugs" Sebastian Longard, Leo Hasse, C. A. Schlönbach, etc., were, as the biographical apologia admits, pale, insipid, indolent, unimportant youths (pp. 211 and 298).
Naturally, Gottfried soon began to make "comparisons" (p. 221)between Mockel and his fiancee, but he had "had no time hitherto" -- much against his usual habit -- "to reflect at all about weddings and marriage"(p. 219). In a word, he stood like Buridan's ass between the two bundles of hay, unable to decide between them. With her greater maturity and very practical bent Mockel "clearly discerned the invisible bond" (p. 225);she resolved to give "chance or the will of God" (p. 229) a helping hand.
"At a time of day when Kinkel was usually prevented by his scientific labours from seeing Mockel, he one day went to visit her and as he quietly approached her room he heard the sound of a mournful song. Pausing to listen he heard this song:
"Du nahstl Und wie Morgenröte Bebt's über die Wangen mein, usw. usw.
Viel namenlose Schmerzen:
Wehe Dufühlst es nicht!
[You draw nigh! And like the dawn There trembles on my cheeks, etc. etc.
Many a nameless pain.
Alas, you feel them not!]
A long drawn-out, melancholy chord concluded her song and faded gradually in the breeze" (pp. 230 and 231).
Gottfried crept away unobserved, as he imagined, and having arrived home again he found the situation very interesting. He wrote a large number of despairing sonnets in which he compared Mockel to the Lorelei (p. 233).
In order to escape from the Lorelei and to remain true to Miss Sophie Bögehold he tried to obtain a post as a teacher in Wiesbaden, but was rejected.
This accident was compounded by a further intervention by Fate which proved to be decisive. Not only was the "sun striving to leave the sign of Virgo"(p. 236), but also Gottfried and Mockel took a trip down the Rhine in a skiff; their skiff was overturned by an approaching steam-boat and Gottfried swam ashore bearing Mockel.
"As he drew towards the shore he felt her heart close to his and was suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling that only this woman would be able to make him happy" (p. 238).
On this occasion the experience that Gottfried has undergone is from a real novel and not merely an imaginary one: it is to be found in [Goethe's] Elective Affinities. This decided the matter; he broke off his engagement to Sophie Bögehold.
