German composition

Section 75. THE BEAUTY OF THE EYE. II.

Reading edition

We realise⁠[1] this fully only when⁠[2] we gaze into the faces of those we love. It⁠[3] is their eyes (S. 16, N. 10) we look at⁠[4] when we are near them, and⁠[5] recall when we are⁠[6] far away. The face is a⁠[7] blank without the eye, and the eye seems to concentrate every⁠[8] feature in itself. It is the eye that smiles, not the lips; it is the eye that listens⁠[9], not the ear; it⁠[10] that frowns, not the brow; it⁠[11] that mourns, not the voice. Every sense and every faculty⁠[12] seems to⁠[13] flow toward it, and find expression through it⁠[14], nay⁠[15], to be lost in it; for all must have felt at times as⁠[16] if a man’s eye was not a part of him, but (S. 6, N. 10) the man himself; as⁠[17] if it had not merely life, but also a⁠[18] personality of its own;—as⁠[19] if it was not only a living, but also a thinking being.—Prof. G. Wilson.

Notes in this chapter

Note 10 · The co-ordinative conjunction ‘but’ must be rendered by ‘sondern’, when, after a negative statement, the subsequent clause expresses an idea Note 10 · Supply the relative pronoun ‘which’, for: The relative pronoun can never be omitted in German; to spill, vergießen.Note 1 · ‘to realise’, here = to comprehend, begreifen. The object ‘this’ may be emphasized by being placed at the head of the clause. Fully only, er Note 2 · Say ‘when we look upon (betrachten) the face (Antlitz, n.) of our loved ones (unserer Lieben)’.Note 3 · Es sind.Note 4 · anblicken.Note 5 · and which we recall (sich zurückrufen).Note 6 · are far away, fern von ihnen weilen.Note 7 · a blank = expressionless.Note 8 · Supply here the adj. ‘individual’ (einzeln).Note 9 · lauschen.Note 10 · Say ‘the eye frowns (zürnen, i.e. to look angry)’.Note 11 · Say ‘the eye is sad’.Note 12 · Gemütsstimmung, f.Note 13 · to — it, dahin zu strömen.Note 14 · ‘it’, here = the same.Note 15 · ja, darin aufzugehen.Note 16 · as if ... was, als wäre; a man’s eye = the eye of a man.Note 17 · as if it had, als hätte es.Note 18 · a personality of its own = a self-dependent personality.Note 19 · as if it was, als wäre es.