Author Topic: Empress Elisabeth's epistolary - poems/letters...  (Read 37434 times)

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Offline Madame-Sisi

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Re: Empress Elisabeth's epistolary - poems/letters...
« Reply #30 on: February 07, 2009, 08:22:03 AM »
Before the crownation of king and queen of Hungary Elisabeth was in Budapest and Franz was in Vienna, she kept him informed of every political move, following the daily reports of the parliamentary debates in the newspapers and sending him detailed accounts of her conversations with the various liberal statesmen. In her teasing, Ironic fashion she wrote to Franz:

I realize more and more how extraordinarily clever I am and that you have not got a sufficiently high opinion of my superior intelligence.

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The villa sisi rented in Hungary was to small for longer stays in the country, the Budapest Castle was too hot in summer; she wanted a castle in the countryside, and she knew exactly which one: Gödöllö.
In the midst of armistice negotiations with Italy, Franz wrote to Elisabeth:

If you like, you can go to Gödöllö to visit the wounded. But do not look at it as if we wanted to buy it, for I have no money now, and in these hard times, we must economize rigorously.
Even the family holdings have been terribly devastated by the Prussians, and it will take years before they recover. I have reduced the court budget for next year to 5 million, so that we have to economize 2 million. almost half the stables have to be sold, and we have to live in very reduced circumstances.

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Elisabeth wrote her husband a month after the crownation when she was ill..but prehaps pregnant of Marie-Valerie:

Prehaps im expecting. During this uncertainty, the Salzburg visit is very depressing. I could weep all day long, that is how infinitely sad I am. My dear soul, comfort me, I need it very much. I have lost all interest, I do not want to go riding or walking, All, All is vanity.

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On one of their walks, Elisabeth asked Countess Marie Festetics in hungarian:
"Aren't you suprised that i live like a hermit?"
And she went on to explain:
I have no alternative but to coose this life. In the great worls, I have been so persecuted, so many evil things have been said about me, I have been so malinged, been so deeply offended and hurt, and God sees my soul, sees that I have never done anything evil. So i thought I would find a society that does not disturb my peace and offers me pleasure.
The forest does not hurt me...Nature is much more rewarding than Humanity.

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This is what Elisabeth told one of her ladies-in-waiting somewhere in 1872.

"I was...certainly not raised to be an Empress, and I know that a great deal is lacking in my upbringing, but I have never done anything improper, as God is my witness.
I had opportunity. They would have liked to seperate me from the Emperor."
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A Poem Elisabeth wrote about prince Edward of wales( later King Edward VIII):

Wir sassen im Drawing-room gemütlich beisammen
Prince Eduard und ich.
Er raspelte Süssholz und schwärmte,
Er sagte, er liebte mich.
Er rückte sehr nah und nahm meine Hand,
Und lispelte: "Dear cousin, wie wär's?"
Ich lachte von herzen und drohte:
"There is somebody coming upstairs"
Wir lauschten, es war aber nichts,
Und weiter ging das lustige spiel.
Sir Eduard ward mutig,
Ja, er wagte auch viel.
Ich wehrte mich nicht, es war interessant,
Ich lachte: "Dear cousin, wie wär's?"
Da ward er verlegen und flüsterte leis:
"There is somebody coming upstairs."

Translated to English:
We were sitting cosily together in the drawing room,
Prince Edward and I.
He whispered sweet nothings and raved on,
He said that he loved me.
He drew very close and took my hand,
And whispered, Dear Cousin, How about it?
I laughed with all my heart and warned him,
"There is somebody coming upstairs."
We listened, but it was nothing.
And the merry game went on.
Sir Edward grew bold,
Yes, and very daring.
I did not protest, it was interesting,
I laughed, "Dear cousin, how about it?"
At that he grew embarrassed and whispered softly,
"There is somebody coming upstairs."
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Offline Madame-Sisi

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Re: Empress Elisabeth's epistolary - poems/letters...
« Reply #31 on: February 07, 2009, 08:22:28 AM »
In Elisabeths diary ( not found to this day but quoted by Marie Larisch), Elisabeth explained her tendencies.

I do not belong to those whose spiritual senses are closed off.
And that is why I hear, or, rather,feel the thoughts and the will concerning me of my spirit,
That is why I see blonde Else of the Rhine and Bubi( her nephew Taxis, who died young), once I also saw Max(brother-in-law), but he did not have the strenght to tell me what he clearly wished to tell me.... These images come to me in a waking state, just as a memory arouses "phantoms" while we sleep.
But what I see in the waking state are not phantoms, not hallucinations, as some people, who lack understanding, claim, and so give a meaningless word instead of a logical explanation....It gives me grat satisfaction and deep reassurance in many an hour that I can make a connection with spirits from beyond. But with very few exceptions, people do not understand, they declare to be nonsense.
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Elisabeth told her daughter Marie-Valerie(and she wrote it in her diary) and to Marie Larisch(that also wrote it down) about the "apparitions" of Ludwig II. Once she said, she heard a noise like the gurgling of water while she lay in bed.

Gradually this soft trickle filled the whole room, and I experienced the entire plight of drowning. I wheezed and choked and struggled for air, then the horror disappeared, with my last strenght I sat up in bed and could breathe freely again. The moon had risen, and its glow turned the room bright as day.
Then I saw the door slowly opening, and Ludwig entered.
His clothing was soaked with water, which ran down and formed small puddles on the parquet floor.
His damp hair was sticking to his white face, but it was Ludwig, looking just as he did in life.

Then Elisabeth continued, a conversation with Ludwig's spirit. And  he spoke of a woman who was burning: "I know that it is a woman who loved me, and until her destiny is fulfilled, I shall never be free. But afterward you will meet us, and the three of us will be happy together in paradise."

Elisabeth told Marie Larisch:
"But while I spoke, the apparition vanished; once again I heard the dripping of unseen water and the gurgle of the lake against the shore. I was seized with horror, for I felt the nearness of the shades from that other world who were holding out their ghostly arms, seeking the comfort of the living."
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Written in the midsummer of the year 1890 Elisabeth wrote this (its also in her poetic diary):

Dear Future Soul!
To you I pass on these writings.
The Master(Heinrich Heine) dictated them to me, and he has determined their purpose, that is, 60 years from 1890, they are to be published to benefit political prisoners and their needy families.
For in 60 years no more than today will happiness and peace - I mean liberty - be established on our little star.
Prehaps another one? Today I am unable to tell you this, prehaps by the time you read these lines, Cordially, for I sense that you wish me well,

Titania
midsummer 1890.
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In late 1890 Elisabeth wrote to Marie-Valerie.. it is about Katharina Schratt:

One must not look forward to anything not expect anything good.
Life has enough bitter pain. But Poka(its a hungarian word and a code name for Franz joseph) is happy tonight, I have invited his friend(K. Schratt) for 6:30 to Ida's to tell her a few travel memories. And today we went for a walk in Schönbrunn. It is so good finally to see a happy face in this dark, sad, and abandoned castle, and tonight Poka is truly merry as a lark.
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I have this from the book the Reluctant Empress by Brigitte Hamann..
Most of the important letters were burned by Elisabeth even Rudolfs last letter ordered to be burned. Her agent in this was her closest confidante of many years, Ida Ferenczy. Only a few  Letters from the 1860 and all the letters from about 1891 remained of those Franz Joseph had written to her through the tens of years of separation.
In Marie-Valeries Diary are some letters that she had from her mother..
I have some other letters and poems of her..when i find them i will place them here again.


IrinaAlexandrovna

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Re: Empress Elisabeth's epistolary - poems/letters...
« Reply #32 on: February 07, 2009, 10:19:05 AM »
Thank you soooo much ;)

Offline Madame-Sisi

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Re: Empress Elisabeth's epistolary - poems/letters...
« Reply #33 on: February 07, 2009, 11:05:14 AM »
Your very welcome ;)


Offline Princess Susan

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Re: Empress Elisabeth's epistolary - poems/letters...
« Reply #34 on: February 07, 2009, 03:15:29 PM »
Thank you for posting too! Most of those letters I have read before, but anyway I would love to see more.
If you have and can post something from"Briefe Kaiser Franz Josephs an Kaiserin Elisabeth", it would be great.
I have never had a chace to read it, but I assume, there must be plenty of interesting letters. :)

Offline Olga Maria

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Re: Empress Elisabeth's epistolary - poems/letters...
« Reply #35 on: February 07, 2009, 11:38:42 PM »
How I wish I am able to read German so that I don't need to translate anymore.
Thanks Madame-Sisi for that help.

Amazing colored fotos  by the most wonderful Yelena Aleksandrovna. Endless thank you very much!

Offline Yelena Aleksandrovna

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Re: Empress Elisabeth's epistolary - poems/letters...
« Reply #36 on: September 16, 2009, 08:36:49 PM »
I also knew that her poems weren't specially good. Of course I haven't read them.
I also knew that they were nostalgic, talking about that she needed freedom or wathever.

Offline Yelena Aleksandrovna

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Re: Empress Elisabeth's epistolary - poems/letters...
« Reply #37 on: September 28, 2009, 03:54:12 PM »
Do you know more of her poems?
I only knew that she wrote two books but they weren't so special, well, important on the literature

Offline Madame-Sisi

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Re: Empress Elisabeth's epistolary - poems/letters...
« Reply #38 on: October 13, 2009, 12:56:55 AM »
     Does anybody have any poem that Sissi wrote?  Or do you create yoursel a poem about her? Please post them , it will be very nice to read them.

I´m afraid reading of poems written by Sissi is not very nice. I have read a lot of them in very good biography of Sisssi by Brigitte Hamann. Sissi was not a good poet. Her poems are very long, boring and naive. And sometimes very severe to members of Habsburg dynasty.

i must agree they are not good...but it expresses her feelings..and some are quit funny!
but i dont think she even cared if people wouldnt like it...if i make a poem or something i also dont care about what others think of it...because its a way to express your feelings, even if the poem is good or bad..it is not made 2 be good or anjoying people, its just about how she feels, its about what lies beneath the poem, why she wrote it, what she was feeling and not made to amuse people who like litature.

but thats just my opinion :-)


RomanovsFan4Ever

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Re: Empress Elisabeth's epistolary - poems/letters...
« Reply #39 on: October 13, 2009, 09:34:42 AM »
i must agree they are not good...but it expresses her feelings..and some are quit funny!
but i dont think she even cared if people wouldnt like it...if i make a poem or something i also dont care about what others think of it...because its a way to express your feelings, even if the poem is good or bad..it is not made 2 be good or anjoying people, its just about how she feels, its about what lies beneath the poem, why she wrote it, what she was feeling and not made to amuse people who like litature.

but thats just my opinion :-)

I'm totally agree with you!, poetry it's art, and real artists don't care about what the others think about their works, their only interest is to express themselves through their works.
Personally, I like Empress Elizabeth's poems, although I have to admit that I don't consider them as real "masterpieces", but as I said, it's art, and art must be understand.
« Last Edit: October 13, 2009, 09:43:28 AM by RomanovsFan4Ever »

AngelAnastasia

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Re: Empress Elisabeth's epistolary - poems/letters...
« Reply #40 on: June 14, 2014, 01:08:33 AM »
A fairy walks among the earth
Wings unseen to humankind
Flowing locks adorned with flow'rs
The whole of life within her mind

She's now her own worst enemy
Arrayed in black, lifelong she'll mourn
And no one else shall understand
Why such a belle is so forlorn

Her poems tell of places
She visits in her sleep
She can't escape these fantasies
And drowns within their deep