Thursday, 7 April 2016

The meaning of "hemorrhoidal sensations"


The Swede, like the Frenchman, prefers in Poetry the light, the clear and the transparent. The profound, indeed, he demands and values also; but it must be a depth that is pellucid. He wishes that he may see the gold sands at the bottom of the wave. Whatever is dark and muddy, so that it cannot give him any distinct image — let it be as far fetched as it may — he cannot suffer. He believes that




Th’ obscurely utter’d is th’ obscurely thought,




and clearness is a necessary condition for whatever shall produce any effect upon him. In this he differs widely from the German, who in consequence of his contemplative nature, not only suffers, but even prefers, the mystical and the nebulous, in which he loves to foresee something deeply thought. He has more ‘Gemüth’ and gloomy seriousness than the Swede, who is more superficial and more frivolous. This is the source of those mystical feelings and hemorrhoidal sensations (hemmorrhoidal-känningarne) in the German Poetry, for which we have no taste.



Esaias Tegnér, quoted in Fritiof's Saga: a Legend of the North, by F M Franzén, 1839 (my emphasis)




What's the meaning of "hemorrhoidal sensations"?



Does that mean that reading German poetry will produce bad feelings just like having piles?

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