German composition

Section 75 The Beauty of the Eye. — II

We realise⁠1 this fully only when⁠2 we gaze into the faces of those we love. It⁠3 is their eyes (S. 16, N. 10) we look at⁠4 when we are near them, and⁠5 recall when we are⁠6 far away. The face is a⁠7 blank without the eye, and the eye seems to concentrate every⁠8 feature in itself. It is the eye that smiles, not the lips; it is the eye that listens⁠9, not the ear; it⁠10 that frowns, not the brow; it⁠11 that mourns, not the voice. Every sense and every faculty⁠12 seems to⁠13 flow toward it, and find expression through it⁠14, nay⁠15, to be lost in it; for all must have felt at times as⁠16 if a man’s eye was not a part of him, but (S. 6, N. 10) the man himself; as⁠17 if it had not merely life, but also a⁠18 personality of its own;—as⁠19 if it was not only a living, but also a thinking being.—Prof. G. Wilson.

Notes

1 ‘to realise’, here = to comprehend, begreifen. The object ‘this’ may be emphasized by being placed at the head of the clause. Fully only, erst ganz.

2 Say ‘when we look upon (betrachten) the face (Antlitz, n.) of our loved ones (unserer Lieben)’.

3 Es sind.

4 anblicken.

5 and which we recall (sich zurückrufen).

6 are far away, fern von ihnen weilen.

7 a blank = expressionless.

8 Supply here the adj. ‘individual’ (einzeln).

9 lauschen.

10 Say ‘the eye frowns (zürnen, i.e. to look angry)’.

11 Say ‘the eye is sad’.

12 Gemütsstimmung, f.

13 to — it, dahin zu strömen.

14 ‘it’, here = the same.

15 ja, darin aufzugehen.

16 as if... was, als wäre; a man’s eye = the eye of a man.

17 as if it had, als hätte es.

18 a personality of its own = a self-dependent personality.

19 as if it was, als wäre es.