The Vampire: His German Roots
One of the very first, if not the first, direct mention of the vampire figure, is "Der Vampir" by Heinrich August Ossenfelder (1748). In this very short poem, Ossenfelder expressed a theme that continues to permeate vampire fiction to this day- its overt eroticism. The poem tells the story of a man who is rejected by a chaste maiden, who then threatens to visit her at night and drink her blood with his vampiric kiss. Another theme that is discussed is the opposition of the vampire to official Christianity. The vampire in this poem states that his way is better than her mother's religion. The vampire is usually considered a type of revenant, or one who returns from the dead. While not technically a vampire per se, the revenant was a figure that was a popular trope in many later 18th century works. One was the very popular ballad "Lenore" by the German poet Gottfried August Burger.
Gottfried August Burger (1747-1794) was a German poet whose Gothic ballad "Lenore" was one of the most popular poems in the late 18th century. "Lenore," also known as "Leonora," "Leonore," or "Ellenore," was adapted into English and Russian and translated into French. Sir Walter Scott adapted its plot in his William and Helen and Goethe adapted as well in his "The Bride of Corinth". It was so popular that its first English translator, William Taylor, noted that "no German poem has been so repeatedly translated into English as ‘Ellenore.’" Although technically not a "vampire" story, "Lenore" influenced many works of early vampire literature. Its influence can be seen all the way into the 19th century, with "Lenore" being the name of the narrator's deceased lover in Edgar A. Poe's "The Raven."
Set in the immediate aftermath of the Seven Years’ War, "Lenore" relates the story of a young lady, Lenore, whose fiancé, William, has not returned from the war. After seeing all the other soldiers return, Lenore is impatient and, upset, quarrels with God. Lenore' s mother, overhearing this, tells Lenore to not be blasphemous because she is worried she will be sent to Hell. Later that night, at midnight, a stranger who looks just like William on a black steed, knocks at her door. She joins him and rides away. However, the steed keeps going at a faster and faster pace while Burger describes a landscape that gets more and more disturbing. At sunrise, their journey ends at a cemetery. William is revealed to be Death himself and the earth begins to open up around Lenore. The dying Lenore is told by Death that "no one quarrels with God in heaven." Lenore is then dragged underground. One line that William/Death says to Lenore, "die Todten reiten schnell', or "the dead travel fast," is quoted by Bram Stoker in the first chapter of Dracula. "Lenore" was especially popular among the Romantic poets with Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, and Keats noting the influence of the poem on their own works.
Another German poem featuring a revenant with the themes of love, death, and religion is "The Bride of Corinth" (1797) by Johann Wolfgang van Goethe (1749-1832). "The Bride of Corinth" tells the story of a young woman who is forced to become a nun because she is in love and engaged to a pagan boy. The young woman kills herself and returns as a revenant who is doomed to walk the earth until she drinks the blood of her lover. This poem is a retelling of the Classical Greek tale, "Philinnion" by Phlegon of Tralles. However, Goethe added the religious conflict and the trope of blood-drinking.