Goethe: The Poet [Reprint 2014 ed.] 9780674599987, 9780674599284

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GOETHE THE

POET

6 0 E T H E THE POET

Karl Vietor HARVARD U N I V E R S I T Y PRESS Cambridge'

Massachusetts

1949

COPYRIGHT · 1949 · BY THE PRESIDENT A N D

FELLOWS

OF H A R V A R D COLLEGE A N D

PRINTED

I N THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TRANSLATED FROM THE G E R M A N BY MOSES HADAS LONDON · GEOFFREY

CUMBERLEGE

• OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS ·

το Alice

Beatrice

Preface It is probable that there is already a sufficiently large number of books, good, bad, or indifferent, in which one can read the story of Goethe's life. At any rate I am not tempted to retell that story. I believe it to be true that the biographical approach (and in lesser degree the psychological) has not always increased our comprehension of works of art. I hope I have not been misled by my own predilections in assuming that lovers of poetry in the English-speaking world may welcome a book of interpretation and of criticism, especially when it is also a book about Goethe. For however praiseworthy, however dignified the celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of Goethe's birth may prove to be, I fear the event will also show that neither in England nor in America does Goethe enjoy as thinker and poet that acclaim to which his rank and importance in modern history clearly entitle him. Perhaps, then, the time has come to do something for a better understanding of this great man, a man who must always be included among the few geniuses of the first rank to have appeared in Western civilization. He was the last Titan of the literary world, and historically he is closer to us than is any other. The theme of my book is, then, neither the development of Goethe's creative power nor the history of his artistic life. Rather it has been my purpose to try to comprehend his productive personality and the expressions of that personality in works of literary art. I have attempted to consider and to interpret individually all that Goethe wrote, from the earliest productions which bear the stamp of his individuality down to, and including, those works, rich in wisdom, which he wrote in his old age. I have employed any sort of material, bio-

viii

PREFACE

graphical or historical, which would further this purpose. In selecting from the enormous mass at hand, in eliminating what I did not use, I have been guided by this single principle: does the material contribute to a better comprehension of Goethe's creative existence and of his work? I must express my gratitude for the help which has been given me in completing my manuscript and in preparing it for the press. For the inspiring interest and tireless industry of my wife I am more grateful than any words can say. I wish also to thank Professor Moses Hadas for undertaking the onerous task of translating the German manuscript. To Professor Bayard Quincy Morgan I must say a special word of thanks for the translations of poetry he made and for the kind interest he was good enough to take in the last chapters. And I am gratef u l to my Harvard colleagues and friends, Heinrich Schneider, Stuart Atkins, Hans Epstein, Howard Mumford Jones, William Harold McClain, and Gerard Francis Schmidt for valuable assistance. Karl Vietor Cambridge, 1949

The illustration on the title page is used by courtesy W. C. Hamilton and Sons and Print magazine

of

CONTENTS NATURE Rococo Strasbourg Herder Qerman Drama Jhe

Qrandeur and ^Misery of Cjenius

£a IMaladie du Siecle !New Love Demon and Destiny Übe Harvest of

youth

MIND Weimar "Bliss of ^Nearest J^ew

Nearness'

Lyric

Jhe Voice of

Humanity

J'be Tragedy of tbe Artist Otaly !Netv Life in Weimar

X

CONTENTS The French Τbe

Revolution

Triend

105

The Problem

oj "Bildung"

no

Corner

131

A Middle-Class Classic

Poems

Principles

95