New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-08-28
GOETHE IN AMERICA.

To me T. dtfOr or TEe TrtObhs
SIR: The announcement, rome weeks ago, that
bronze statue OF Goethe to arrive here this week
from Germany. and to he received with popular
festivities and literary honors tomorrow evening,
before being placed in our Central Park brought tho
great German poet nearer than ever To our Amer.
| can feeling, and allows me 10 speak OF what he Is
| worth to our people. Humboldt and Schiller are
here before him to represent Germany In our Park,
and they probably have gone before him in the date
of their fame and in the spread of their works yet
| Goethe has acted more deeply upon thought and
done shape the conduct Of life with the guides
of public opinion in America, as in Europe and every
year since his death has seen his influence rising In
1892 when he died. at the great age of eighty three
comparatively little was known Of him in America
and the America of literature was little known to
him. In his youth, indeed when the enthusiasm OF
liberty was upon him. he had kinded at the story OF
the Boston Tea Party, and wished well to tie Col
opists in their struggle with royal dcspOtSm In
his calmer and more conservative days 'ic lad met
accomplished American scholars, Ike George Ban
croft and undoubtedly knew that the countrvmen
of Jefferson aud Franklin, of Irving and Cooper,
were to have future in letters in arts and arms
and wealth. Yet he probably knew nothing Of orr
most characteristic living literature, whether our
ethics history, our poetry, or our romance. Onr
present Intellectual leaders almost unknown to
fyom theological polemics to the calm nights OF
Christian morals his essays upon Milton and Ma
poeon; shortly before, Dana's "Buccaneer" bad
venured into print and won notice from Wilson in
Biacklr0Ofs Magazine +" the most powerful and
original of American pOetcl COMPOSITIONS" yet not
till 1888 did full edition of his works appear.
Some of Bryant's poems had appeared IN 1871. but
his name was little known abroad until the edition
of 1892 was brought out in England with Washing
ton Irving's favor Emerson thoughtful parish
minister in Boston unknown to fame; Longfellow
had not published any of his memorable poemsj
Whittier was known an able editor. with turn
for the muses. when not too busy with politics.;
Holmes was medical student travelling III Europe,
full of fun, but bent upon physc than poetry;
Hawthorne had ventured only by stealth into
romance: Lowell was just in his teens; Bancroft
and Prescott had not yet ventnied before the world
in history, and Motley was just out OF college an
elegant amateur of letters, and the last man to be
thought of as ploddng student Of Dutch chronicles
and master historian Of the Ncthorand Cavinists.
so there was not much of our present American
literature for Goethe to know in his tme and there
had not been much opportunity for our people, even
for our scholarly class, to know him. George Tickior
and Charles Follen had done something to open the
treasures of tie German language to Boston and
Harvard College but there few lovers of Ger
man literature until the ideal and trans, cndental
school began to suppant the old classical school and
Emerson and his ret won more followers than
Everett and the old Humansts Of his Cccrouian
cut. 1t was not till 1892 that the high priestess of
characterization, Margaret Fuller began To study
German. Carlyle had translated Goethc's :" VIII
helm Meister." and written upon German literature,
bm. he had not yet made his name and thought
conspicuous in America by >artOr Resartus'
Goethe's Sorrows of Werther had cen long ago
liar a Ia ven, RAJ
mothers and grardmothers remember what Mrs.
Grant of Laggan wrote about its bad influence, and
how she praised Albert, the steady husband above
Werher the crazy lover. No translator had done for
Goethe what Coleridge did for SchillcT's " Walcn-
sein," and not until quite recently have American
readers been able to enjoy Faust in adequate
t,ars ations such as our Charles r. Brooks and
Bayard Tay lor have given.
/. All the while, however, since Goethes death
and for some years before It, there earnest stu.
dents of his works and disciples Of his thought
among u.s. One of the most influential theOlogans
and thinkers of country ascribed his choice OK
his profession nearly fifty years ago to the influence
of GoetIe's thinking such thinking appears in the
second part of Faust" and la Meister's Years OF
Travel y and a considerable class of students have
been in the habit of regarding him as tie leader Of
modern culture, the pattern scholar of our Our
people at large have not apparently had any such
idea of him, and the wild romance of "Werther"
and the weird drama of " Faust" have made him
anything to them rather than the practical sage and
the prophet Of reconciliation One of the first ef-
forts to do justice his power made by the bril-
liant mind of Starr King in popular way some
thirty wears ago. and even his fascinating and humOr
Gus lecture left upon many hearers the impression
that the master poet of Germany was more meinOra-
BILE for the number and extravaganza Of his loves
| hat ~
800 pages with the title Goethe ais Erzieher should
set the poet before Germany an educator in max
inns from his works, and be offered as a Manual
for the House and Family" as done by Philip
Merz as editor and +. A. Brockhaus as Publisher in
1SGi-this fact is not in keeping with the popular
notion of his erratic life and fancy. This volume,
although not prepared with all tho Judgment and
skill that could be- desired is treasure to any man
who will study it, and its selections valuable not
only in correcting the so general impression OK
GOethe's extravaganza, but also IN removing the
idea com non among more careful students Of his
works that be- lived IN q region of supersublimated
i,leality and hal little sympathy for people
and the common lot lie certainly was very kindly
man, and this master of art and nature was as fond
Of little children any good grandfather ia the land
Soft and sweet. and sometimes foolish he was, in
his loves lie better than much Of the society
around him; and sometimes his sentiment is taken
TOO prosaicay and made the sin Of proh gate bent
on sensual indulgence, when il was only the fancy
of visionary to whom love was devotion, tho
wOmanly soul was divinity. and the sweethearts OF
early days became the saints OF his lifetime. They
seemed to live on merely i'll songs that celebrated
their charms but in melodies that thrilled with their
power and found new words TO set TO their music as
new fances played upon their treasured forms and
faces Mr.. Calvert has done something tn set