New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-06-01
)RK TRIBUNE ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENI.

retrospective poetic treatment; his early iowa
affairs are not profoundly interesting" OF hi,
offer Of marriage to Frau Won WoIzogen ba
notes that sit only passing tributa -
the abstract goodness of matrimony"
Professor Thomas cites with a chuckIe the mn,
of the German prince who remarked to Goethe:
IF had been God and about To create the
world. and had I (sic) foreseen that Schiller
would write The Robbers in it, I should not
have created it" But at the same time he rec
ognizes the fact that this youthful play created
an epoch in German dramatic literature and
he has to account for it. Not only is it the
strongest and cOmpletest expression of the eigh-
teenth century storm and stress. but it proved
highly effective stage play. The Robbery
reveals in every scene the hand of the born
dramatist We may call it boyish if We viii,
but it's bOyishness is like that of Titus Androni-
GUS Each is the work of born giant who, in
learning the use of his hammer, lays about him
somewhat wildly and makes a tremendous hub
bub But Thor is Thor. and such boys not
| born every day
| After making an interesting comparison be-
tween Schiller and Goethe, he proceeds to
aIyze SchiIIer's later poem:
The dominant note of SchilIer's later poetry Is
intellectual seriousness; wherefore. if there be
| those for whom intellectual seriousness is not
| a quality of poetry at ALL for them he has not
4 w
ways prominent in his verse. though there are
| a few of his poems, notably his best ballads, in
| which it is conspicuOusly lacking what we
| usually hear is the man OF culture commenting
upon life and everywhere he makes his appeal
| to universal sentiments. The spontanelty, or
seeming sDontaneity of the great WRISTS no
| mart of his gift . OF course. his verse is
self revelation, without which poetry cannot be.
| but 1t is the revelation of soul dwelling haoitu-
aIIy in the upper attitudes of thought and emo
| fion and always assuming that fellow mortalS
who care for poetry at all will be capable Of
serious joy in the things of the mind One may
say that his art as poet consists NOT 50 iAuch
| in the direct expression of feeling IN s-rsu0us
and passionate language as IN the 1rahsILSLI1-
| ton of thought by means or hlpdSSIohvu ma
gerry In his poems as elsewhere he IS a good deal
| of a rhetorician. but he is never insIncere Ills
verse came from the heart. only 1t was the eX-
| nression of character and convictions rather
| than of moods and fancies- 1t seems lHt-l,ied
| to edify rather than 10 portray 70 ilitLe ;s
| MED with ideal sentiments so abstract ana sub
iimated as to possess but langud interest Tor
| normally constituted lovers OF poetry
| 1t may be safely stated that no other book in
English does for Schiller what Professor Thomas
has done in this There is little that he adds
to the story Of his life. There are other bog
raphies that are fuller of details But when one
has finished these two and twenty chapters one
has a consistent idea of the man and a very
comprehensive idea of his life work. The style is
generally clear and good though sometimes (as
in one of tie passages above cited) Professor
Il
| Thomas writes hastily; he is rather fond OF
sesuuipedalfan words. He speaks Of a con
| tempt of quotidian probability and a 'pentan-
erous clover leaf" He says K0rner was the
very man to pour cool Mephstophelian spray
upon SchiIIer's emotional fervors-' Sometimes
he exercises a lively wit in turning a clever
phrase. as when he declares that morbid meIan-
choly is the chickenpOx OF youthful genius. or
depicts Goethe as suffering from the miserie5
Of duodecimo craftsmanship. Indeed. his de-
scription of Weimar at the beginning of the last
century is one OF the best paragraphs OF the
book Professor Thomas generally cites Bull
wer's TRANSACTIONS of Schilers lyrics. but occa-
sionaIIy he turns a stanza himself very cleverly.
The volume ends with appendix giving q clew
10 the labyrinth of Schiller biographies and
criticism. \ well ordered index adds to the use
fuIness Of the book. and a special index covers
the references to SchiIler's writings The book
is a credit to American scholarship. and deserves
study among those who acquainted with
Schfller's works. well among readers IN
familiar with them