The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-23

satisfaction In unburdening himself OF this
vi~ndictiveness in his poetry. Hence his
poetry, which had at other times reflected
the world 30 clearly and faithfully, became
in this instance a distorting, concave mirror.
"The great world event became q horrid,
groteBque, ineXplioable phenomenon. III
he had fully comprehended it in it's deep
significance he would have discovered in
II a magnificent, serious movement that
would have appealed to his s~ympathies.
and he would have condemned the faults
and mistaken t~endencieR of the work In
which he sought to mirror h times.
This is pronounced the real secret reason
why he made no attempt faithfully to
portray political conditions, wen In The
Natural Daughter which was intended to
be a comprehensive picture.
VIII.
Let us pass to a chapter in which the in
teresting intimacy Of Goethe and Schiller
10 reoounted. At the first glance such an
intimacy would nave seemed improbable.
Toward the close Of 1850, when Schiller
stepped out OF school into life. nothing would
rave seemed more unlikely than that
the WLrttembergian regimental surgeon
and the Weimar Minister, the author
' OF THE Robbers" and the author OF '1phi-
! genia" would ever become very dear
friends. The very distance between their
homes seemed to present a condition as
unfavorable as anything could be for
friendly intercourse. Even as late as 1887,
when Schiller arrived at Weimar, it was
still much too soon to hope for close rela-
tons with the elder poet. The most bril-
liant star Of the Weimar armament was not
then visible. Goethe was sojourning in
Italy. Schiller, however. recognized his
greatness in a ~thousandfold reflections.
"Goethe's spirit has moulded all the
people who belong TO his circle He is
everything that he is with his whole soul.
and, like julius Cesar, he has the faculty Of
being several things at once" AS man
he is admired and loved even more han as
an author" These are a few of the things
hat Schiller observed and heard about
Goethe soon after his arrival in Weimar.
He. too, had revered the author Of "Gotz"
and "Werther,n but now for he first time
1t fully dawned upon him hat this same
author was an eminent statesman, scientist
and connoisseur OF art, and, above all
else, Q very unusual man. The absent
poet grew to gigantic proportions in his
eyes; the gifted writer became an extraor-
binary personality, overtowering all about
him with his universal genius. 1t was not
until the summer of 1888, after Goethe's
return to Italy, that Schiller spent almost
a whole day with him. and. although the
elder poet did nothing but chat and tell
stories about Italy, still he realized the
great idea" which Schiller had formed
Of him.
This very corroborat ton Of his concep-
ton of Goethe caused his hope of ever
entering into closer relations with him to
fall very low. On the other hand he felt
a greater stimulus to command at least a
higher degreeof respect from this great man.
When late in the autumn Of the same year
a professorship Of history at Jena was
offered to Schiller he made this an occasion
to pay his respects to Goethe, the real over
seer OF the university. During the long
drawn out negotiations that followed
Schiller may nave cherished the hope that
something would bring him into closer
ouch with Goethe, but he was doomed
to bitter disappointment. Throughout
the five month which Schiller spent in
Weimar after the receipt Of his appoint
ment Goethe did not take the least notice
Of him. The younger poet was unable
TO throw of the magic spell which Goethe's
personality cast over him, and yet he could
not help feeling resentment that Goethe,
like an 0lympian god. overlooked him
and took supreme satisfaction in self-en-
joyment. Il could kill his spirit he said,
and again l could love him with all my
heart" @He arouses In me a feeling which
is not wholly unlike that which Brutus
and Cassius must have had toward Cesar
In February, 1900, Schiller was married
to Charlotte Won Lengefeld, a friend Of
Nine. Won Stein. and this promised TO be
a bridge which would span the chasm
between the two poets and bind them
together in a firm union. Here again
there was disappointment. To be sure, !
the next time Goethe came to Jena he
could not avoid visiting Schiller. and he
did visit him in October of the year named,
but the occasion served only to make both |
men conscious that they were not suited
to each other. Three more years went by,
and they were still as much strangers as
on the first day of their acquaintance.
The problem Of uniting them seemed 20
defy solution.
In spite, however. OF the profound in
tellectual and aesthetic contrasts between
the two men il became in the end no longer
possible for Goethe TO approach Schiller
without being drawn to him irresistibly.
As the present biographcr puts it. Schiller's
purely human nature was sure to triumph
over all difficulties that still existed, and
never indeed could be removed. The
opportune moment came in the summer
of 1794, when Schiller returned to lena
from a nine months %sojourn for recreation
in Suabia, The two poets met at a session
Of the Jena Society for the Advancement
of Science M accidentally came out
together. They talked about the lecture
they had just heard and drifted into a
Of philosophy, which caused
Goethe TO conceive a most favorable opinion
of Schiller both as a man and as a thinker.
on his part was not willing 10
leave il 70 chance to decide when their
relations, for which the way was
now prepared, should be still further
strengthened. So he took a decisive step
in order to melt away the last remnants
OF the ice which had been heaping I'm be-