The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-11-07

anticipation, l should have remained blind
with seeing eyes and all experience would
have been dead and unproductive labor"
And it was not until he had within his
grasp the whole meaning of life, that he
decided to finish the fragment of his
earlier years
From the first scene OF the first part
to the last scene of the second part Faust
is Goethe; this is the bond of union be-
tween the two parts of the poem.
This wonderful autobiography begins
with the recalling of his earliest insplra-
ton
IA sweet uncomprehended yearning,
Drove forth my feet through woods and
meadows free;
And while thousand tears were burning
/ felt a world arise for me-"
There is nothing SO appealing In all the
poem as his childhood's unconscious an
ticipation of the final triumph of life,
when at its close he challenges Mephis-
topheles to claim the wager.
Then dared I hail the moment flying,
All, still delay thou art so fair
The traces of my earthly being
They cannot perish-they are there.
In proud fore-feeling of such lofty bliss
l now enjoy the happiest moment this" e
The promise, Eye shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you Free had
met Its fulfllment and the rich enjoy
ment of Faust's last moment was an
enigma to Observation-Disclosures much so as
is the law of love to most people. In de-
rision he says of Faust
mo Joy could safe him and suffice no
bliss"
Organic mind (Mephistopheles) could not
comprehend the fullness OF content in the
discovery of the real impulse of life.
Virgil was able to guide Dante to the
gates of paradise, but love alone could
open to him the realm of the good and
the beautiful.
Faust could never claim for himself the
reward OF an unreasoning faith under the
sway of Mephistopheles. He had built
for himself the barrier of objective intel
ligence. Always we see him struggling to
know and attain. Disappointed and
thrown back upon the ingenuity of Me-
phistopheles, and yet never really de-
ceived by him, Faust says to man:
mo true refreshment can restore thee
Save what from thine own soul spontan-
eous breaks"
And we may very reasonably Judge
tnAt MS surrender TO the influence of
Mephistopheles in the second part was
an heroic test implied to his philosophy
and which ia the end was to establish
| the truth OF the divine pedigree OF
man.
If ever, he says to Mephisto-
pheles, you can bring me to one mo-
ment of satisfying enjoyment. that I
should wish to multiply it into an
eternity, then l shall render you nv
me- signing the written compact with.
his blood. Was he without faith?
While submitting to the demands of a
temporal environment, he holds all ex-
perience subservient to a spiritual de-
Velopment, and the cultivation of will
power that was able to grasp by an
objective resolve the higher life
Goethe thought great deal-he suf-
Tered a great deal-he attained great
deal. II by the exercise of his own OBJ
Jective mind, whom he calls Mephisto-
pheles, he built the barrier that shut
out the broad and sunny expanse of
loves world. he also used those ser
vices to destroy that barrier.
The old couple under the lindens who
symbolic hope and fear, are burned
in their hut by Mephistoph eles, and 1t
is by Goethe himself who watches from
the palace of realization the clearing
smoke
presents the larger view of life. The
problem of an ultimate happiness for
mankind is solved in the development
of one character capable of creating
happiness; 1T Is not only the story of
the development of man. through the
complementary forces of evolution. it
is an artistic biographical sketch of
Mephistopheles.
In the conceit of his superior wisdom.
w Of fhaf ha
Now sit I like king upon his throne.
1 hold the sceptre, and lack the crown
alone"
Not recognizing the moral purpose of
the cosmic process, he defines his own
being as
Part of that power not understood
That always wills the bad and works
the good"
In the last act this evolved intelli-
gence marks the passing of the nee
essity of evil, and anticipating his own
end, he says:
Hath something alien pierced me
through and through,
What now restraints me that curse no
more"
There is another link which binds the
two parts indissolubly together In the
first scene Of part one the spirit of life
enters the dismal study Of Faust (who
has not comprehended the true life
life absolutely and says to him:
Thou art like the spirit thou compre-
hendest,
Not me.'
Faust replies:
Not thee,
Whom then?
] image of the god head,
Not even like thee?
A knock is heard at the door, and
Faust exclaims
20, death I know tits my Famulus,
My fairest luck finds no fruition;
In all the fullness of my vision,
The soulless sneak disturbs me thus"
Faust, as a result of a developed rea-
soning power, had accepted death as
the necessary oorollary of life, and this
is the Limitation which is met In that
beautiful closing scene of the ascen-
sion.
Somewhere beyond an unforgotten
love sees the beatifice vision. To Faust's
awakened spirit appeared innumera BILE
hosts of angels, awaiting the restora-
tomas the immortal form is borne
aloft a chorus of voices sing to the en-
raptured Gretchen
,i.rl,f xr1 l. ~.