Handbook of Universal Literature, From the Best and Latest Authorities Part 34

The princ.i.p.al works of Schiller are the dramas of "Wallenstein", "Marie Stuart", "The Maid of Orleans", "The Bride of Messina", and the celebrated ode called the "Song of the Bell". Besides these, he wrote many ballads, didactic poems, and lyrical pieces. The "Song of the Bell" stands alone as a successful attempt to unite poetry with the interests of daily life and industry. In his lyrical ballads and romances, Schiller rises above the didactic and descriptive style, and is inspired with n.o.ble purposes. The "Cranes of Ibycus" and the "Fight with the Dragon" may be mentioned as instances. Schiller was so interesting as a man, a philosopher, a historian, and critic, as well as poet, that, as Carlyle observes, in the general praise of his labors, his particular merits have been overlooked.

His aspirations in literature were n.o.ble and benevolent. He regarded poetry especially as something other than a trivial amus.e.m.e.nt,--as the companion and cherisher of the best hopes and affections that can be developed in human life.

While Goethe excels Schiller in completeness of aesthetical and philosophical perception, and in the versatility of his world-embracing and brilliant attainments, as a lover of his race, and as a poet who knew how to embody that love in the most exquisite conceptions, Schiller far surpa.s.sed him, and stands preeminent among all other poets. While Goethe represented the actual thoughts and feelings of his age, Schiller reflected its ideal yearnings; while the practical result of Goethe's influence was to develop the capacities of each individual to their utmost extent, Schiller's aim was to lead men to consecrate their gifts to _the good, the beautiful, and the true_, the ethical trinity of the ages. The one poet represents the majesty, and at the same time the tyranny of the intellect; the other, the power and the loveliness of the affections; and although Goethe will always receive the respect and admiration of the world, Schiller will command its love.

4. THE GoTTINGEN SCHOOL.--This a.s.sociation was formed at the epoch of Goethe and Schiller, when poets such as no other times had produced started up in quick succession. The following are among the princ.i.p.al members of this school: Voss (1756-1826) is distinguished by a cla.s.sical taste and great fluency of style. His "Louise" is a masterpiece of bucolic poetry. His "Idyls" are the best of his minor poems. Christian s...o...b..rg (1748-1821) was the author of two dramas, many elegiac poems and translations from the Greek. Leopold s...o...b..rg (1750-1817), his brother, was still more successful as a poet, and distinguished for his acute observation of the beautiful in nature. Hoelty (1748-1776) was a poet of the gentler affections, the eloquent advocate of love, friends.h.i.+p, and benevolence. Claudius (1743-1815), in his poetical productions, ranges through song, elegy, romance, and fable. Burger (1748-1794) was remarkable as the author of wild, picturesque ballads and songs. His most celebrated poem is "Leonore", which was at one time known by heart all over Germany.

Schubart (1739-1791), though not belonging to the Gottingen a.s.sociation, may be here referred to. His songs and poems evince a warm imagination, and his descriptions are true and beautiful. One of the most powerful writers of this period was Klinger (1753-1831), whose highly wrought productions reflected most vividly the vehemence of thought and feeling of his time, and whose drama, "Storm and Stress", gave the name to that peculiar school known as the Storm and Stress literature.

5. THE ROMANTIC SCHOOL.--The founders of the Romantic School, Novalis, the two Schlegels, and Tieck, opposed the system which held up the great masters of antiquity as exclusive models of excellence; they condemned this theory as cold and narrow, and opposed alike to the true interests of literature and progress. They pointed out the vast changes in religion, morality, thought, habits, and manners which separated the ancient from the modern world, and declared that to follow blindly the works of Virgil and Cicero was to repress all originality and creative power. From the times of Pericles or Augustus they turned to the Middle Ages, and, forgetting their crimes and miseries, threw around them a halo of illusive romance. It was not only in poetry that this reaction was visible--in art and architecture the same tendency appeared. The stiff and quaint but vigorous productions of the old German painters were drawn forth from the obscurity where they had long mouldered; the glorious old cathedrals were repaired and embellished; the lays of the minnesingers, collected by Tieck, were on every lip, and the records of the olden times were ransacked for historic and traditionary lore.

Although the Romantic School soon fell into extravagances which did much to diminish its influence, the whole of Germany was to some extent affected by it. The love for particular epochs led to researches in the language and antiquities, as such, as in Oriental studies, and during the calamitous period of the French invasion the national feeling was revived and kept alive by the stirring and patriotic songs which recalled the glories of the past.

The brothers Schlegel are more celebrated as philologists and critics than as poets; although their metrical compositions are numerous, they are wholly deficient in warmth, pa.s.sion, and imagination. Tieck is more distinguished as a novelist than a poet, but even his prose tales are so pervaded by the spirit of poetry that they may be said to belong to this department.

Among other poets, Korner and Arndt are best remembered by their patriotic songs, which once thrilled every German heart.

Seldom in romance or history is there found a more n.o.ble or heroic character than Theodore Korner (1791-1813). Short as was his existence, he had already struck, with more or less success, almost every chord of the poetic lyre. His dramas, with many faults, abound in scenes glowing with power and pa.s.sion, and prove what he might have achieved had life been spared to him. But it is his patriotic poems, his "Lyre and Sword," which have invested the name of Korner with the halo of fame and rendered his memory sacred to his countrymen.

The name of Arndt (1769-1860) is also a.s.sociated in every German mind with the cause of national liberty; and his poems have incited many German hearts to the achievement of heroic deeds. His patriotic song, "Where is the German's fatherland," is a universal favorite. Arndt is not less celebrated for his historical and scientific works than for his poems.

The Suabian School is represented by Uhland, Schwab, Kerner, and others who have enriched German poetry with many original lyrics. Uhland (1787- 1862) is the most distinguished ballad writer of the present age in Germany. The conceptions embodied in his poetry refer chiefly to the Middle Ages, and his stories are many of them founded on well-known legends.

Kerner (b. 1786) is more intrinsically romantic than Uhland, but he is equally at home in other species of composition. Schwab (1792-1850) is distinguished among the lyric poets. An epic tendency, combined with great facility in depicting scenery and describing events, is the main feature of his metrical romances.

Ruckert (1789-1866), one of the most original lyric poets of Germany, is distinguished for the versatility of his descriptive powers, the richness of his imagination, and his bold, fiery spirit. He has been followed by Daumer, Bodenstedt, and others.

The most remarkable poet whom Germany has produced in the present century is Heinrich Heine (1800-1856), and his poems are among the most fascinating lyrics in European literature. The delicacy, wit, and humor of his writings, their cruel and cynical laughter, and their tender pathos, give him a unique place in the literature of his country. A school of writers known as _Young Germany_ was deeply influenced by Heine. Their object was to revolutionize the political, social, and religious inst.i.tutions of the country. Borne (d. 1837), the rival of Heine in the leaders.h.i.+p of the party, was inferior to him in poetical power, but his superior in earnestness, moral beauty, and elevation. Borne was the nightmare of the German princes, at whom he darted, from his place of exile in Paris, the arrows of his bitter satire. Some of his writings are among the most eloquent of modern German compositions. Prominent among the followers of Heine and Borne are Gutzkow (b. 1811), a novelist, essayist, and dramatist; Laube (b. 1806); and Mundt (b. 1808).

From about 1830 a group of Austrian poets, more or less political in tendency, commanded the respect of all Germans, the chief among them was Count Auersperg, who, under the a.s.sumed name of Anastasius Grun, wrote lyrical and other brilliant and effective poems. Of the writers who before 1848 attempted to force poetry into the service of freedom, the best known is Herwegh, who advocated liberty with a vehemence that won for him immense popularity. The poems of Freiligrath (1810-1876) have graphic force, and possess merit of a high order. He has a rich imagination, great power of language, and musical versification. Among the more distinguished contemporary poets, Hamerling is remarkable for the boldness of his conceptions, and the pa.s.sionate vehemence of his expression.

6. THE DRAMA.--At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Gottsched and his followers had rendered good service to the stage, not so much by their own productions as by driving from it the bombast of Lohenstein. Lessing followed this movement by attacking the French dramas, which had hitherto been esteemed the highest productions of human genius, and by bringing forward Shakspeare as the true model of dramatic style. This attack was so successful that the influence of the French drama soon declined, and in the reaction, Greeks, Romans, kings and princesses were replaced by honest, tiresome burghers, with their commonplace wives and daughters, and the toga and tunic gave way to woolen petticoats and dress-coats.

Everything like poetry, either in language or sentiment, was banished from the stage. Such was the state of things when Goethe appeared. His rapid glance at once discerned the poverty of dramatic art, and his flexible and many-sided genius set itself to supply the deficiency. His "Gotz von Berlichingen" ill.u.s.trated the possibility of a dramatic literature founded upon national history and national character. His "Egmont" is a highly poetic and eloquent dramatization of that popular hero, and of the struggles of the Netherlands against the tyranny of Spain. His "Ta.s.so" is a poem of psychological interest, ill.u.s.trating a favorite maxim of the author that a poet, like every other artist, for his true development, needs education. "A hundred times," says Goethe, "have I heard artists boast that they owed everything to themselves, and I am often provoked to add, 'Yes, and the result is just what might be expected.' What, let me ask, is a man in and of himself?"

The lesson of the drama of "Ta.s.so" is this--that the poet cannot fulfill his duty by cultivating merely his imagination, however splendid and powerful it may be. Like all other men who would be good and great, he must exercise patience and moderation; must learn the value of self- denial; must endure the hards.h.i.+ps and contradictions of the real world; contentedly occupy his place, with its pains and pleasures, as a part of the great whole, and patiently wait to see the beauty and brightness which flow from his soul, win their way through the obstacles presented by human society. The singular merit of this dramatic poem is this: that it is the fruit of genuine experience, adorned with the hues of a beautiful imagination, and clothed in cla.s.sical language; but it is a work written for the few.

"Iphigenia" is a fine imitation of the ancient Greek style, but not well suited to the stage.

In his dramatic, as in all his other works, the only end and aim of Goethe was to carry to perfection the art in which he was so great a master.

Virtue and vice, truth and falsehood, are each portrayed with the same graceful complacency and the same exquisite skill. His immense and wide- spreading influence renders this singular indifference, which seems to confound the very sense of right and wrong, doubly lamentable.

In plastic skill and variety, the dramatic creations of Schiller are regarded, in some respects, inferior to those of Goethe, but they all glow with the love of true goodness and greatness, and with an enthusiasm for virtue and liberty which communicates itself, as by an electric spark, to his readers. The violent tone of Schiller's first tragedy, the "Robbers,"

was suggested by other theatrical writers of the period, who esteemed wildness and absurdity the chief characteristics of poetical genius.

Schiller gave to his dramatic works more movement and popular interest than can be found in Goethe's dramas, but yielded in some instances to the sentimental tone so prevalent in German poetry. "Fiesco" was written in a better style than the "Robbers," though less suited to please the low theatrical taste of the time. "Don Carlos" showed more maturity of thought, and is pervaded by a coloring of poetic sentiment; "Wallenstein"

won for the poet a universal reputation in his native land, and was translated into English by Coleridge. "Marie Stuart," the "Maid of Orleans," and the "Bride of Messina," contributed still more to increase the poet's fame. "Wilhelm Tell" was the most popular of Schiller's plays, and is still esteemed by some as his best production. Here the love of liberty, so wildly expressed in the "Robbers," appears in its true and refined character.

Kotzebue (1760-1819) was one of the most successful playwrights of Germany. He composed an almost countless number of plays, and his plots were equally versatile and amusing; but he was entirely dest.i.tute of poetic and moral beauty. His opposition to liberal principles caused him to be regarded as the enemy of liberty, and to be a.s.sa.s.sinated by an enthusiastic student named George Sand, who, on obtaining admittance to him under the pretense of business, stabbed him to the heart.

While the influence of the Romantic School tended to invest all poetry with a dreamy and transcendental character, in the drama it was mingled with stormy and exciting incidents, often carried to the extreme of exaggeration and absurdity. The Romancists dealt almost exclusively with the perturbed elements of the human mind and the fearful secrets of the heart. They called to their aid the mysteries of the dark side of nature, and ransacked the supernatural world for its marvels and its horrors. The princ.i.p.al of these "Power Men," as they were called, are Mullner, Werner, Howald, and Grillparzer.

Mullner (1774-1829) displayed no common order of poetic genius; but the elements of crime, horror, and remorse often supply the place of originality of thought and delineation of character. Werner (1768-1823), after a youth of alternate profligacy and remorse, embraced the Catholic faith and became a preacher. His dramas of "Martin Luther," "Attila," and the "Twenty-ninth of February," have rendered him one of the most popular authors in Germany. Grillparzer (b. 1790) is the author of a drama ent.i.tled the "Ancestress." The wildest dreams of Mullner and Werner sink into insignificance before the extravagance of this production, both in language and sentiment. The "Sappho" of this author displays much lyric beauty. Iffland (1759-1814) was a fertile but dull dramatist. One of the best national tragedies was written by Munch Bellinghausen. Charlotte Birchpfeifer has dramatized a great number of stories. Raupach (1784-1852) was one of the most able of recent German writers of plays, Gutzkow is distinguished among contemporary dramatists; and Freytag and Bauernfeld are excellent writers of comedy. Kleist (d. 1811) was also a distinguished writer of dramas of the Romantic School. Mosenthal, the author of "Deborah," has achieved distinction by aiming at something higher than stage effect.

7. PHILOSOPHY.--The appearance of Kant (1724-1804) created a new era in German philosophy. Previous to his time, the two systems most in vogue were the sensualism of Locke and his followers and the idealism of Leibnitz, Wolf, and others. Kant, in his endeavors to ascertain what we can know and what we originally do know, was led to the fundamental laws of the mind, and to investigate original or transcendental ideas, those necessary and unchangeable forms of thought, without which we can perceive nothing. For instance, our perceptions are submitted to the two forms of time and s.p.a.ce. Hence these two ideas must be within us, not in the objects and not derived from experience, but the necessary and pure intuitions of the internal sense. The work in which Kant endeavored to ascertain those ideas, and the province of certain human knowledge, is ent.i.tled the "Critique of Pure Reason," and the doctrines there expounded have been called the Critical Philosophy and also the Transcendental. In the "Critique of Practical Reason" the subject of morals is treated, and that of aesthetics in the "Observations on the Sublime and Beautiful."

The advent of Kant created a host of philosophical writers and critics, and besides Lessing and Herder there were Moses Mendelssohn, Hamann (the Magus of the North), Reinhold, Jacobi, and many others who speculated in various directions upon the most momentous problems of humanity and of the human soul.

Fichte (1762-1814) carried the doctrine of Kant to its extreme point, and represented all that the individual perceives without himself, or all that is distinguished from the individual, as the creation of this _I_ or _ego;_ that the life of the mind is the only real life, and that everything else is a delusion.

Sch.e.l.ling (1775-1854), in his "Philosophy of Ident.i.ty," argues that the same laws prevail throughout the material and the intellectual world. His later writings contain theories in which the doctrines of Christianity are united with philosophical speculations. The leading principle of Sch.e.l.ling is found in a supposed intuition, which he describes as superior to all reasoning, and admitting neither doubt nor explanation. Coleridge adopted many views of this philosopher, and some of his ideas may be found in the contemplative poems of Wordsworth.

Hegel (1770-1831), in his numerous, profound, and abstruse writings, has attempted to reduce all the departments of knowledge to one science, founded on a method which is expounded in his work on Logic. The "Ident.i.ty System" of Sch.e.l.ling and the "Absolute Logic" of Hegel have already produced an extensive library of philosophical controversy, and the indirect influence of the German schools of philosophy has affected the tone of the literature in France, England, America, Denmark, and Sweden.

The effect of German philosophy has been to develop intense intellectual activity. The habit of searching into the hidden mysteries of being has inclined the German mind to what is deepest, and sometimes to what is most obscure in thought; and the tendency to rise to the absolute, which is characteristic of this philosophy, manifests its influence not only in the blending of poetry and metaphysics, but in every department of science, literature, and art. The literary theory thus developed, that ideal beauty and not the imitation of nature is the highest principle of art, is everywhere applied even to the study of the great monuments of the past, and in the writings of the German archaeologists new youth seems to spring from the ruins of the ancient world. The physical sciences are also introduced into that universal sphere of ideas where the most minute observations, as well as the most important results, pertain to general interests.

From 1818 to the time of his death, in 1831, the influence of Hegel dominated the highest thought. Later, his school broke into three divisions; Ruge, one of the most brilliant writers of the school, led the extreme radicals; Strauss resolved the narratives of the gospel into myths, and found the vital elements of Christianity in its spiritual teaching; while Feuerbach urged that all religion should be replaced by a sentiment of humanity. Ulrici and the younger Fichte exercised considerable influence as advocates of a pantheistic doctrine which aims to reconcile religion and science. None of these names, however, have the importance which attaches to that of Schopenhauer (d. 1860), who, at the present day, stirs a deeper interest than any other thinker. His main doctrine is that Will is the foundation principle of existence, the one reality in the universe, and all else is mere appearance. History is a record of turmoil and wretchedness, and the world and life essentially evil. High moral earnestness and great literary genius are shown in his graphic and scornful pictures of the darker aspects of the world.

Van Hartmann, the most prominent leader of the Pessimistic School (1842- 1872), the latest original thinker of Germany, in his "Philosophy of the Unconscious," follows essentially the same line of thought. He a.s.sumes that there is in nature a blind, impersonal, unconscious, all-pervading will and idea, a pure and spiritual activity, independent of brain and nerve, and manifesting itself in thought, emotion, instinct, morals, language, perception, and history. He teaches that this is the last principle of philosophy, described by Spinoza as substance, by Fichte as the absolute _I_, by Plato and Hegel as the absolute idea, and by Schopenhauer as Will. He believes the world to be utterly and hopelessly bad, and the height of wisdom to suppress the desire to live. At the same time he believes that there is no peace for the heart and intellect until religion, philosophy, and science are seen to be one, as root, stem, and leaves are all organic expressions of one same living tree.

8. MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS.--The best German minds of the nineteenth century have been absorbed by severe labor in all branches of learning and the sciences. Many memoirs of eminent persons have appeared, and many books of travel, since the days of George Forster (1754-1794), the teacher of Humboldt and the inaugurator of a new scientific and picturesque school of the literature of travel. Lichtenstein has written his travels in Southern Africa; Prince Maximilian von Wied and Martius, in Brazil; Poppig, in Chili, Peru, etc.; Burmeister and Tschudi, in South America; Lepsius and Brugsch, in Egypt; and more recently, Gutzlaff, in China; Siebold, in j.a.pan; Barth and Vogel, in Africa; Leichhardt, in Australia; the brothers Schlagintweit, one of whom fell a victim to his zeal, in Asia; and Ida Pfeiffer (1797-1858), a woman of rare intrepidity, who visited, mostly on foot, the most remote regions of the globe. Another tourist and voluminous writer is Kohl (b. 1808). Qualities rarely united in one individual met in the character of Alexander von Humboldt (1769- 1859), an enterprising traveler, a man of extensive science, and an accomplished writer. Accompanied by his friend Bonpland, he visited South America, and after five years of adventurous research among the wonders of nature, he returned, and prepared for the press the results of his travels--the "Aspects of Nature," "Picturesque Views of the Cordilleras,"

and "Travels in the Equinoctial Regions of America." This veteran student produced at an advanced age a remarkable work ent.i.tled "Cosmos,"

containing the results of a long life of observation and contemplation. In the first part he gives general views of the economy of nature, while in the second we find ingenious speculations regarding the influence of nature on human society, in its various stages of culture.

The Chevalier Bunsen (d. 1860) celebrated by his theological and historico-philosophical researches, has written, among other works, one on the "Position of Egypt in the History of the World," which is a learned dissertation on the antiquities and especially on the primitive language of Egypt.

In the periodicals of Germany every department of letters and science is represented, and through the book-fairs of Leipsic all the literature of the ancient and modern world pa.s.ses. They are the magazines of the productions of all nations. Every cla.s.s of contending tastes and opinions is represented and all the contrasts of thought which have been developed in the course of ages meet in the Leipsic book-market.

SCIENCE.--The growth of science has been one of the most powerful factors in the recent development of Germany, and some of the best works present in a popular form the results of scientific labor. Among these the first place belongs to the "Cosmos" of Humboldt. Although no longer in accordance with the best thought, it has enduring merit from the author's power of handling vast ma.s.ses of facts, his poetic feeling and purity and n.o.bility of style.

In chemistry Liebig (d. 1873) is widely and popularly known; DuBois- Raymond has made great researches in animal electricity, physics, and physiology; Virchow in biology; Helmholtz in physiological optics and sound; Haeckel has extended the theories and investigations of Darwin, and all have made admirable attempts to render science intelligible to ordinary readers.

With the death of Goethe began a new era in German literature not yet closed. The period has been one of intense political excitement, and while much of the best of the nation has been devoted to politics there has also been great literary activity deeply influenced by the practical struggles, hopes, and fears of the time. There has been a tendency in German writers. .h.i.therto to neglect the laws of expression, although their writings have evinced great originality and power of imagination, owing doubtless to the fact that they were addressed only to particular cla.s.ses of readers. But since the political unity of the country has been accomplished, increasing numbers of thinkers and scholars have appealed to the whole nation, and, in consequence, have cultivated more directness and force of style.

NOVELS, ROMANCES, AND POPULAR LEGENDS.--Poetry and prose fiction form the general literature of a nation, and are distinguished from the literature of the study or from special literature, which consists chiefly of books for the use of distinct cla.s.ses or parties. Fiction borders closely on the province of history, which, in its broad and comprehensive outlines, must necessarily leave unnoticed many of the finer lights and shades of human life, descriptions of motives, private characters, and domestic scenes. To supply these in the picture of humanity is the distinct office of fiction, which, while free in many respects, should still be essentially true. The poetry and fiction of a country should be the worthy companion to its history. The true poet should be the interpreter and ill.u.s.trator of life.

While the historian describes events and the outward lives of men, the poet penetrates into the inner life, and portrays the spirit that moves them. The historian records facts; the poet records feelings, thoughts, hopes, and desires; the historian keeps in view the actual man; the poet, the ideal man; the historian tells us what man has been; the poet reminds us either in his dreams of the past, or in his visions of the future, what man can be; and the true poet who fulfills such a duty is as necessary to the development and education of mankind as the historian.

The numerous fict.i.tious works of Germany may be arranged in four different cla.s.ses. The first, comprehending historical romances, affords few writers who bear comparison with Scott. In the second cla.s.s, containing novels which describe characters and scenes in real life, German literature is also comparatively poor. The third cla.s.s comprises all the fictions marked by particular tendencies respecting art, literature, or society. In the fourth cla.s.s, which includes imaginative tales, German literature is especially rich. To this department of fiction, in which the imagination is allowed to wander far beyond the bounds of real life and probability, the Germans apply distinctively the term poetical. In these imaginative and mystical fictions there is an important distinction between such tales as convey moral truth and interest under an array of visionary adventures, and those which are merely fantastic and almost dest.i.tute of meaning.

Goethe's novel, "Wilhelm Meister's Apprentices.h.i.+p," may be cla.s.sed with fictions intended to convey certain views of life; but its chief defect is, that the object of the writer remains in a mist, even at the end of the story. The "Elective Affinities," while it contains many beauties as a work of art, is objectionable in a moral point of view.

Jean Paul Richter (1763-1825) describes human life in all its aspects of light and shade, and his voluminous works embrace all subjects, from the highest problems of transcendental philosophy and the most pa.s.sionate poetical delineations to "Instructions in the Art of Falling Asleep;" but his essential character, however disguised, is that of a philosopher and moral poet, whose study has been human nature, and whose delight is in all that is beautiful, tender, and mysteriously sublime in the fate or history of man. Humor is the ruling quality of his mind, the central fire that pervades and vivifies his whole being. The chief productions of Jean Paul (the t.i.tle under which he wrote) are novels, of which "Hesperus" and "t.i.tan" are considered his masterpieces. These and the charming prose idyl, "The Years of Wild Oats," keep their place as works of permanent excellence. In his famous "Dream," in which he describes a universe without religion, he rises to the loftiest height of imagination.

Tieck (1773-1853) was at once a novelist, poet, and critic; but his fairy tales have perhaps rendered him most popular. His fancy was brilliant and sportive, and his imagination varied and fantastic. The world of his creation was peopled by demons who shed their malignant influence on mankind, or by spirits such as the Rosicrucians had conjured up, nymphs of the air, the woods, or waters. These airy visions he wove into form and shape with a master hand, and he invested even the common objects of life with a supernatural hue. At times he seems almost to have acquired a closer intimacy with nature than that granted to common men, and to have dived into the secret of her operations and the working of her laws. But while Tieck is unrivaled in the world of phantasy, he becomes an ordinary writer when he descends to that of daily life.

Hardenberg, known by the a.s.sumed name of Novalis (1772-1801), by his unsullied character, his early death, and the mystic tone of his productions, was long regarded with an enthusiasm which has now greatly declined. His romance, "Henry von Ofterdingen," contains elements of beauty, but it deals too exclusively with the shadowy, the distant, and the unreal. His "Aphorisms" are sometimes deep and original, but often paradoxical and unintelligible.

La Motte Fouque (1777-1843) is best known by his charming story of "Undine," founded on one of those traditions in which the ancient fairy mythology of Germany abounded. Undine, a beautiful water-spirit, wins the heart of a n.o.ble knight, and consents to be his bride. We have seen it was only through the union with a being of mortal mould that the spirits of air and water could obtain the gift of a soul. But before giving her hand to her lover, Undine reminds him that the relentless laws of her race condemn her to become herself the instrument of his destruction if he should break his plighted vow. The knight accepts the conditions, and for a time he remains true to his beautiful wife. But at length, weary of her charms, he seeks the daughter of a neighboring baron for his bride, and in the midst of the wedding festivities the faithless knight is suffocated by an embrace from Undine, who is forced by the race of spirits thus to destroy him. The sweetness and pathos of this tale and its dream-like beauty have given it a place among those creations which appeal to all the world, and do not depend for their popularity on the tendencies of any particular age.

Chamisso (1781-1836), one of the most popular poets of Germany, was the author of "Peter Schlemihl," a well-known tale describing the adventures of a man who sold his shadow for a large sum of money, and found afterward that he had made a very bad bargain. The moral it seems to indicate is that gold is dearly obtained at the sacrifice of any part, even of the shadow, of our humanity.

Hoffmann (1776-1822) surpa.s.sed all other imaginative writers in inventing marvelous incidents, while he was inferior to many of them in poetical genius. His stories mingle the circ.u.mstances of real life with grotesque and visionary adventures.

Zschokke (1771-1847) was remarkable as a man and an author. His literary activity extended over more than half a century, and his tales and miscellaneous writings have had extensive popularity. His studies were generally directed toward human improvement, as in "The Goldmaker's Village," where he describes the progress of industry and civilization among a degraded population.