Aesthetic Poetry

The Aesthetical Essays, by
Frederich Schiller

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Title: The Aesthetical Essays
Author: Frederich Schiller
Release Date: October 26, 2006 [EBook #6798]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger

AESTHETICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS
by Frederick Schiller

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
VOCABULARY OF TERMINOLOGY
LETTERS ON THE AESTHETICAL EDUCATION OF MAN
AESTHETICAL ESSAYS:--
THE MORAL UTILITY OF AESTHETIC MANNERS ON THE
SUBLIME THE PATHETIC ON GRACE AND DIGNITY ON
DIGNITY ON THE NECESSARY LIMITATIONS IN THE USE OF
BEAUTY AND FORM REFLECTIONS ON THE USE OF THE
VULGAR AND LOW ELEMENTS IN WORKS OF ART
DETACHED REFLECTIONS ON DIFFERENT QUESTIONS OF
AESTHETICS ON SIMPLE AND SENTIMENTAL POETRY THE
STAGE AS A MORAL INSTITUTION ON THE TRAGIC ART OF
THE CAUSE OF THE PLEASURE WE DERIVE FROM TRAGIC
OBJECTS

INTRODUCTION.
The special subject of the greater part of the letters and essays of
Schiller contained in this volume is Aesthetics; and before passing to
any remarks on his treatment of the subject it will be useful to offer a
few observations on the nature of this topic, and on its treatment by the
philosophical spirit of different ages.
First, then, aesthetics has for its object the vast realm of the beautiful,
and it may be most adequately defined as the philosophy of art or of the
fine arts. To some the definition may seem arbitrary, as excluding the
beautiful in nature; but it will cease to appear so if it is remarked that
the beauty which is the work of art is higher than natural beauty,
because it is the offspring of the mind. Moreover, if, in conformity with
a certain school of modern philosophy, the mind be viewed as the true
being, including all in itself, it must be admitted that beauty is only

truly beautiful when it shares in the nature of mind, and is mind's
offspring.
Viewed in this light, the beauty of nature is only a reflection of the
beauty of the mind, only an imperfect beauty, which as to its essence is
included in that of the mind. Nor has it ever entered into the mind of
any thinker to develop the beautiful in natural objects, so as to convert
it into a science and a system. The field of natural beauty is too
uncertain and too fluctuating for this purpose. Moreover, the relation of
beauty in nature and beauty in art forms a part of the science of
aesthetics, and finds again its proper place.
But it may be urged that art is not worthy of a scientific treatment. Art
is no doubt an ornament of our life and a charm to the fancy; but has it
a more serious side? When compared with the absorbing necessities of
human existence, it might seem a luxury, a superfluity, calculated to
enfeeble the heart by the assiduous worship of beauty, and thus to be
actually prejudicial to the true interest of practical life. This view seems
to be largely countenanced by a dominant party in modern times, and
practical men, as they are styled, are only too ready to take this
superficial view of the office of art.
Many have indeed undertaken to defend art on this score, and to show
that, far from being a mere luxury, it has serious and solid advantages.
It has been even apparently exaggerated in this respect, and represented
as a kind of mediator between reason and sense, between inclination
and duty, having as its mission the work of reconciling the conflicting
elements in the human heart. A strong trace of this view will be found
in Schiller, especially in all that he says about the play-instinct in his
"Aesthetical Letters."
Nevertheless, art is worthy of science; aesthetics is a true science, and
the office of art is as high as that assigned to it in the pages of Schiller.
We admit that art viewed only as an ornament and a charm is no longer
free, but a slave. But this is a perversion of its proper end. Science has
to be considered as free in its aim and in its means, and it is only free
when liberated from all other considerations; it rises up to truth, which
is its only real object, and can alone fully satisfy it. Art in like manner

is alone truly art when it is free and independent, when it solves the
problem of its high destination--that