Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature (tr John Black) | Page 7

August Wilhelm Schlegel
liberal-minded
De Staël, with whose personal fortunes he felt himself inseparably
linked by that deep feeling of esteem and friendship which speaks so
touchingly and pathetically in some of his later poems, he accompanied
that lady on a visit to Stockholm, where he formed the acquaintance of
the Crown Prince.
The great political events of this period were not without their effect on
Schlegel's mind, and in 1813 he came forward as a political writer,
when his powerful pen was not without its effect in rousing the German
mind from the torpor into which it had sunk beneath the victorious
military despotism of France. But he was called upon to take a more
active part in the measures of these stirring times, and in this year
entered the service of the Crown Prince of Sweden, as secretary and

counsellor at head quarters. For this Prince he had a great personal
regard, and estimated highly both his virtues as a man and his talents as
a general. The services he rendered the Swedish Prince were duly
appreciated and rewarded, among other marks of distinction by a patent
of nobility, in virtue of which he prefixed the "Von" to his paternal
name of Schlegel. The Emperor Alexander, of whose religious
elevation of character he always spoke with admiration, also honoured
him with his intimacy and many tokens of esteem.
Upon the fall of Napoleon he returned to Coppet with Madame de Staël,
and in 1815 published a second volume of his _Poetical Works_,
(Heildelberg, 1811-1815, 2nd edit., 2 vols., 1820). These are
characterized not merely by the brilliancy and purity of the language,
but also by the variety and richness of the imagery. Among these the
_Arion_, _Pygmalion_, and Der Heilige Lucas (St. Luke,) the Sonnets,
and the sublime elegy, _Rhine_, dedicated to Madame de Staël, deserve
especial mention, and give him a just claim to a poet's crown.
On the death of his friend and patroness in 1819, he accepted the offer
of a professor's chair in Bonn, where he married a daughter of
Professor Paulus. This union, as short-lived as the first, was followed
by a separation in 1820. In his new position of academic tutor, while he
diligently promoted the study of the fine arts and sciences, both of the
Ancient and the Moderns, he applied himself with peculiar ardour to
Oriental literature, and particularly to the Sanscrit. As a fruit of these
studies, he published his _Indian Library_, (2 vols., Bonn, 1820-26); he
also set up a press for printing the great Sanscrit work, the _Râmâjana_
(Bonn, 1825). He also edited the Sanscrit text, with a Latin translation,
of the Bhagavad-Gita, an episode of the great Indian Epos, the
_Mahâbhârata_ (Bonn, 1829). About this period his Oriental studies
took, him to France, and afterwards to England, where, in London and
in the college libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, and the East India
College at Hailesbury, he carefully examined the various collections of
Oriental MSS. On his return he was appointed Superintendent of the
Museum of Antiquities, and in 1827 delivered at Berlin a course of
Lectures on the _Theory and History of the Fine Arts_, (Berlin, 1827).
These were followed by his _Criticisms_, (Berlin, 1828), and his
_Réflexion sur l'Etude des Langues Asiatiques_, addressed to Sir James
Mackintosh. Being accused of a secret leaning to Roman Catholicism,

(Kryptocatholicisme,) he ably defended himself in a reply entitled
_Explication de quelques Malentendus_, (Berlin, 1828.)
A. W. Von Schlegel, besides being a Member of the Legion of Honour,
was invested with the decorations of several other Orders. He wrote
French with as much facility as his native language, and many French
journals were proud to number him among their contributors. He also
assisted Madame de Staël in her celebrated work _De l'Allemagne_,
and superintended the publication of her posthumous _Considérations
sur la Révolution Française_.
After this long career of successful literary activity, A. W. Von
Schlegel died at Bonn, 12 May, 1845. His death was thus noticed in the
_Athenaeum_:--
"This illustrious writer was, in conjunction with his brother Frederick,
as most European readers well know, the founder of the modern
romantic school of German literature, and as a critic fought many a
hard battle for his faith. The clearness of his insight into poetical and
dramatic truth, Englishmen will always be apt to estimate by the fact
that it procured for himself and for his countrymen the freedom of
Shakspeare's enchanted world, and the taste of all the marvellous things
that, like the treasures of Aladdin's garden, are fruit and gem at once
upon its immortal boughs:-- Frenchmen will not readily forget that he
disparaged Molière. The merit of Schlegel's dramatic criticism ought
not, however, to be thus limited. Englishmen themselves are deeply
indebted to him. His Lectures, translated by Black, excited
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code

 / 267
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.