The Life and Works of Friedrich Schiller | Page 3

meeting with Herder and Wieland--Visit to Jena--Pleased
with Weimar--New literary pursuits--Visit to Meiningen and
introduction to the Lengefeld family--Charlotte von Lengefeld--A
summer idyl--Awakening interest in the Greeks--First meeting with
Goethe--Appointed professor at Jena--Bitterness toward Goethe--Love,
betrothal and marriage--'The Gods of Greece'--'The Artists'--'The
Ghostseer'--The 'Letters on Don Carlos'--Review of 'Egmont'--'The
Misanthrope'--Translations from Euripides and other minor writings.
CHAPTER XI
Historical Writings
Schiller's merit as a historian--Genesis of 'The Defection of the

Netherlands'--The author's self-confidence--His readableness--Freedom
the animating idea--Attitude toward past and present--Position as a
historian--Too little regard for the fact--First lecture at Jena--Influence
of Kant--Theory of the Fall--The 'Historical Memoirs'--Inchoate
Romanticism--'History of the Thirty Years' War'--Skill in
narrating--Conception of the war as a struggle for freedom--View of
Gustav Adolf.
CHAPTER XII
Dark Days Within and Without
A happy year--Disastrous illness in January, 1791--Feud with
Bürger--Interest in epic poetry--Second illness and desperate
plight--Help from Denmark--Resolution to master Kant's
philosophy--Visit to Suabia--Enterprise of the _Horen_--Attitude
toward the Revolution--Sympathy for Louis XVI.--Prediction of
Napoleon--Made a citizen of the French Republic--Disgust with
politics--Program of the _Horen_--Genius and vocation.
CHAPTER XIII
Aesthetic Writings
Value of philosophy to a poet--Goethe's opinion--Schiller's early
philosophizing--The essays on Tragedy--Plan of 'Kallias'--Kant's
aesthetics--Schiller's divergence from Kant--Beauty identified with
freedom-in-the-appearance--Explication of the theory--Essay on
'Winsomeness and Dignity'--Essay on 'The Sublime'--Remarks on
Schiller's general method--Letters to the Duke of Augustenburg--The
'Letters on Aesthetic Education'--Some minor papers--Essay on 'Naïve
and Sentimental Poetry'.
CHAPTER XIV
The Great Duumvirate

Goethe and Schiller--Six years of aloofness--Beginning of
intimacy--The 'happy event'--Campaign for the conquest of
Goethe---Schiller, on Goethe's genius--A friendly relation
established--Comparison of the duumvirs--Fortunes of the
_Horen_--Return to poetry--Significance of the essay on 'Naive and
Sentimental Poetry'--Goethe on Schiller's theory--Enemies assail the
_Horen_--The Xenia planned in retaliation--A militant league
formed--The fusillade of the Xenia--Effect of the Xenia--Return to the
drama--Further relations of Goethe and Schiller.
CHAPTER XV
Later Poems
General character of Schiller's poetry--'The Veiled Image at Sais'--'The
Ideal and Life'--Idealism of Goethe and Schiller--'The Walk'--Poems of
1796--'Dignity of Women'--'The Eleusinian Festival'--The
ballads--Attitude toward the present--Lyrics of thought--'The Maiden's
Lament'--Popularity of Schiller's cultural poems--'The Song of the
Bell'--Latest poems.
CHAPTER XVI
Wallenstein
General characterization--Preparatory studies--Difficulties of the
subject--Study of Sophocles and Aristotle--Decision in favor of
verse--Completion of the play--'Wallenstein's Camp'--The historical
Wallenstein--Schiller's artistic achievement--Character of the hero--His
impressiveness--Effect of contrast--Octavio Piccolomini--Max
Piccolomini--Max and Thekla--Lyrical passages--Absence of humor
and irony.
CHAPTER XVII
Mary Stuart

Genesis of the play--Schiller's removal to Weimar--'Mary Stuart'
characterized--The fundamental difficulty--Unhistorical
inventions--Effect of these--The meeting of the queens--Character of
Elizabeth--Romantic tendencies--Mary conceived as a purified
sufferer--Pathos of the conclusion--Ugly portrait of Elizabeth
accounted for--The historical background--Dramatic
qualities--Character of Mortimer.
CHAPTER XVIII
The Maid of Orleans
Variety in Schiller's work--Genesis of 'The Maid of Orleans'--Schiller's
Johanna--Miraculous elements--Attitude of the critics--Difficulty of the
subject--Johanna's tragic guilt--Her supernatural power--The scene with
Lionel--Schiller's poetic intention--A drama of patriotism--The
subordinate characters--Excellence of the composition.
CHAPTER XIX
The Bride of Messina
Genesis of the play--General characterization--Disagreement of the
critics--Relation to Sophocles--Substance of the plot--Ancients and
moderns--Fate and responsibility--Schiller's invention--Unnaturalness
of the action--Strange conduct of Don Manuel, Beatrice and the
mother--Lavish use of silence--Schiller's contempt of realism--Don
Cesar's expiatory death the real tragedy--Use of the fate idea--Apologia
for the chorus--Poetic splendor.
CHAPTER XX
William Tell
'Tell' and 'The Robbers'--General characterization--Genesis--Attention
to local color--An interruption--Success on the stage--The theme of
'Tell'--A drama of freedom--The play intensely human--Goodness of

the exposition--Departures from usual method--Character of Tell--The
apple-shooting scene--The scene in the 'hollow way'--Tell's long
soliloquy--Introduction of Parricida--Bertha and Rudenz.
CHAPTER XXI
The End.--Unfinished Plays and Adaptations
A Russian theme chosen--Berlin negotiations--Work on
'Demetrius'--'The Homage of the Arts'--Last illness and death--The
unfinished 'Demetrius'--The historical Dmitri--The original plan
modified--Character of the hero--Poetic promise of
'Demetrius'--'Warbeck'--'The Princess of Celle'--'The Knights of
Malta'--Other unfinished plays--Adaptation of 'Egmont'--Of 'Nathan the
Wise'--Of 'Macbeth'--Of 'Turandot'--Interest in the French
drama--Adaptations from the French.
CHAPTER XXII
The Verdict of Posterity
Schiller a national poet--His idealized personality--Estimate of
Dannecker--Of Madame de Staël--Goethe's 'Epilogue'--Controversy
over Goethe and Schiller--Attitude of Schlegel--Of Menzel--Goethe's
loyalty to his friend--The mid-century epoch--Unreasonable
criticism--Interesting prophecy of Gervinus--Schiller's aesthetic
idealism often misunderstood--Schiller as a friend of the
people--Partisan misconceptions--The enthusiasm of 1859--Epoch of
the philologers--Present opinion of Schiller--Conclusion.

LIVE AND WORKS OF SCHILLER
CHAPTER I
Parentage and Schooling

Nur, Vater, mir Gesänge.
_From the poem 'Evening', 1776._
When the Austrian War of Succession came to an end, in the year 1748,
a certain young Suabian who had been campaigning in the Lowlands as
army doctor was left temporarily without employment. The man's name
was Johann Kaspar Schiller; he was of good plebeian stock and had
lately been a barber's apprentice,--a lot that he had accepted reluctantly
when the poverty of a widowed mother compelled him to shift for
himself at an early age. Having served his time and learned the trade of
the barber-surgeon, he had joined a Bavarian regiment of hussars.
Finding himself now suddenly at leisure, after the Peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle, he mounted