The Youth of Goethe | Page 2

216 UNPUBLISHED TILL AFTER GOETHE'S DEATH 218
CHAPTER XII
GOETHE IN SOCIETY
1774
JOHANN KASPAR LAVATER 220 HIS CHARACTER 220 HIS INTEREST IN GOETHE 222 VISITS FRANKFORT 224 HIS INTERCOURSE WITH GOETHE 225 JOHANN BERNHARD BASEDOW 227 HIS CHARACTER AND CAREER 227 HIS VISIT TO FRANKFORT 228 GOETHE, LAVATER, AND BASEDOW AT EMS 228 THEIR VOYAGE DOWN THE RHINE 230 JUNG STILLING 231 SCENE AT ELBERFELDT 232 FRITZ JACOBI 233 GOETHE MAKES HIS ACQUAINTANCE 233 THEIR INTERCOURSE 234 JACOBI'S ESTIMATE OF GOETHE 237 KLOPSTOCK 238 GOETHE'S ADMIRATION OF HIM 238 THEIR MEETING IN FRANKFORT 239 AN SCHWAGER KRONOS 240 BOIE AND WERTHES ON GOETHE 241 MAJOR VON KNEBEL AND GOETHE 242 GOETHE AND THE PRINCES OF WEIMAR 243 VON KNEBEL ON GOETHE 244 DEATH OF FR?ULEIN VON KLETTENBERG 245
CHAPTER XIII
LILI SCH?NEMANN
1775
THE SCH?NEMANN FAMILY 247 GOETHE'S INTRODUCTION TO LILI SCH?NEMANN 248 HIS SUBSEQUENT MEMORY OF HER 249 LILI COMPARED WITH HIS PREVIOUS LOVES 250 GOETHE'S SONGS ADDRESSED TO HER 251 COUNTESS STOLBERG 253 GOETHE'S RELATIONS TO HER 253 ERWIN UND ELMIRE 255 STELLA 257 CLAUDINE VON VILLA BELLA 263 A DISTRACTED LOVER 266 BETROTHED TO LILI 268 SHRINKS FROM MARRIAGE 269 COUNTS STOLBERG IN FRANKFORT 270 GOETHE STARTS WITH THEM FOR SWITZERLAND 271 VISITS HIS SISTER AT EMMENDINGEN 273 WITH LAVATER IN ZURICH 275 ACCOMPANIES PASSAVANT TO ST. GOTHARD 276 LYRICS TO LILI 276 RETURN TO FRANKFORT 278
CHAPTER XIV
LAST MONTHS IN FRANKFORT--THE URFAUST
1775
RELATIONS TO LILI ON HIS RETURN 279 A CRISIS IN THEIR RELATIONS 281 MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTS 282 ESTIMATES OF GOETHE BY SULZER AND ZIMMERMANN 283 INVITATION TO WEIMAR 284 PROPOSED JOURNEY TO ITALY 285 A DELAYED MESSENGER 286 DEPARTS FOR WEIMAR 287 EGMONT AND THE URFAUST 287 THE URFAUST 288 CHARACTERISTICS 293

PREFACE
"Generally speaking," Goethe has himself said, "the most important period in the life of an individual is that of his development--the period which, in my case, breaks off with the detailed narrative of Dichtung und Wahrheit." In reality, as we know, there is no complete breach at any point in the lives of either nations or individuals. But if in the life of Goethe we are to fix upon a dividing point, it is his departure from Frankfort and his permanent settlement in Weimar in his twenty-seventh year. Considered externally, that change of his surroundings is the most obvious event in his career, and for the world at large marks its division into two well-defined periods. In relation to his inner development his removal from Frankfort to Weimar may also be regarded as the most important fact in his life. From the date of his settlement in Weimar he was subjected to influences which equally affected his character and his genius; had he continued to make his home in Frankfort, it is probable that, both as man and literary artist, he would have developed characteristics essentially different from those by which the world knows him. There were later experiences--notably his Italian journey and his intercourse with Schiller--which profoundly influenced him, but none of these experiences penetrated his being so permanently as the atmosphere of Weimar, which he daily breathed for more than half a century.
As Goethe himself has said, the first twenty-six years of his life are essentially the period of his "development." During that period we see him as he came from Nature's hand. His words, his actions have then a stamp of spontaneity which they gradually lost with advancing years as the result of his social and official relations in Weimar. He has told us that it was one of the painful conditions of his position there that it made impossible that frank and cordial relation with others which it was his nature to seek, and from which he had previously derived encouragement and stimulus; as a State official, he adds, he could be on easy terms with nobody without running the risk of a petition for some favour which he might or might not be able to confer.
For the portrayal of the youthful Goethe materials are even superabundant; of no other genius of the same order, indeed, have we a record comparable in fulness of detail for the same period of life. And it is this abundance of information and the extraordinary individuality to whom it relates that give specific interest to any study of Goethe's youth. From month to month, even at times from day to day, we can trace the growth of his character, of his opinions, of his genius. And the testimonies of his contemporaries are unanimous as to the unique impression he made upon them. "He will always remain to me one of the most extraordinary apparitions of my life," wrote one; and he expressed the opinion of all who had the discernment to appreciate originality of gifts and character. What they found unique in him was inspiration, passion, a zest of life, at a pressure