The Youth of Goethe

The Youth of Goethe, by Peter
Hume Brown

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Youth of Goethe, by Peter Hume
Brown This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Youth of Goethe
Author: Peter Hume Brown
Release Date: November 11, 2006 [EBook #19753]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
YOUTH OF GOETHE ***

Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Linda Cantoni, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The Internet
Archive/Canadian Libraries)

THE YOUTH OF GOETHE

BY P. HUME BROWN, LL.D., F.B.A.
LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1913

TO
THE VISCOUNT HALDANE OF CLOAN, LORD CHANCELLOR
OF GREAT BRITAIN.
MY DEAR CHANCELLOR,--AS THE "ONLY BEGETTER" OF
THIS BOOK, IT SEEMS ALMOST OBLIGATORY THAT IT
SHOULD BE ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR NAME.
THE AUTHOR.

GOETHE'S BIOGRAPHIE.
"Anfangs ist es ein Punkt der leise zum Kreise sich öffnet, Aber,
wachsend, umfasst dieser am Ende die Welt."
FRIEDRICH HEBBEL.
"In the beginning a point that soft to the circle expandeth, But the circle
at length, growing, enclaspeth the world."

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
EARLY YEARS IN FRANKFORT
1749--1765
PAGE

GOETHE'S BIRTHPLACE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON HIM 1
PERIOD OF HIS BIRTH 4 HIS FATHER 6 HIS MOTHER 8 HIS
SISTER 10 FAMILY FRIENDS 11 HIS EDUCATION 12
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES 14 THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR 18
FRENCH OCCUPATION OF FRANKFORT 19 GOETHE'S FIRST
LOVE 21 DESTINED FOR THE STUDY OF LAW 23 THE BOY
THE FATHER OF THE MAN 25 HIS CHARACTER AND EARLY
TASTES 27
CHAPTER II
STUDENT IN LEIPZIG
OCTOBER, 1765--SEPTEMBER, 1768
GOES TO LEIPZIG 29 HIS WILD LIFE THERE 29 SOCIETY OF
LEIPZIG 31 HIS IRREGULAR STUDIES 33 ADOPTS LEIPZIG
FASHIONS 35 FEMININE INFLUENCES 36 DANDYISM 37
FALLS IN LOVE WITH KÄTHCHEN SCHÖNKOPF 38
FRIENDSHIP WITH BEHRISCH 39 HIS RELATIONS TO
KÄTHCHEN 40 MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTS 44 FRIENDSHIP
WITH OESER 46 STATE OF GERMAN LITERATURE 48 POEMS
OF THE PERIOD 49 DIE LAUNE DES VERLIEBTEN 51 DIE
MITSCHULDIGEN 52 INSPIRATION 54
CHAPTER III
AT HOME IN FRANKFORT
SEPTEMBER, 1768--APRIL, 1770
RETURNS TO FRANKFORT 57 HIS BROKEN HEALTH 58
RELATIONS TO HIS FATHER 58 HIS SISTER 60 INTEREST IN
RELIGION 61 FRIENDSHIP WITH FRÄULEIN VON
KLETTENBERG 62 A MYSTERIOUS MEDICINE 63 EVOLVES A
RELIGIOUS CREED 65 INFLUENCE OF FRÄULEIN VON
KLETTENBERG 66 INTEREST IN LITERATURE AND ART 67
LESSING AND WIELAND 70 RIPENING POWERS 71

CHAPTER IV
GOETHE IN STRASSBURG
APRIL, 1770--AUGUST, 1771
SETTLEMENT IN STRASSBURG 75 INFLUENCES OF
STRASSBURG 75 CHANGE IN HIS RELIGIOUS FEELINGS 76
MANNER OF LIFE IN STRASSBURG 78 FRIENDSHIP WITH DR.
SALZMANN 79 RELATIONS TO JUNG STILLING 83 COMES
UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF HERDER 84 YOUNG'S
CONJECTURES ON ORIGINAL COMPOSITION 90 ITS
INFLUENCE ON GOETHE'S GENIUS 93 FRIEDERIKE BRION 95
HIS RELATIONS TO HER 96 PARTING FROM HER 101
MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES 102 SELF-DISCIPLINE 103 POEMS
ADDRESSED TO FRIEDERIKE 105
CHAPTER V
FRANKFORT--GÖTZ VON BERLICHINGEN
AUGUST, 1771--DECEMBER, 1771
GOETHE'S RETURN TO FRANKFORT 108 CREATIVE
PRODUCTIVENESS OF THE PERIOD 108 POET OR ARTIST? 111
MENTAL CONFLICT 112 EPOCHS IN HIS LAST FRANKFORT
YEARS 113 HIS SISTER CORNELIA 116 GROWING DISTASTE
FOR FRANKFORT 117 DEPRESSION 119 WORSHIP OF
SHAKESPEARE 120 GÖTZ VON BERLICHINGEN 121 ITS
INFLUENCE ON EUROPEAN LITERATURE 131
CHAPTER VI
INFLUENCE OF MERCK AND THE DARMSTADT CIRCLE
1772
FRIENDSHIP WITH MERCK 133 CHARACTER OF MERCK 133

HIS INFLUENCE ON GOETHE 135 THE DARMSTADT CIRCLE
136 ITS INFLUENCE ON GOETHE 136 CAROLINE
FLACHSLAND AND GOETHE 137 POEMS OF GOETHE
INSPIRED BY THE DARMSTADT CIRCLE 138 WANDERERS
STURMLIED 139 DER WANDERER 141
CHAPTER VII
WETZLAR AND CHARLOTTE BUFF
MAY--SEPTEMBER, 1772
DEPARTURE FROM WETZLAR 143 WETZLAR AND ITS
SOCIETY 144 LOTTE BUFF 147 GOETHE'S RELATIONS TO HER
147 KESTNER, LOTTE'S BETROTHED 148 GOETHE, KESTNER,
AND LOTTE 149 DEPARTURE FROM WETZLAR 150
KESTNER'S CHARACTERISATION OF GOETHE 151
CHAPTER VIII
AFTER WETZLAR
1772--1773
SUICIDE OF JERUSALEM 154 GOETHE VISITS THE FAMILY
VON LA ROCHE 155 FRAU VON LA ROCHE 155 MAXIMILIANE
VON LA ROCHE 157 UNREST 158 LETTERS TO KESTNER 159
ESTRANGEMENT FROM HIS FATHER 161 SOLITUDE 162
CHAPTER IX
SATIRICAL DRAMAS AND FRAGMENTS
POET OR ARTIST? 163 LITERARY ACTIVITY 164
FRANKFURTER GELEHRTEN ANZEIGEN 165 LETTER OF THE
PASTOR 166 TWO BIBLICAL QUESTIONS 167 RECASTS GÖTZ
VON BERLICHINGEN 167 SATIRICAL PLAYS 169 PROMETHEUS
175 MAHOMET 181 ADLER UND TAUBE 183 KÜNSTLERS

ERDEWALLEN 184
CHAPTER X
WERTHER--CLAVIGO
1774
GOETHE'S NEED OF EXTERNAL STIMULUS 185 GOETHE AND
THE BRENTANOS 186 ORIGIN OF WERTHER 187 ENGLISH
INFLUENCE ON WERTHER 188 PUBLICATION OF WERTHER
189 GOETHE AND WERTHER 190 SECOND PART OF WERTHER
191 WERTHER AND GOETHE 193 INFLUENCE OF WERTHER
196 THE