Der Abend wiegte schon die Erde, Der Mond von seinem Wolkenhügel, Ich sah dich, und die milde Freude Und Zärtlichkeit für mich, ihr Götter! Der Abschied, wie bedrängt, wie trübe! welche Wonne, welcher Schmerz! Du giengst, ich stund, und sah zur Erden, 8. Willkommen und Abschied Es schlug mein Herz, geschwind zu Pferde! Der Abend wiegte schon die Erde, Der Mond von einem Wolkenhügel Dich sah ich, und die milde Freude Ein rosenfarbnes Frühlingswetter Und Zärtlichkeit für mich - ihr Götter! Doch ach, schon mit der Morgensonne In deinem Auge, welcher Schmerz! III. Sturm und Drang THE period of the folksong, as Goethe's sojourn in Strassburg and Sesenheim has fittingly been called, was followed after Goethe's return to Frankfurt by the Storm and Stress period, one of the most important epochs in the life of our poet and in the history of the German people. While on the one hand this movement means the breaking with traditions, it is on the other hand an attempt at a regeneration of human nature, the beginning of a new life springing from the innate eternal sources of the soul. Freedom from rules and regulations not only in art, but also in every sphere of life, originality and self-life now become the watchwords. The leadership in this movement of regeneration which was first held by Herder has now passed over from him to Goethe, who is becoming conscious of his vocation as the moral and intellectual guide of his fellow men. He revives the legends of Deukalion a kind of Greek Genesis - and of Prometheus, because of their inner relation to his own cherished plan of a new creation of humanity. Shakespeare now appears to him the creator of a new world such as he intends to produce. Great leaders of mankind, men of powerful genius, as Mohammed (Mahomets Gesang), Socrates and Cæsar, are chosen by him as characters of his poetry. Conscious of his extraordinary talents, and feeling the unlimited resources of his creative faculty, he proclaims himself at times the 'god' in this new creation of his. Thus in 21 Wanderers Sturmlied he addresses himself as Apollo, in Prometheus he defies Zeus, and in Faust he exclaims: Bin ich ein Gott? mir wird so licht. It is a most important step in Goethe's development that he recognized the dangers of this exalted position to which the consciousness of his genius had carried him, and retreated from its titanic heights. His retreat is due chiefly to the wholesome and purifying influence of Frau von Stein, who taught him to control and resign himself. He who had felt himself more than human' (Uebermensch), seeks now the return to the simplicity and the limitations of true humanity, as may be seen from the hymns Grenzen der Menschheit and the glorious Das Göttliche. In the poem Ilmenau he even goes so far as to condemn his Promethean aspirations: Ich brachte reines Feuer vom Altar, Was ich entzündet ist nicht reine Flamme, and in the Zueignung he glorifies as the divine Muse of his poetry, the woman who had rescued him from the errors of Storm and Stress. 1. Wanderers Sturmlied Wen du nicht verlässest, Genius, 5 |