HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY FROM THE LIBRARY OF Copyright, 1901, BY HENRY HOLT & CO. PREFACE THE present edition of Goethe's poems is designed as an introduction to the study of Goethe, by showing as far as possible the inner development of the poet and the man, which are inseparable in this greatest lyric poet of modern times. For none of his works reflects better and more faithfully the very nature of Goethe than his lyric poetry. Although Goethe himself would have objected, for artistic reasons, to an historical arrangement of his lyrics, such as Körner introduced for Schiller's poems, the historical method had to be followed to a certain extent for the purposes of the present edition. While arranging the chapters in the chronological order of Goethe's life I have, however, not aimed at strict chronology in the order of the poems singly. It will be noticed that I have endeavored to make each division complete in itself by choosing from the period treated the most important poems that mark Goethe's development. Thus, e. g., under the head of Rom I have not hesitated to give, for the sake of illustrating the changes in Goethe's relation to classical antiquity, a number of poems of much later date than his Italian journey. The short introductions which I have placed before each chapter sum up in brief form the contents of the various divisions, thus indicating the steps in Goethe's development and at the same time furnishing an aid to the interpretation of the poems. In the notes I have tried to follow one of the most fundamental principles of philological hermeneutics, by interpreting the poet by the poet. For this reason I have cited freely from Goethe's works and letters and from such writings of his contemporaries as are known to have influenced our poet. I hope that in this way I may induce the student to take up Goethe in the entirety of his life and work, and that he may learn that the understanding of even the smallest poem is dependent upon a comprehensive knowledge of the author's language and world of thought. It scarcely needs adding that I have assumed throughout this book a knowledge of Goethe's biography as a prerequisite for the study of his poems. The text of the poems in the chapters Leipzig and Sesenheim, which show us the young poet in the earliest period of his development, is given in the original form as it is contained in Hirzel's Der junge Goethe. To some of the most important early poems the later versions have been added, on account of the highly instructive changes which Goethe made. The text of the remaining poems is essentially that of the Weimar edition, corrected according to the rules of the official spelling. Since the Weimar edition is not yet completed, the references in the notes to Goethe's works are to the Hempel edition. Lessing is cited according to the edition of Lachmann, Herder according to the edition of Suphan, with the exception of a few instances which are quoted according to the original editions of his writings. |