453 



VOSS, JOHANN HEINRICH. 



VOSS, JOHANN HEINRICH. 



451 



acquainted with the German poets, and drew his attention to Shaks- 

 pere, to understand whose works Voss immediately began to learn 

 English. Boie, who was then the editor of the ' Gcittinger Musenal- 

 manach,' received some of Voss's poems as contributions, and was so 

 pleased with them, that he invited the author to come to Gottiugen, 

 where he promised him all the assistance in his power. After 

 repeated invitations Voss went, in 1772, to Gottingen, where, through 

 the mediation of Boie, he obtained free board (Freitisch), and also the 

 means of making a small income. Here Voss became acquainted with 

 Heyne, who received him as a member of the philological seminary. 

 The influence of Boie and of the numerous circle of aspiring young 

 men then assembled at Gottingen, who formed a society under the 

 name of Hainbund, for the purpose of cultivating poetry and improving 

 the national taste, soon drew out the genius of Voss, and he took a 

 very prominent part in the proceedings of the society. He had come 

 to Gottingen with a view to study theology, but he changed his views 

 and devoted himself to the study of philology, with the hope of 

 obtaining the office of teacher in some public school. In his critical 

 exercises in the philological seminary he occasionally differed from 

 Heyne, and thus excited his ill-will ; the consequence was that Voss 

 did not attend the seminary so regularly as was expected, though he 

 continued his studies the more zealously in private. This ill-feeling 

 between Heyne and Voss was the foundation of all their subsequent 

 disputes nd enmity. During his stay at Gottingen Voss made the 

 acquaintance of Klopstock and Claudius ; and in 1774, when Boie left 

 Gottingen, the editorship of the ' Musenalmanach ' was given to him. 

 In 1775 Voss also left the university, spent some time at Hamburg, 

 and then went to his friend Claudius at Wandsbeck. In 1777 he 

 married Boie's youngest sister, and the year after he was appointed 

 rector of the public school at Otterndorf, in the county of Hadeln. 

 Soon after settling there he announced his intention of publishing a 

 German translation of the ' Odyssey ' in hexameter verse ; and in order 

 to convince the world of his competence, he published, in 1780, a dis- 

 sertation on the island of Ortygia in the ' Deutsches Museum,' and 

 another on the Ocean of the ancients, in the ' Gottinger Magazin,' 

 which was edited by Forster and Lichtenberg. The peculiar mode 

 which he adopted of writing Greek names drew upon him the severe 

 censure and sneers of Lichtenberg, who was at the same time one of 

 the champions of Heyne. This completed the breach between Voss 

 and Heyne, and the disputes with Lichtenberg continued for several 

 years, and became at last mixed up with such personalities, that Voss 

 found it necessary to write an essay in vindication of his own charac- 

 ter in the ' Deutsches Museum.' In 1781 Voss published his German 

 translation of the ' Odyssey,' which was received with the unanimous 

 approbation of all competent judges. The marshy district of Ottern- 

 dorf being detrimental to the health of Voss, through the influence 

 of his friend Count Frederic Leopold Stolberg he was invited to 

 the rectorship of the gymnasium of Eutin. He arrived here in 1782, 

 and his circumstances, which had hitherto been extremely limited, 

 were soon greatly improved, and he wasfurther honoured with "the 

 title of ' Hofrath.' Being thus in easy circumstances, he devoted his 

 time to the discharge of his duties and to the study of the ancients, 

 whose works it was his pride to nationalise among his countrymen. 

 At the same time he continued to write original poems, which are 

 among the best in the literature of Germany. In 1789 he published 

 his edition of Virgil's ' Georgics,' with a German translation, a com- 

 mentary, and several engravings representing various forms of ancient 

 ploughs. A new and much improved edition appeared in 2 vols. 8vo, 

 1800. In 1793 he published his translation of the 'Iliad' and 

 ' Odyssey,' in 4 vols. in 8vo and 4to. That of the ' Odyssey ' was an 

 improvement upon the edition already published ; but although it is 

 more correct its character is less simple than that of the first edition. 

 During this time he was also engaged with researches on ancient 

 geography and mythology ; and in order to counteract the views on 

 mythology proposed by G. Hermann, in his ' Handbuch der Mytho- 

 logie,' which was extravagantly praised by Heyne and his friend?, 

 Voss wrote an essay on Apollo, which was soon after followed by his 

 Letters on Mythology (' Mythologische Briefe,' 2 vols. 8vo, Konigs- 

 berg, 1794), which were mainly directed against Heyne. A second 

 and enlarged edition of these letters appeared in 3 vols. 8vo, Stuttgard, 

 1827. No year passed without proofs of the genius and learning of 

 Voss. In 1797 there appeared, in 2 vols., his edition of Virgil's 

 'Eclogues,' which, like the ' Georgics,' was accompanied by a German 

 translation and an excellent commentary. Two years later he pub- 

 lished his translation of all the works of Virgil, but without a com- 

 mentary. The numerous original poems, which had appeared either 

 in small collections or in periodicals, were now collected and published 

 in 4 vols. 8vo, 1802. This collection contains, in an appendix, an 

 essay on German prosody ('Zeitmessung der Deutschen Sprache'). In 

 this year he also produced a new edition of his translation of Homer, 

 to which he added a map of the Homeric world, and a plan of the 

 palace of Odysseus. 



His intense study and incessant literary activity, together with his 

 heavy duties as rector and teacher of the gymnasium of Eutin, and 

 various other painful occurrences, had so much weakened his consti- 

 tution that it was impossible for him to continue in his office. His 

 physician urged the necessity of a residence in Southern Germany. 

 Duke Peter Frederic of Holstein-Gottorp, though with great reluctance, 



not only allowed VOBB to resign his office, but granted him an annual 

 pension of 600 thalcrs. In the autumn of 1802 VOBB went to Jena, 

 where he lived for some years in private, enjoying the friendship and 

 esteem of the professors in that university, and of all the illustrious 

 personages then assembled at Weimar. 



It was during his stay at Jena that he wrote the review of Heyne's 

 edition of Homer, which created a general sensation in Germany 

 ('Jenaer Allgem. Literaturzeitung,' for May 1803). In 1805 Voas 

 received a letter expressing the desire of the elector of Baden that 

 he should come to Heidelberg, and give a few lectures in the univer- 

 sity ; or, if his health should not permit him to lecture, the elector 

 offered him a pension of 500 florins if he would merely settle at 

 Heidelberg. While Voss was hesitating whether he should leave all 

 his friends at Jena and Weimar, a second letter arrived, offering him. 

 an annual pension of 1000 florins if he would settle at Heidelberg, and 

 by his mere presence give lustre to the university. This generous 

 offer, which raised him above all want, was gratefully accepted ; and 

 in the summer of 1805 Voss arrived at Heidelberg. The mild climate 

 of this place, with its beautiful environs, produced a great change in 

 him. He felt himself again cheerful and young, and with renewed 

 ardour he devoted himself to his literary pursuits. The results were 

 improved editions of his earlier works, as well as many new ones. 

 His fourth and last edition of Homer appeared in 1814, in 4 vols., 

 and a revised edition of his translation of Virgil in 1821. Among the 

 new translations of ancient writers which appeared during his residence 

 at Heidelberg, were those of Horace (1806 and 1821), Hesiod (1806), 

 Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus (1808), Tibullus and Lygdamus (1810), 

 of which, in 1811, he also published the original text, corrected from 

 manuscripts, his translation of Aristophanes (1821), and Aratus (1824). 

 Voss had occasionally translated works from the English and French 

 into German : in 1819 he determined, in conjunction with his two 

 sons Henry and Abraham, to translate Shakspere. The work was not 

 completed till several years after the death of Voss. This translation 

 is not quite what it should be, but it is a proof of the bold spirit and 

 of the unwearied activity of Voss. In 1823 he published the first 

 volume of a work entitled ' Antisymbolik,' which was directed against 

 the mythological work of Creuzer. The second volume was edited 

 after his father's death by Abraham Voss. Frederic Stolberg, who 

 had once been a kind and sincere friend to Voss, had become a convert 

 to the Roman Catholic religion in the year 1800; and many years 

 afterwards, in 1819, Voss, seeing the intrigues employed by the Mystics 

 and the Roman Catholics in Germany, wrote an essay called ' Wie 

 ward Fritz Stolberg ein Unfreier ' (in Paulus's ' Sophronizon,' part iii.). 

 This was the opening of a literary campaign against Roman Catholi- 

 cism, the Protestant Mystics of Germany, and despotism and aristo- 

 cratic haughtiness, for these were the causes to which Voss attributed 

 the conversion of Stolberg. The sensation which these attacks created 

 divided all Germany into two parties; but both agreed that Voss 

 treated the friend of his youth too severely, and they condemned the 

 personalities in which he indulged. The truth is that Voss and Stol- 

 berg were such opposite natures that they could not understand each 

 other : Voss was unable to comprehend the real causes of Stolberg's 

 conduct, as has since been made evident by the letters of Stolberg. 

 Voss died at Heidelberg, on the 30th of March 1826. 



Johann Heinrich Voss is one of the most remarkable men of 

 modern times. He possessed a generous, upright character, without 

 the least affectation. In his family and in his relations to his friends 

 there was a kind of patriarchal simplicity and cordiality. But it can- 

 not be denied that his own opinions of what was right and wrong 

 rendered him frequently blind to what was good in others, and made 

 him appear obstinate and quarrelsome. As a writer Voss ranks among 

 the first that Germany can boast of. His knowledge of antiquity was 

 immense, and the life of the ancients was nearly as familiar to him as 

 that of his contemporaries. His commentaries on Virgil's Georgics 

 and Eclogues are among the best that have been written on any 

 ancient author, and Niebuhr used to say that nothing was left for 

 any future commentator on those poems, for Voss had done all that 

 could be desired. He is one of the great fathers of modern philology, 

 and worthy to stand by the side of Lessing and P. A. Wolf. As a 

 translator Voss is unrivalled, and the principles which he laid down 

 are still followed by the best translators in Germany. No nation of 

 modern Europe can boast of translations of Homer, Virgil, Hesiod, 

 and Theocritus equal to those of Voss, which are real substitutes for 

 the originals. It was the consequence of his own peculiar nature that 

 he was more successful in his translations of epic and idyllic, than of 

 lyric and dramatic poetry. As a poet he must be classed among the 

 first of his country. His expression is strong and vigorous, his senti- 

 ments true und pure, and the amiable part of the German character ia 

 perhaps not seen in any modern poet more clearly than in the poems 

 of Voss. The simplicity and the natural charms of his idyllic poems 

 have never been equalled by any German poet, and his epico-idyllic 

 poem, ' Luise,' is the most beautiful production of its kind in any 

 language. His essays have been collected under the title ' Kritische 

 Bliitter, nebst Geographischen Abhandlungen,' Stuttgard, 2 vols. 8vo. 

 1829. 



(Paulus, Lebens- und Todeskunden von J. H. Voss, Heidelberg, 1826 ; 

 Briefe von /. H. Voss, nebst erlauternden Beilagen, edited by Abraham 

 Voss, Halberstadt, 3 vols. 8vo, 1820-33; Leben des DicMers /. //. 



