SCHILLER 



209 



way from entirely opposite starting-points to 

 pretty nearly the same conclusions. Both regarded 

 art as the crowning-stone of human culture, a* in 

 fact the l)est practical religion, and both thought 

 anil wrote in the spirit of that conviction. The 

 year 1794 is marked in Schiller's career by two 

 other events : he composed the essay Ueber Naive 

 and Sentimentale Dicntttng, in which the respective 

 characters of ancient (classic) and modern poetry 

 were for the first time clearly defined and discrim- 

 inated ; and he started the magazine Die Horen, 

 which died after a precarious existence of three 

 years. But it gave birth to the much more 

 celebrated Xeiiien (1797), a collection of satirical 

 epigrams, written by Schiller and Goethe con- 

 jointly, and aimed at all who, in their estima- 

 tion, did not pay fit and proper reverence to 

 Art, and its object Beauty. Schiller's inter- 

 course with Goethe had reawakened his poetic 

 instincts, and he once more began to write poems, 

 at first pieces of a reflective and lyric character, 

 principally for his annual Die Musenalmanach 

 (another bread-winning project), such as Die 

 Macht tlen Gesangejt, Die lileule, Wiirde tier Frauen, 

 Der XfniziiTi/iiHif, and so forth, and later, mostly in 

 his garden-house at Jena during the years 1797 

 and 179S, the matchless ballads (Kraniche des 

 Ibykus, Der Nandsehufi, Der Taucher, Kilter Toy- 

 genburg, &c. ) that in the estimation of many con- 

 stitute his principal contribution to literature, and 

 that certainly make him the favourite beyond all 

 other poets of the German people. And, under the 

 same stimulus, he went back to the drama, and 

 spent many a long night on the finishing of Wallen- 

 xtein ( 1798-99), in spite of the fact that every hour's 

 writing cost him several hours' suffering. This 

 play (embracing the trilogy Walltnslein't Lager, 

 Die Picroiomint, and IVallcrutein't Tod), which 

 Carlyle declares to have been 'the greatest dramatic 

 work of which the 18th century can boast,' is in 

 every way a remarkable advance on Don Carlos. 

 It is Imili on a wider and truer estimate of human 

 nature, displays a juster conception of the limits 

 and possibilities of dramatic composition, and 

 attains a happier, loftier harmony of the poetic 

 and dramatic ideals; ami, especially on account of 

 the magnitude and masterly arrangement of the 

 action, the character of Wallenstein, and the 

 pathetic love-story of Max Piccolomini and Thekla, 

 ranks as one of the greatest, if not the very greatest, 

 of all plays in German literature. 



In 1799 Schiller settled in Weimar he had never 

 lectured since 1793 in order to l>e nearer the 

 theatre and close to Goethe, whom he zealously 

 supported in his efforts to elevate the German 

 stage into an influential engine of culture. In 

 quick succession he finished Maria Stuart (ISQO), 

 Die Junnfraii ron Orleans ( 1801 ), Die Braut von 

 JftnfM (IMt). and Wilhelm Tell (1804). The 

 first named, liiUt not exactly answering the ex- 

 pectations of the English reader, is nevertheless an 

 admirable drama. Mary, the heroine, is repre- 

 sented as an erring, but repentant and lovable 

 woman, whose character shines out all the more 

 beautiful from contrast with her cold and selfish 

 cousin, Elizabeth ; and the play contains several 

 fine passages, descriptive and dramatic. Die 

 Jungfrau is artistically one of Schiller's most suc- 

 cessful performances ;' Joan of Arc, the principal 

 character, is drawn as a lovely and innocent 

 maiden inspired with the spirit of the prophetess 

 deeply religious and ideally )>eautiful conception 

 well carried out. Die Braut von Messina was 

 confessedly an experiment, and, it is universally 

 admitted, an unsuccessful experiment, at combin- 

 ing the ancient and the modern ideals of dramatic 

 excellence, more especially by the introduction of 

 the chonit as the principal supporter of the action. 

 MO 



Tell, however, is a noble piece of work, in spite of 

 some technical defects (principally the lack of a 

 central character and of a progressive concentration 

 of the dramatic interest ). All the dramatis persona 

 are thoroughly human and are cleverly put before 

 us, and there are many fine descriptions of Swiss 

 landscapes ; but the finest thing of all is the un- 

 quenchable spirit of freedom that pulses in every 

 line. This was the last drama Schiller lived to 

 finish, though he left others in various stages of 

 completion, Warfock and Demetrius being the most 

 advanced. His health, long enfeebled, finally and 

 suddenly broke down ; he died on the 9th May 1805, 

 still a comparatively young man, in the prime of 

 his intellectual activity. 



Schiller's life was one long struggle against 

 pecuniary difficulties, greatly aggravated at times 

 liy the most uncongenial surroundings, and latterly 

 by ill-health. Yet through all he remained tnie 

 to himself and to his high calling. He pressed 

 ever strenuously forward along the path of know- 

 ledge and self-culture, and his literary career is an 

 advance from crude elemental strength to finished 

 and matured art. Personally, in spite of the draw- 

 backs and hindrances of his outward situation, his 

 character and conduct were of the noblest : he 

 made it his constant end, delil>erately chosen, to 

 try and carry out in his own daily life "the loftiest 

 ideals he lielieved in, and strove to ' live like a man 

 whom the world would 1* sorry to lose.' The key 

 to his speculative ideas, especially with respect to 

 art, is contained in the high and reverential regard 

 he paid t<i moral beauty. That is the chief corner- 

 stone of his {esthetic creed -and of his principles 

 of action. He hail an enthusiastic admiration for 

 what is noble and grand and magnificent, and this 

 passion enters into the structure and substance of 

 nearly all his writings. Two other great qualities 

 rinj,' through his works, an incorruptible love of 

 truth and a lofty spirit of freedom. His poetic 

 strength lay in a peculiar blending of moral and 

 intellectual force. As a lyric poet he can hardly 

 be accounted as of the first rank: he lacked not 

 only the simultaneity but also the immediate in- 

 sight and sympathy with the actual world, ami the 

 living men and women in it, that in so eminent a 

 degree distinguished his greater friend and con- 

 temporary Goethe. As a dramatist, however, he 

 undoubtedly stands first of the Germans, and must 

 justly take a high rank amongst the dramatic 

 writers of the world. 



The standard editions of his works are those by Godeke 

 (17 vols. Stutt. 1868-76), Kurz (9 vols. Hildburghausen, 

 1868-69), and Boxberger (8 vols. Berlin, 1882). All pre- 

 ceding lives of Schiller have been superseded by Minor's 

 ( 4 vols. Berlin, 1890 et iti/.i. See also the longer works of 

 "U , Itrich I Stutt. 1885 et wg.) and O. Brahm ( Berlin, 1888 

 et teq. ) . Of the earlier biographies the best were those by 

 HoffmeUter and Viehoff (5 vols. Stutt. 1875), 1'alleske 

 (2 Yols. 12th ed. Stutt. 1886), Diintzer (Leip. 1881), 

 Scherr (4th ed. Leip. 1865), Caroline von Wolzogen (5th 

 ed. Stutt. 1K7I>), Schwab (3d ed. Stutt 1859), and Hepp 

 (Leip. 1886). Schiller's Brief e (2 vols. 1846) and his 

 Correspondence with Goethe (2 vols. 4th ed. 1881), 

 Korner (4 vols. 2<1 ed. 1874), \V. von Humboldt (2d ed. 

 1876), Lotte (big wife) and her sister (3d ed. 1879), and 

 others contain abundance of biographical matter. There 

 are biographies in Knglish by Carlyle (Lond. 1825), 

 Bulwer-Lytton (Edin. 1844), J. Sime (Edin. 1882, 

 'Foreign Classics for English Readers'), and H. W. 

 Nevinson (Lond. 1889, 'Great Writers' series), and 

 English translations of Falleske (Lond. lsc.0) and 

 Diintzer (Lond. 1883). Varions English writers have 

 published translations of Schiller's works in whole or in 

 part; the versions of poems by Bulwer-Lytton (1844), 

 Mcrivale (1844), Bowrini? (1851), and Lord Lyttpn 

 (Lond. 1887), and of the dramas Coleridge's Picmlomini 

 and Wallrnitcin'i Death deserve special mention. The 

 Schiller museum was united with the Goethe ma 

 (Arehiv) at Weimar in June 1889. 



