Dryden's Relation to Germany 67 



against Pope, asserting that descriptive poetry was a sister art of 

 landscape painting, and claiming that those who condemn Thom- 

 son must also condemn the greater part of Lucretius, and the 

 Georgics of Virgil. ^^ In reviewing the attitude of Warton Men- 

 delssohn points out the weakness of his arguments. " Ohne uns 

 eigentlich wider die malerische Poesie zu erklaren, glauben wir, 

 dass die Griinde unsers Verfassers nichts beweisen. ... So ver- 

 schwistert die Dichtkunst und Malerei sind, so hat doch eine jede 

 Kunst ihre angewiesenen Grenzen, die durch das Werkzeug der 

 Sinne, f iir welches sie arbeiten, bestimmt werden. Virgils Landbau 

 und Lukrezens Natur der Dinge scheinen uns von Thomsons Jahres- 

 zeiten wesendlich unterschieden zu sein. Die Romer wollen eigent- 

 lich unterrichten, und malen nur zu Veranderung ; der Englander 

 hingegeben hat keine andere Absicht als zur malen."^* This stand 

 taken by Alendelssohn in 1759 reflects the general trend growing up 

 in Germany against descriptive poetry. Lessing more clearly than 

 his predecessors defines the fields of poetry, painting, and music 

 in his epoch-making work, Laokoon. With Pope, whom he 

 quotes,^^ he agrees that descriptive poetry, per se, is puerile. Had 

 the principles which Lessing laid down in Laokoon appeared 

 earlier, descriptive poetry could never have gained such a foot- 

 hold in Germany and Switzerland. 



t The literary enthusiasm of Germany at this time was expressed 

 by the lyrical, imaginative, and emotional poems, as is shown by the 

 number of translations and imitations of the odes of Horace, and 

 the 'songs of Anacreon, made by such poets as Hagedorn, Gleim, 

 Ramler, and Weisse. The ode was regarded as the best vehicle 

 for poetic enthusiasm. Wieland wrote in a letter to Zimmermann 

 . in 1758: " Sie wissen ohne mich, dass der poetische Enthusiasmus 

 eigentlich fiir die Ode ist. Der Poet ist da ganz im Affect, und 

 gleichsam ausser sich selbst."^" The odes of Klopstock, express- 



^^ Loco citato, I, p. 49. 



1^ " Moses Mendelssohn. Versuch iiber Popens Genie und Schriften" 

 in Bibliothek der Schonen Wisscnschaften, IV, 500-532 and 627-669, 

 Berlin, 1758 and 1759 (p. 512 ff.). 



IS Lessings Werke, IX, p. 104, in D. N. L. 



"^^ Ansgewehlte Brief e von C. M. Wieland an verschiedeue Freunde in 

 den Jahren 1^51 bis 1810 geschriehen, I, p. 263, Zurich, 1815. 



355 



