Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/419

Rh SCHILLER 397 important historical work written by Schiller. He abandoned history in order to study philosophy, which, under the impulse communicated by Kant, was then exciting keen interest among the educated classes of Germany. Schiller's philosophical studies related chiefly to aesthetics, on which he wrote a series of essays, some of them being printed in Neue Thalia (issued from 1792 to 1794), others in the Iloren, a periodical which he began in 1794 and continued until 1798. The most remarkable of these essays are a paper on " Die Anmuth und Wiirde," a series of letters addressed to the prince of Augustenburg on " Die asthetische Erziehung des Menschen," and a treatise on " Die Naive und Sentimentalische Dichtung." In philosophical speculation Schiller derived inspiration mainly from Kant, but he worked his way to many independent judgments, and his theories have exercised considerable influence on those German writers who have dealt with the ultimate principles of art and literature. Goethe was of opinion that in "Die Naive und Senti- mentalische Dichtung " Schiller had laid the foundation of modern criticism. In that powerful essay the vital dis- tinction between classical and romantic methods was for the. first time clearly brought out. Schiller had been introduced to Goethe in 1788, but they did not begin to know one another well until 1794, when Goethe was attracted to Schiller by a conversation they had after a meeting of a scientific society at Jena. Afterwards their acquaintance quickly ripened into inti- mate friendship. To Schiller Goethe owed what he him- self called "a second youth," and this debt was amply repaid, for by constant association with the greatest mind of the age Schiller was encouraged to do full justice to his genius. Moreover, his intellectual life was enriched by new ideas, and he was led by Goethe's indirect influence to balance his speculative judgments and idealistic concep- tions by a keener and more accurate observation of the facts of ordinary life. During the years which followed his departure from Mannheim Schiller had written An die Freude, Die Goiter Griechenlands, Die Kiinstler, and other lyrical poems, all of which are of very much higher quality than the poems of his earlier period. But he had been so absorbed by labours of a different kind that he had had little time or inclination for his proper work as a poet. Now, stimu- lated by intercourse with Goethe, he began to long once more for the free exercise of his creative faculty ; and from 1794 he allowed no year to pass without adding to the list of his lyrical writings. Among the lyrics pro- duced in this the last and greatest period of his career the foremost place belongs to the Lied von der Glocke, but there is hardly less imaginative power in Das Ideal und das Leben, Die Ideale, Der Spaziergang, Der Genius, Die Erwartung, Das Eleusische Fest, and Cassandra. Few of Schiller's lyrics have the charm of simple and spontaneous feeling ; but as poems giving expression to the results of philosophic contemplation the best of them are unsur- passed in modern literature. Schiller had a passionate faith in an eternal ideal world to which the human mind has access ; and the contrast between ideals and what is called reality he presents in many different forms. In developing the poetic significance of this contrast his thoughts are always high and noble, and they are offered in a style which is almost uniformly grand and melodious. In 1796 Schiller and Goethe together wrote for the Musenalmanach (an annual volume of poems, issued for several years by Schiller) a series of epigrams called Xenien, each consisting of a distich. Most of them were directed against contemporary writers whom the poets disliked, and much animosity was excited by their sharply satirical tone. A higher interest attaches to Votivtafeln, another series of epigrams, written at the same time as the Xenien. They are among the most suggestive of Schiller's writings, for, as he explains in the introductory epigram, they embody truths which he had found helpful in the experience of life. Soon after finish- ing these fine poems Schiller began, in rivalry with Goethe, to write his ballads, which surprised even his most ardent admirers by the boldness of their conceptions and by the graphic force of their diction. As a writer of ballads Goethe yielded the palm to Schiller, and this judgment has been confirmed by the majority of later critics. Schiller never intended that Don Carlos should be his last drama, and from 1791 he worked occasionally at a play dealing with the fate of Wallenstein. He was'unable, however, to satisfy himself as to the plan until 1798, when, after consulting with Goethe, he decided to divide it into three parts, Wallensteins Lager, Die Piccolomini, and Wallensteins Tod. Wallensteins Lager was acted for the first time at the Weimar theatre in October 1798, and Die Piccolomini in January 1799. In April 1799 all three pieces were represented, a night being given to each. The work as a whole produced a profound impression, and it is certainly Schiller's masterpiece in dramatic literature. He brings out with extraordinary vividness the ascendency of Wallenstein over the wild troops whom he has gathered around him, and at the same time we are made to see how the mighty general's schemes must necessarily end in ruin, not merely because a plot against him is skilfully pre- pared by vigilant enemies, but because he himself is lulled into a sense of security by superstitious belief in his supposed destiny as revealed to him by the stars. Wallen- stein is the most subtle and complex of Schiller's dramatic conceptions, and it taxes the powers of the greatest actors to present an adequate rendering of the motives which explain his strange and dark career. The love-story of Max Piccolomini and Thekla is in its own way not less impressive than the story of Wallenstein with which it is interwoven. Max and Thekla are purely ideal figures, and Schiller touches the deepest sources of tragic pity by his masterly picture of their hopeless passion and of their spiritual freedom and integrity. Wallenstein was received with so much favour that Schiller resolved to devote himself in future mainly to the drama ; and in order to be near a theatre partly, too, that he might have more frequent opportunities of inter- course with Goethe he transferred his residence, in December 1799, from Jena to Weimar, where he spent the rest of his life. He took with him to Weimar three acts of Maria Stuart, and early in the summer of 1800 he finished it at Ettersburg, a country house of the duke of Weimar. The technical qualities of Maria Stuart are of the highest order, but the subject does not seem to have interested Schiller very deeply, and it cannot be said either that the characters are finely conceived or that the closing scenes of Queen Mary's life are presented in a truly poetic spirit. In his next play, Die Jungfrau von Orleans, completed about a year afterwards, Schiller had a more congenial theme, and the vigour with which he handled it commanded the warm admiration of Goethe. The scenes in which the maid is misled by her passion for Lionel are slightly perplexing, as they do not appear to accord with the essential qualities of her character ; but in the earlier and later parts of the play Schiller displays splendid dramatic art in revealing the lofty courage and enthusiasm with which she fulfils her mission. In Die Braut von Messina, which was acted for the first time at the Weimar theatre in March 1803, Schiller attempted to combine romantic and classical elements. The experiment is not perfectly successful, and even in its most striking