Page:The Works of J. W. von Goethe, Volume 14.djvu/33

17 LIFE AND WORKS OF GOETHE 17

was a new birth. His whole being was filled with warmth and light. Life stretched itself before him calm, radiant, and strong. He saw the greatness of his aims, and felt within him powers adequate to those aims.

He has written an account of his journey ; but although he might have produced a great work, had he deliberately set himself to do so, and although some passages of this work are among the most dehghtful of the many pages written about Italy, yet the " Ita- lianische Eeise " is, on the whole, a very disappoiuting book. Nor could it well have been otherwise, under the circumstances. It was not written soon after his return, when all was fresh in his memory, and when his style had still its warmth and vigour ; but in the decline of his great powers he collected the hasty let- ters sent from Italy to the Frau von Stein, Herder, and others, and from them he extracted such passages as seemed suitable, weaving them together with no great care or enthusiasm. Had he simply printed the letters themselves, they would doubtless have given us a far more vivid and interesting picture ; in the actual form of the work we are wearied by various trifles and incidents of the day circumstantially narrated, which in letters would not improperly find a place, but which here want the pleasant, careless, chatty form given by correspondence. The " ItaUanische Eeise " wants the charm of a collection of letters, and the solid excel- lence of a deliberate work. It is mainly interesting as indicating the effect of Italy on his mind; an effect apparently too deep for utterance. He was too com- pletely possessed by the new life which streamed through him, to bestow much time in analysing and recording his impressions.

Curious it is to notice his open-eyed interest in all, the geological and meteorological phenomena which present themselves ; an interest which has excited the