Goethe, Johann Wolfgang, a celebrated German poet. Goethe was born at Frankfurt-on-the-Main August 28, 1749. He died at Weimar March 22, 1832. His father held the position of Imperial Councilor, and was a man of influence. His mother was a woman of good family. Her father had been chief magistrate of the city. Painting, music, and literature were subjects of conversation in this cultured home. Goethe was a precocious boy, able to write German, French, Italian, Latin, and Greek when he was eight years old. He was fond of music and drawing, devoting considerable time to both pursuits, but without any marked degree of success in either.
During the wars between France and Frederick the Great, Frankfurt was full of French soldiers. The theaters and other places of amusement were controlled by French officers. Frenchmen of culture were welcome in the Goethe house. The young boy, afterward destined to become a thorough advocate of German models in literature, came much under their influence. Goethe grew up, however, fond of gaiety and a favorite in society. His early manhood, to say the least, like that of Byron, Burns, and Moore, was marred by unfortunate attachments. In 1765 he was sent to Leipsic to study law. In order that he might return to Frankfurt fitted for an official position, his professors endeavored to interest him in legal studies, but he attended lectures on literature instead. He was interested also in medicine, in botany, and particularly in theatricals. He acted several parts and wrote a number of plays, the characters in which were usually weak or immoral, or both. He came under the teaching of several men of importance, including Wieland, Winckelmann and Lessing, but did not remain to take his degree.
Goethe returned home in poor health and found his old home circles uncongenial. In 1770 he was sent to the University of Strasburg to continue his studies. Here he amused himself with the study of Gothic architecture as illustrated in the cathedral of that city, took dancing lessons, learned to play on the violin, made the acquaintance of Herder, and broke the heart of Frederica Brion, yet managed to take his degree as doctor of law.
Goethe's efforts at self discipline are interesting. Believing that he was over sensitive, he obliged himself to pay frequent visits to the dissecting room. Rebelling at a giddiness which overcame him when on high places, he would climb to the summit of the Strasburg spire and remain standing sometimes for long intervals on a narrow ledge. The years immediately following his university career are a medley of law courts, love intrigues, and of literary successes. He wrote a tragedy called Gotz von Berlichingen and The Sorrows of Young Werther. The latter is the story of a lovesick youth whose emotional experiences are described elaborately and who finally shoots himself in despair. Its sentimentality is extravagant. On its appearance, however, it was one of the great literary events of the time. Hosmer says, "Nothing ever hit more precisely the taste of an age. It was read by high and low; it spread to foreign lands, even to the confines of the earth; it was the favorite of chambermaids; Napoleon took it with him to Egypt, and read it seven times. At one step the youth of twenty-five had become the favorite writer of Europe."
In 1775 Goethe accepted an invitation from Duke Charles Augustus, a patron of literature, to settle at Weimar. Here he became the duke's counsellor. He reformed the duke's small army, transacted business with his tenants, systematized the management of his mines and forests, and put his finances in order. Ten years were given to this. He then returned to literary labors with a mind enriched by contact with the practical world. Egmont appeared in 1778; Hermann and Dorothea in 1797. Dichtung und Wahrheit (Poetry and Truth) is an autobiography of the poet's life up to his settlement at Weimar. His greatest work is Faust. The first part was published at Leipsic in 1790; the second part appeared in 1831, a few months before his death. His complete works occupy forty volumes. In 1806 he married.
Goethe lived 56 years at Weimar. Schiller, who had been appointed a professor in the neighboring University of Jena, at his request also settled in Weimar in an official capacity. Their friendship is one of the most noted in literature. A bronze statue was erected in the Weimar marketplace. It represents Goethe offering the laurel wreath of poesy to the younger poet, Schiller.
Goethe's name is the greatest in German literature. He was eminent both in poetry and in prose. In his grasp of public affairs and the perception of large truths, he was far ahead of his generation. He foretold the growth of America, the settlement of California, the construction of the Panama canal. In literature, his admirers claim that as a man of genius he ranks with Shakespeare and Dante. Certainly he was the greatest German of his age.
SAYINGS OF GOETHE
The eternal feminine.
With knowledge doubt increases.
Architecture is frozen music.
We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.
On every mountain height is rest.
Nothing is more terrible than active ignorance.
I can promise to be upright but not to be without bias.
Let us not forget that man can never get away from himself.
Thus at Time's humming loom I ply.
Life is short, and art is long; therefore it is almost impossible to reach perfection in any thing.
The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them.
To his valet no man is a hero.
After all, what can we call our own except energy, strength and will?
Who would the poet understand, Must go into the poet's land.