Types of Weltschmerz in German Poetry

Copyright 1905, Columbia University Press,
New York
Reprinted with the permission of the
Original Publisher, 1966
AMS PRESS, INC.
New York, N.Y. 10003
1966
Manufactured in the United States of America
The author of this essay has attempted to make, as he himself phrases it, a modest contribution to the natural history of Weltschmerz. What goes by that name is no doubt somewhat elusive; one can not easily delimit and characterize it with scientific accuracy. Nevertheless the word corresponds to a fairly definite range of psychical reactions which are of great interest in modern poetry, especially German poetry. The phenomenon is worth studying in detail. In undertaking a study of it Mr. Braun thought, and I readily concurred in the opinion, that he would do best not to essay an exhaustive history, but to select certain conspicuously interesting types and proceed by the method of close analysis, characterization and comparison. I consider his work a valuable contribution to literary scholarship.
CALVIN THOMAS.