CONTENTS

[Preface]

[CHAPTER I]

EARLY YEARS IN FRANKFORT

1749—1765

PAGE
GOETHE'S BIRTHPLACE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON HIM[1]
PERIOD OF HIS BIRTH[4]
HIS FATHER[6]
HIS MOTHER[8]
HIS SISTER[10]
FAMILY FRIENDS[11]
HIS EDUCATION[12]
RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES[14]
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR[18]
FRENCH OCCUPATION OF FRANKFORT[19]
GOETHE'S FIRST LOVE[21]
DESTINED FOR THE STUDY OF LAW[23]
THE BOY THE FATHER OF THE MAN[25]
HIS CHARACTER AND EARLY TASTES[27]

[CHAPTER II]

STUDENT IN LEIPZIG

OCTOBER, 1765—SEPTEMBER, 1768

GOES TO LEIPZIG[29]
HIS WILD LIFE THERE[29]
SOCIETY OF LEIPZIG[31]
HIS IRREGULAR STUDIES[33]
ADOPTS LEIPZIG FASHIONS[35]
FEMININE INFLUENCES[36]
DANDYISM[37]
FALLS IN LOVE WITH KÄTHCHEN SCHÖNKOPF[38]
FRIENDSHIP WITH BEHRISCH[39]
HIS RELATIONS TO KÄTHCHEN[40]
MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTS[44]
FRIENDSHIP WITH OESER[46]
STATE OF GERMAN LITERATURE[48]
POEMS OF THE PERIOD[49]
DIE LAUNE DES VERLIEBTEN[51]
DIE MITSCHULDIGEN[52]
INSPIRATION[54]

[CHAPTER III]

AT HOME IN FRANKFORT

SEPTEMBER, 1768—APRIL, 1770

RETURNS TO FRANKFORT[57]
HIS BROKEN HEALTH[58]
RELATIONS TO HIS FATHER[58]
HIS SISTER[60]
INTEREST IN RELIGION[61]
FRIENDSHIP WITH FRÄULEIN VON KLETTENBERG[62]
A MYSTERIOUS MEDICINE[63]
EVOLVES A RELIGIOUS CREED[65]
INFLUENCE OF FRÄULEIN VON KLETTENBERG[66]
INTEREST IN LITERATURE AND ART[67]
LESSING AND WIELAND[70]
RIPENING POWERS[71]

[CHAPTER IV]

GOETHE IN STRASSBURG

APRIL, 1770—AUGUST, 1771

SETTLEMENT IN STRASSBURG[75]
INFLUENCES OF STRASSBURG[75]
CHANGE IN HIS RELIGIOUS FEELINGS[76]
MANNER OF LIFE IN STRASSBURG[78]
FRIENDSHIP WITH DR. SALZMANN[79]
RELATIONS TO JUNG STILLING[83]
COMES UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF HERDER[84]
YOUNG'S CONJECTURES ON ORIGINAL COMPOSITION[90]
ITS INFLUENCE ON GOETHE'S GENIUS[93]
FRIEDERIKE BRION[95]
HIS RELATIONS TO HER[96]
PARTING FROM HER[101]
MISCELLANEOUS STUDIES[102]
SELF-DISCIPLINE[103]
POEMS ADDRESSED TO FRIEDERIKE[105]

[CHAPTER V]

FRANKFORT—GÖTZ VON BERLICHINGEN

AUGUST, 1771—DECEMBER, 1771

GOETHE'S RETURN TO FRANKFORT[108]
CREATIVE PRODUCTIVENESS OF THE PERIOD[108]
POET OR ARTIST?[111]
MENTAL CONFLICT[112]
EPOCHS IN HIS LAST FRANKFORT YEARS[113]
HIS SISTER CORNELIA[116]
GROWING DISTASTE FOR FRANKFORT[117]
DEPRESSION[119]
WORSHIP OF SHAKESPEARE[120]
GÖTZ VON BERLICHINGEN[121]
ITS INFLUENCE ON EUROPEAN LITERATURE[131]

[CHAPTER VI]

INFLUENCE OF MERCK AND THE DARMSTADT CIRCLE

1772

FRIENDSHIP WITH MERCK[133]
CHARACTER OF MERCK[133]
HIS INFLUENCE ON GOETHE[135]
THE DARMSTADT CIRCLE[136]
ITS INFLUENCE ON GOETHE[136]
CAROLINE FLACHSLAND AND GOETHE[137]
POEMS OF GOETHE INSPIRED BY THE DARMSTADT CIRCLE[138]
WANDERERS STURMLIED[139]
DER WANDERER[141]

[CHAPTER VII]

WETZLAR AND CHARLOTTE BUFF

MAY—SEPTEMBER, 1772

DEPARTURE FROM WETZLAR[143]
WETZLAR AND ITS SOCIETY[144]
LOTTE BUFF[147]
GOETHE'S RELATIONS TO HER[147]
KESTNER, LOTTE'S BETROTHED[148]
GOETHE, KESTNER, AND LOTTE[149]
DEPARTURE FROM WETZLAR[150]
KESTNER'S CHARACTERISATION OF GOETHE[151]

[CHAPTER VIII]

AFTER WETZLAR

1772—1773

SUICIDE OF JERUSALEM[154]
GOETHE VISITS THE FAMILY VON LA ROCHE[155]
FRAU VON LA ROCHE[155]
MAXIMILIANE VON LA ROCHE[157]
UNREST[158]
LETTERS TO KESTNER[159]
ESTRANGEMENT FROM HIS FATHER[161]
SOLITUDE[162]

[CHAPTER IX]

SATIRICAL DRAMAS AND FRAGMENTS

POET OR ARTIST?[163]
LITERARY ACTIVITY[164]
FRANKFURTER GELEHRTEN ANZEIGEN[165]
LETTER OF THE PASTOR[166]
TWO BIBLICAL QUESTIONS[167]
RECASTS GÖTZ VON BERLICHINGEN[167]
SATIRICAL PLAYS[169]
PROMETHEUS[175]
MAHOMET[181]
ADLER UND TAUBE[183]
KÜNSTLERS ERDEWALLEN[184]

[CHAPTER X]

WERTHER—CLAVIGO

1774

GOETHE'S NEED OF EXTERNAL STIMULUS[185]
GOETHE AND THE BRENTANOS[186]
ORIGIN OF WERTHER[187]
ENGLISH INFLUENCE ON WERTHER[188]
PUBLICATION OF WERTHER[189]
GOETHE AND WERTHER[190]
SECOND PART OF WERTHER[191]
WERTHER AND GOETHE[193]
INFLUENCE OF WERTHER[196]
THE KESTNERS AND WERTHER[198]
WERTHERISM[199]
CLAVIGO[200]
DRAMATISED FROM BEAUMARCHAIS[200]
ORIGIN OF CLAVIGO[202]
ITS PLOT[202]
CONSTRUCTED ON CLASSICAL MODELS[205]
CLAVIGO AND GOETHE[206]

[CHAPTER XI]

GOETHE AND SPINOZA—DER EWIGE JUDE

1773—1774

GOETHE'S DEBT TO SPINOZA[209]
MISDATES SPINOZA'S INFLUENCE[210]
DER EWIGE JUDE[212]
ORIGINAL PLAN OF IT[213]
AS IT WAS ACTUALLY WRITTEN[216]
ITS DIVISIONS[216]
ITS CHARACTERISTICS[216]
UNPUBLISHED TILL AFTER GOETHE'S DEATH[218]

[CHAPTER XII]

GOETHE IN SOCIETY

1774

JOHANN KASPAR LAVATER[220]
HIS CHARACTER[220]
HIS INTEREST IN GOETHE[222]
VISITS FRANKFORT[224]
HIS INTERCOURSE WITH GOETHE[225]
JOHANN BERNHARD BASEDOW[227]
HIS CHARACTER AND CAREER[227]
HIS VISIT TO FRANKFORT[228]
GOETHE, LAVATER, AND BASEDOW AT EMS[228]
THEIR VOYAGE DOWN THE RHINE[230]
JUNG STILLING[231]
SCENE AT ELBERFELDT[232]
FRITZ JACOBI[233]
GOETHE MAKES HIS ACQUAINTANCE[233]
THEIR INTERCOURSE[234]
JACOBI'S ESTIMATE OF GOETHE[237]
KLOPSTOCK[238]
GOETHE'S ADMIRATION OF HIM[238]
THEIR MEETING IN FRANKFORT[239]
AN SCHWAGER KRONOS[240]
BOIE AND WERTHES ON GOETHE[241]
MAJOR VON KNEBEL AND GOETHE[242]
GOETHE AND THE PRINCES OF WEIMAR[243]
VON KNEBEL ON GOETHE[244]
DEATH OF FRÄULEIN VON KLETTENBERG[245]

[CHAPTER XIII]

LILI SCHÖNEMANN

1775

THE SCHÖNEMANN FAMILY[247]
GOETHE'S INTRODUCTION TO LILI SCHÖNEMANN[248]
HIS SUBSEQUENT MEMORY OF HER[249]
LILI COMPARED WITH HIS PREVIOUS LOVES[250]
GOETHE'S SONGS ADDRESSED TO HER[251]
COUNTESS STOLBERG[253]
GOETHE'S RELATIONS TO HER[253]
ERWIN UND ELMIRE[255]
STELLA[257]
CLAUDINE VON VILLA BELLA[263]
A DISTRACTED LOVER[266]
BETROTHED TO LILI[268]
SHRINKS FROM MARRIAGE[269]
COUNTS STOLBERG IN FRANKFORT[270]
GOETHE STARTS WITH THEM FOR SWITZERLAND[271]
VISITS HIS SISTER AT EMMENDINGEN[273]
WITH LAVATER IN ZURICH[275]
ACCOMPANIES PASSAVANT TO ST. GOTHARD[276]
LYRICS TO LILI[276]
RETURN TO FRANKFORT[278]

[CHAPTER XIV]

LAST MONTHS IN FRANKFORT—THE URFAUST

1775

RELATIONS TO LILI ON HIS RETURN[279]
A CRISIS IN THEIR RELATIONS[281]
MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTS[282]
ESTIMATES OF GOETHE BY SULZER AND ZIMMERMANN[283]
INVITATION TO WEIMAR[284]
PROPOSED JOURNEY TO ITALY[285]
A DELAYED MESSENGER[286]
DEPARTS FOR WEIMAR[287]
EGMONT AND THE URFAUST[287]
THE URFAUST[288]
CHARACTERISTICS[293]

[Index]

PREFACE

"Generally speaking," Goethe has himself said, "the most important period in the life of an individual is that of his development—the period which, in my case, breaks off with the detailed narrative of Dichtung und Wahrheit." In reality, as we know, there is no complete breach at any point in the lives of either nations or individuals. But if in the life of Goethe we are to fix upon a dividing point, it is his departure from Frankfort and his permanent settlement in Weimar in his twenty-seventh year. Considered externally, that change of his surroundings is the most obvious event in his career, and for the world at large marks its division into two well-defined periods. In relation to his inner development his removal from Frankfort to Weimar may also be regarded as the most important fact in his life. From the date of his settlement in Weimar he was subjected to influences which equally affected his character and his genius; had he continued to make his home in Frankfort, it is probable that, both as man and literary artist, he would have developed characteristics essentially different from those by which the world knows him. There were later experiences—notably his Italian journey and his intercourse with Schiller—which profoundly influenced him, but none of these experiences penetrated his being so permanently as the atmosphere of Weimar, which he daily breathed for more than half a century.

As Goethe himself has said, the first twenty-six years of his life are essentially the period of his "development." During that period we see him as he came from Nature's hand. His words, his actions have then a stamp of spontaneity which they gradually lost with advancing years as the result of his social and official relations in Weimar. He has told us that it was one of the painful conditions of his position there that it made impossible that frank and cordial relation with others which it was his nature to seek, and from which he had previously derived encouragement and stimulus; as a State official, he adds, he could be on easy terms with nobody without running the risk of a petition for some favour which he might or might not be able to confer.

For the portrayal of the youthful Goethe materials are even superabundant; of no other genius of the same order, indeed, have we a record comparable in fulness of detail for the same period of life. And it is this abundance of information and the extraordinary individuality to whom it relates that give specific interest to any study of Goethe's youth. From month to month, even at times from day to day, we can trace the growth of his character, of his opinions, of his genius. And the testimonies of his contemporaries are unanimous as to the unique impression he made upon them. "He will always remain to me one of the most extraordinary apparitions of my life," wrote one; and he expressed the opinion of all who had the discernment to appreciate originality of gifts and character. What they found unique in him was inspiration, passion, a zest of life, at a pressure that foreshadowed either a remarkable career or (at times his own dread) disaster.

It was said of Goethe in his latest years that the world would come to believe that there had been, not one, but many Goethes; and, as we follow him through the various stages of his youth, we receive the same impression. It results from this manifoldness of his nature that he defies every attempt to formulate his characteristics at any period of his life. In the present study of him the object has been to let his own words and actions speak for themselves; any conclusions that may be suggested, the reader will thus have it in his own power to check.

After Goethe's own writings, the works to which I have been chiefly indebted are Goethes Gespräche, Gesamtausgabe von Freiherrn v. Biedermann, Leipzig, 1909-11 (5 vols.), in which are collected references to Goethe by his contemporaries; and Der junge Goethe: Neue Ausgabe in sechs Bänden, besorgt von Max Morris, Leipzig, 1910-12, containing the literary and artistic productions of Goethe previous to his settlement in Weimar. The references throughout are to the Weimar edition of Goethe's works. Except where otherwise indicated, the author is responsible for the translations, both in prose and verse.

I have cordially to express my gratitude to Dr. G. Schaaffs, Lecturer in German in the University of St. Andrews, and to Mr. Frank C. Nicholson, Librarian in the University of Edinburgh, for the trouble they took in revising my proofs.

P.H.B.

Edinburgh.