Rückert (1789-1866), one of the most original lyric poets of Germany, is distinguished for the versatility of his descriptive powers, the richness of his imagination, and his bold, fiery spirit. He has been followed by Daumer, Bodenstedt, and others.
The most remarkable poet whom Germany has produced in the present century is Heinrich Heine (1800-1856), and his poems are among the most fascinating lyrics in European literature. The delicacy, wit, and humor of his writings, their cruel and cynical laughter, and their tender pathos, give him a unique place in the literature of his country. A school of writers known as Young Germany was deeply influenced by Heine. Their object was to revolutionize the political, social, and religious institutions of the country. Börne (d. 1837), the rival of Heine in the leadership of the party, was inferior to him in poetical power, but his superior in earnestness, moral beauty, and elevation. Börne was the nightmare of the German princes, at whom he darted, from his place of exile in Paris, the arrows of his bitter satire. Some of his writings are among the most eloquent of modern German compositions. Prominent among the followers of Heine and Börne are Gutzkow (b. 1811), a novelist, essayist, and dramatist; Laube (b. 1806); and Mundt (b. 1808).
From about 1830 a group of Austrian poets, more or less political in tendency, commanded the respect of all Germans, the chief among them was Count Auersperg, who, under the assumed name of Anastasius Grün, wrote lyrical and other brilliant and effective poems. Of the writers who before 1848 attempted to force poetry into the service of freedom, the best known is Herwegh, who advocated liberty with a vehemence that won for him immense popularity. The poems of Freiligrath (1810-1876) have graphic force, and possess merit of a high order. He has a rich imagination, great power of language, and musical versification. Among the more distinguished contemporary poets, Hamerling is remarkable for the boldness of his conceptions, and the passionate vehemence of his expression.
6. THE DRAMA.—At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Gottsched and his followers had rendered good service to the stage, not so much by their own productions as by driving from it the bombast of Lohenstein. Lessing followed this movement by attacking the French dramas, which had hitherto been esteemed the highest productions of human genius, and by bringing forward Shakspeare as the true model of dramatic style. This attack was so successful that the influence of the French drama soon declined, and in the reaction, Greeks, Romans, kings and princesses were replaced by honest, tiresome burghers, with their commonplace wives and daughters, and the toga and tunic gave way to woolen petticoats and dress-coats. Everything like poetry, either in language or sentiment, was banished from the stage. Such was the state of things when Goethe appeared. His rapid glance at once discerned the poverty of dramatic art, and his flexible and many-sided genius set itself to supply the deficiency. His "Götz von Berlichingen" illustrated the possibility of a dramatic literature founded upon national history and national character. His "Egmont" is a highly poetic and eloquent dramatization of that popular hero, and of the struggles of the Netherlands against the tyranny of Spain. His "Tasso" is a poem of psychological interest, illustrating a favorite maxim of the author that a poet, like every other artist, for his true development, needs education. "A hundred times," says Goethe, "have I heard artists boast that they owed everything to themselves, and I am often provoked to add, 'Yes, and the result is just what might be expected.' What, let me ask, is a man in and of himself?"
The lesson of the drama of "Tasso" is this—that the poet cannot fulfill his duty by cultivating merely his imagination, however splendid and powerful it may be. Like all other men who would be good and great, he must exercise patience and moderation; must learn the value of self- denial; must endure the hardships and contradictions of the real world; contentedly occupy his place, with its pains and pleasures, as a part of the great whole, and patiently wait to see the beauty and brightness which flow from his soul, win their way through the obstacles presented by human society. The singular merit of this dramatic poem is this: that it is the fruit of genuine experience, adorned with the hues of a beautiful imagination, and clothed in classical language; but it is a work written for the few.
"Iphigenia" is a fine imitation of the ancient Greek style, but not well suited to the stage.
In his dramatic, as in all his other works, the only end and aim of Goethe was to carry to perfection the art in which he was so great a master. Virtue and vice, truth and falsehood, are each portrayed with the same graceful complacency and the same exquisite skill. His immense and wide- spreading influence renders this singular indifference, which seems to confound the very sense of right and wrong, doubly lamentable.
In plastic skill and variety, the dramatic creations of Schiller are regarded, in some respects, inferior to those of Goethe, but they all glow with the love of true goodness and greatness, and with an enthusiasm for virtue and liberty which communicates itself, as by an electric spark, to his readers. The violent tone of Schiller's first tragedy, the "Robbers," was suggested by other theatrical writers of the period, who esteemed wildness and absurdity the chief characteristics of poetical genius. Schiller gave to his dramatic works more movement and popular interest than can be found in Goethe's dramas, but yielded in some instances to the sentimental tone so prevalent in German poetry. "Fiesco" was written in a better style than the "Robbers," though less suited to please the low theatrical taste of the time. "Don Carlos" showed more maturity of thought, and is pervaded by a coloring of poetic sentiment; "Wallenstein" won for the poet a universal reputation in his native land, and was translated into English by Coleridge. "Marie Stuart," the "Maid of Orleans," and the "Bride of Messina," contributed still more to increase the poet's fame. "Wilhelm Tell" was the most popular of Schiller's plays, and is still esteemed by some as his best production. Here the love of liberty, so wildly expressed in the "Robbers," appears in its true and refined character.
Kotzebue (1760-1819) was one of the most successful playwrights of Germany. He composed an almost countless number of plays, and his plots were equally versatile and amusing; but he was entirely destitute of poetic and moral beauty. His opposition to liberal principles caused him to be regarded as the enemy of liberty, and to be assassinated by an enthusiastic student named George Sand, who, on obtaining admittance to him under the pretense of business, stabbed him to the heart.
While the influence of the Romantic School tended to invest all poetry with a dreamy and transcendental character, in the drama it was mingled with stormy and exciting incidents, often carried to the extreme of exaggeration and absurdity. The Romancists dealt almost exclusively with the perturbed elements of the human mind and the fearful secrets of the heart. They called to their aid the mysteries of the dark side of nature, and ransacked the supernatural world for its marvels and its horrors. The principal of these "Power Men," as they were called, are Müllner, Werner, Howald, and Grillparzer.