Goethe as a Representative of the Modern Art Spirit

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Excerpt from Goethe as a Representative of the Modern Art Spirit: Published for the "Dante School of Philosophy, " St. Louis, MoAt the same time, during the period of his youth, there was a veritable confusion of tongues in Germany respecting the proper standard of work and achievement in art. And this was, as might be expected, especially true of poetry - the most complex of all the forms of art and, as it proved, the form in which Goethe was to unfold his finest powers.Safely out of this confusion of tongues he was to be led by the clear voice of the greatest of English singers. Other in¿uences there were indeed, but this was the greatest of all for him. Under the in¿uence of Shakespeare, Goethe became perfectly clear that the heart, the very soul of a great poem, as of any other work of art, must be a great theme, so that the poem itself is but a living idea spontaneously unfolded into a rhythmic organic form.It is in this relation between these two great poets that I find the clue to what I shall have to say to you at the present time.Goethe himself makes explicit reference to the dependence of the individual upon the characteristics of his own time, and declares it to be inconceivable that one should be the same individual had he been born ten years earlier or ten years later.Applying this principle to the case of Shakespeare, an acute critic has remarked that the preeminence of this poet over all others is to be explained, not merely by his transcendent genius, but also by the altogether unique conditions of the mental and moral life of his time.Within the century a new world had Opened up for exploration and conquest. Everywhere new hopes had been awakened and the intellectual life quickened. Through this process the untitled man had given abundant evidence of his worth, so that there was emerging into ever clearer view a title likely to prove superior to all others - manhood for it: own sake.To this class without titles, but creating for itself a new title, the writers as well as the performers of dramas belonged. The great world itself had become a most fascinating stage, and men and women, without distinction of rank, had proven to be players of most extraordinary parts upon this stage.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.