Johann Wolfgang von Goethe [pp. 145-151]

THE
CATHOLIC WORLD.
VOL. XLV. MAY, I887. No. 266.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE.
BOTH as a poet and a prose-writer Goethe is considered to
be the most brilliant phenomenon in German literature of modern times. Though not in every respect the most accomplished,
he is the most versatile of German classical authors. His writings contain the most perfect models of style, both in poetry and
prose. To bring literary style as near to perfection as human
language permits was his aim to the end of his life.*
What greatly adds to the attractiveness of his writings is the
fidelity with which he endeavored to copy the real nature of persons and things. He was no recluse or theoretic bookworm, but
an enjoyer of life and the real world in which he moved. He
drew his inspirations from nature, "with which," as Emersont
remarks, "he lived in full communion." He knew how to select
interesting matter for poetry and prose from his own personal
experiences, from his manifold and varied intercourse with people, and from the wide universe about him.f And, last but not
least, he understood how to clothe his sentiments and ideas in
the most attractive and fascinating literary forms. Bulwer justly called him a great refractor, receiving light from all directions and dispensing the same again with increased force. The
philosopher Schelling even compared him to a pharos illuminating all Germany.~ Yet, considered from a Christian stand-point,
Goethe's brilliant literary productions must be considered a
* Alexander Baumgartner, S.J., Der Alte von Weimar, Goethe's Leben und Werke, Freiburg, i886, p. 270.
t Ralph Waldo Emerson, Representative Men, Boston, i885, p. 258.
: A. F. C. Vilmar, Geschichte der deutschen National-Literatur, i870, p. 488.
~ Alex. Baumgartner, 1. c., p. 272.
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