Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature – 3. The Reaction in France

25

Caroline, ii. 237.

26

It is the sacred ardour of love that makes of thee a poet; thou aimest at transforming life into a temple, where divine right binds and looses. And that the altar may not lack a victim, thou hast stolen from heaven the noble ardour of the glorious Lucinde.

27

Briefe über die Lucinde, pp. 64, 83.

28

Hettner, Die romantische Schule, 48.

29

"The children of those Indian jugglers who swallow swords do not, my son, learn the art by gulping down confectionery; they are trained to swallow the sharp points of the bamboo, and by degrees arrive at swords. If it be your desire, as a man, to digest the sword of science, you must not, as a youth, feed on art confectionery."

30

Köpke: Tieck's Leben, i. 177.

31

"Far behind us lies Rome.
My friend too is grave,
The friend who returns with me to Germany,
After devoting all his powers
To the study of ancient and modern art —
The noble Rumohr,
To whose friendship I have owed comfort and cheer
In many a suffering hour."

32

"Honoured Herr Hofrath!
I pray you to excuse me, but,
With the best will in the world
I cannot find,
In ancient or in modern poetry,
Anything to match this lyric outburst
Except perhaps
My own weak imitation of the same."

33

"Our spirit, which is azure blue, transports thee to blue distances. Sweet tones allure thee, a mingling of many sounds. When the others sing bravely, we chime sweetly in, telling softly of blue mountains, clouds, fair skies; we are like the faint, clear background behind fresh green leaves."

34

"Love thinks in melodious sounds; thoughts are too far to seek; 'tis with sweet sounds it beautifies its longings. Therefore love is ever present with us when sweet music speaks; it needs no language, but is helpless till it borrows the voice of music."

35

Tieck, v. 285.

36

Cf. George Sand: Introduction to Mouny Robin.

37

Köpke: Ludwig Tieck, i. 139.

38

"Capricious Phantasus,
A strange old man,
Follows his foolish, wayward bent;
But now they have fettered him,
That he may cease from his trickery,
No longer confuse reasonable thought,
Nor lead poor man astray."

39

Sepp: Görres und seine Zeit, 89, 90.

40

Briefwechsel zwischen Gentz und Adam Müller, 48.

41

"Nature has neither kernel nor shell, she is everything at one and the same time."

42

Köpke, i. 139, 163.

43

"Beyond the lake there's a glittering and flaming; the mountain-tops are tipped with gold; gravely the bushes rustle and bend, and lay their twinkling green heads together. Wave, art thou rolling to us the reflection of the round, friendly face of the moon? The trees recognise it, and joyfully stretch forth their branches towards the magic light. The spirits begin to dance on the waves; the flowers of the night unfold their petals with melodious sound; where the leaves are thickest the nightingale awakes and tells her dream; her notes flow forth like clear, dazzling beams, to greet the echo on the mountain side."

44

The above is a faithful account of the effect produced by this scenery upon the Danish poet M. Goldschmidt in the autumn of 1872.