The Life and Works of Friedrich Schiller | Page 2

a poet the critic is in duty bound to abdicate his lower function and to let his scruples melt away in the warm water of a friendly partisanship; it means only that he will be best occupied, speaking generally, in a conscientious attempt to see the man as he was, to "experience the savor of him", and to understand the national temperament to which he has endeared himself.
This, I hope, defines sufficiently the spirit in which I have written. In discussing the plays I have endeavored to deal with them in a large way, laying hold of each where it is most interesting, and not caring to be either systematic or exhaustive. Questions of minute and technical scholarship, such as have their proper place in a learned monograph, or in the introduction and notes to an edition of the text, have been avoided on principle. Everywhere--even in the difficult thirteenth chapter--my aim has been to disengage and bring clearly into view the essential, distinctive character of Schiller's work; and where I have had to fear either that the professional scholar would frown at my sins of omission, or that the mere lover of literature would yawn at my sins of commission, I have boldly accepted the first-named horn of the dilemma.
New York, Nov. 6, 1901.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Parentage and Schooling
Captain Schiller and his wife--Sojourn at Lorch--Traits of Friedrich's childhood--Removal to Ludwigsburg--Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg--Impressions from court, theater and school--Poetic beginnings--Duke Karl's change of heart--Franziska von Hohenheim--The Academy at Solitude--Schiller at the Academy--School exercises--From law to medicine--Early poems and orations--An ardent friend--Books read and their effect--Dramatic plans--Dissertation rejected--Genesis of 'The Robbers'--Morbid melancholy--Release from the Academy--Value of the education received.
CHAPTER II
The Robbers
General characterization--The Schubart story--Schiller and Schubart--The contrasted brothers--Comparison with Klinger and Leisewitz--Influence of Rousseau and Goethe--Unlike earlier attacks on the social order--Outlawry in the eighteenth century--The noble bandit in literature--Karl Moor's crazy ambition--His sentimentalism--Schiller's sympathy with his hero--Character of Franz--Influence of Shakespeare--Ethical attitude of Franz--A dull villain--Character of Amalia--The subordinate outlaws--A powerful stage-play--Defects and merits.
CHAPTER III
The Stuttgart Medicus
Schiller's position at Stuttgart--Personal appearance--Convivial pleasures--Visits at Solitude--Revision of 'The Robbers' for publication--The two prefaces--Reception of 'The Robbers'--A stage-version prepared for Dalberg--Changes in the stage-version--Popularity of the play--Medicus and poet--The 'Anthology' of 1782--Character of Schiller's youthful verse--Various poems considered--The songs to Laura--Poetic promise of the 'Anthology'--Journalistic enterprises--Schiller as a critic of himself--Quarrel with Duke Karl--The Swiss imbroglio--The duke implacable--Flight from Stuttgart.
CHAPTER IV
The Conspiracy of Fiesco at Genoa
General characterization--The historical Fiesco--Influence of Rousseau--The conflicting authorities--Fact and fiction in the play--Not really a republican tragedy--Character of Fiesco--Of Verrina--Schiller's vacillation--Fiesco's inconsistency--Lack of historical lucidity--The changed conclusion--Weak and strong points--Fiesco and the Moor--The female characters--Extravagant diction.
CHAPTER V
The Fugitive in Hiding
Reception at Mannheim--An elocutionary failure--'Fiesco' rejected by Dalberg--Refuge sought in Bauerbach--A new friend--Relations with outside world--Interest in Lotte von Wolzogen--Literary projects and employments--Beginnings of 'Don Carlos'--Friendly overtures from Dalberg--Work upon 'Louise Miller'--Jealousy and resignation--Flutterings of the heart--Departure from Bauerbach with new play completed.
CHAPTER VI
Cabal and Love
General characterization--English Beginnings of bourgeois tragedy--'Miss Sara Sampson'--Development of the tragedy of social conflict--Love in the age of sentimentalism--Rousseau and the social conflict--Wagner and Lenz--Diderot's 'Father of the Family'--Gemmingen's 'Head of the House'--Evolution of Schiller's plan--Debt to predecessors--Hints from Wagner and Lessing and 'Siegwart'--Weakness of the tragic conclusion--Character of Louise--Her religious sentimentalism--Fearsomeness--Lack of mother-wit--A cold heroine--Character of Ferdinand--Sentimental extravagance--Father and son--Prototypes of President von Walter.
CHAPTER VII
Theater poet in Mannheim
Mannheim in 1783--Dalberg and his theater--The situation on Schiller's arrival--Letter to Frau von Wolzogen--Contract with Dalberg--Illness and disappointments--Pecuniary troubles--'Fiesco' on the stage--Triumph of 'Cabal and Love'--Critical notices--Discourse on the theater--Contract with Dalberg not renewed--Disappointments and distractions--Relations to women--Charlotte von Kalb--The poems 'Resignation' and 'Radicalism of Passion'--A friendly message from Leipzig--Project of the _Rhenish Thalia_--Honored by the Duke of Weimar--Unhappiness and longing for friendship--Escape from Mannheim.
CHAPTER VIII
The Boon of Friendship
Gottfried K?rner and the Stock sisters--Huber--Schiller's arrival in Leipzig--A proposal of marriage--Sojourn at Gohlis--Schiller and K?rner--An enthusiastic letter--K?rner's helpfulness--With the new friends in Dresden--Influence of K?rner--A poetic 'Petition'--The 'Song to Joy'--Contributions to the _Thalia_--Quickened interest in history--Letters of Julius and Raphael--'The Ghostseer' begun--Unwillingness to leave Dresden--A dramatic skit--Affair with Henriette von Arnim--From Dresden to Weimar.
CHAPTER IX
Don Carlos
Poetic merit of 'Don Carlos'--Its slow genesis--Schiller's explanation--St. Réal's 'Dom Carlos'--The original plan--Ripening influences--Decision in favor of verse--Change of attitude toward Carlos and Philip--Influence of K?rner--Completion of the play--Character of Prince Carlos--The Marquis of Posa--Posa and the king--Posa's heroics in the last two acts--Character of Philip--General estimate.
CHAPTER X
Anchored in Thuringia
Weimar in Schiller's time--Renewal of relations with Charlotte von Kalb--First meeting with Herder and Wieland--Visit to Jena--Pleased with Weimar--New literary pursuits--Visit to Meiningen and introduction to the Lengefeld family--Charlotte von Lengefeld--A summer idyl--Awakening interest in the Greeks--First meeting with Goethe--Appointed professor at Jena--Bitterness toward Goethe--Love, betrothal and marriage--'The Gods of Greece'--'The Artists'--'The Ghostseer'--The 'Letters on Don Carlos'--Review of 'Egmont'--'The Misanthrope'--Translations from Euripides and other minor writings.
CHAPTER XI
Historical Writings
Schiller's merit as a historian--Genesis of 'The