Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/564
both of tragedy and comedy; Freytag also, and Prutz, are original dramatic authors. The dramas of Christian Grabbe, full of eccentricity, but with a certain wihl power, originated a movement resembling to some extent that of the "Sturm und Drang" poets. Its chief representative was Hebbel, a writer endowed with imaginative gifts, but who marred every play by affectation and extravagance. Freiherr von Münch—Bellinghausen, known as Friedrich Hahn, author of Der Fechler von Ravenna (“The Gladiator of Ravenna”), and Mosenthal, author of Deborah, achieved distinction by aiming at something higher than mere stage effect. Paul Lindau is the author of some refined comedies, and Adolf Wilbrandt has written both comedies and tragedies which meet the taste of Vienna. Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer and Roderieh Benedix were prolific writers of plays with the sort of merit that belongs to an intimate knowledgre of the technical necessities of the stage.
Many recent writers have attempted lyrical and narrative poetry, seine of them with sufficient power to maintain worthily the traditions of German literature. From about 1830 onwards, a group of Austrian poets, more or less political in tendency, commanded the respect of all Germans. The chief was Count von Auersperg, who assumed the name of Anastasius Grün. His first important work was Walks of a Vienna Poet, published in 1831, but his fame rests chiefly on two volumes of lyrics issued some years later. He had enthusiastic faith in the future, and expresses his hopes in verses full of colour, sometimes brilliant and effective. Another Austrian writer, Nicholas Strehlenau, generally called Leiiau, gives powerful utterance in several poems to the sorrows of a deeply melancholy nature. Meissner and Hartmann, Bohemian poets, have a considerable reputation, the latter as a writer of great artistic merit, the former as a poet of vivid imagination and free sympathies. Leopold Schefer was for along time a popular poet, and the genial optimism of his chief book, the Laienbrevier, is interesting because of the contrast it presents to the pessimist tone of more recent writers. Before the revolutionary movements of 1848 a number of writers attempted to force poetry into the service of freedom. Of these one of the best known is Herwegh. He advocated liberty with a vehemence that won for him immense popularity, but the interest of his writings is rather historical than literary. Ferdinand Freiligrath was of a more truly poetic temperament. His poems, although without delicacy, have graphic force, and in his earlier writings he displayed a remarkable talent for reproducing the gorgeous colours of tropical landscape. Other poets who have made verse a means of awakening in the popular mind a passion for political justice are Hoffinann von F allersleben, who has a considerable command of musical expression, and Franz Dingelstedt, a versatile writer who has done good work as a novelist and dramatist. Gottschall, already named as a dramatist and an historian of literature, began as a political poet, but after- wards gave evidence of disinterested imagination in two narrative poems, Göttin and Zeno. The lyrics of Emmanuel Geibel, some of which are also political, with a conservative tendency, have found favour with nearly all classes 5 they reveal a gentle and refined spirit, and are written with something of Uhland’s grace. Among the most distinuished contemporary writers is Robert Hamerling, whose poetry is remarkable for the boldness of its conceptions and its almost vehement passion.
Since the middle of the 18th century Germany has never been without writers of deep thought and vast research and in her supreme writers—in Lessing, Goethe Schiller, and Heine—these qualities have been associated with a feeling for artistic finish which has not been surpassed in England or even in France. But the tendency of German authors beneath the highest rank has been to neglect the laws of expression. Thus there is in Germany an extraordinary quantity of literature which, although the result of great labour, and full of ideas, makes intolerable demands on the patience of readers. The lack of measure and precision has in many cases deprived of nearly all value powers of imagination, reason, and indus- try, which would have made the literary fortune of a Frenchman. This deficiency of style is in some degree explained by the fact that an undue proportion of German literature has hitherto been addressed, not to the public, but to specialists, who naturally concern themselves more with substance than with form. During the present generation there have been symptoms of a remarkable change. Ever since the Germans began to feel that they are one people, and to strive after political unity, an increasing number of scholars and thinkers have displayed an ambition to extend their influence, while several imagintive writers have consciously appealed to the nation as it whole. The inevitable result has been that they have aimed at more methodical arrangement. than their predecessors-, and have cultivated greater force, simplicity, and directness of speech. Nothing has fostered this wholesome tendency so much as the growing respect of the nation for the great masters of its language, a respect indicated by the new editions of their writings which appear year after year. The higher class of poets, dramatists, and novelists have also profited by the deepening conviction that the function of art is not to battle with practical evils, but to create a world of ideal beauty in which the mind may find refuge from the perplexities of real life.
Bibliography. Koberstein, Grundriss der deutschen National-literatur; Gervinus, Geschichte der poctischen Nationalliteratur der Deutschen; Vilmar, Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der deutschen Nationalliteratur; Goedeke, Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung; Kurz, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur; Hettner, Literaturgeschichte des 18en Jahrhunderts; Julian Schmidt, Geschichte des geistigen Lebens in Deutschland von Leibniz bis auf Lessing's Tod, and Geschichte der deutschen Literatur im 19en Jahrhundert; Gottschall, Geschichte der deutschen Nationalliteratur in der ersten Hälfte des 19en Jahrhunderts; Gostwick and Harrison, Outlines of German Literature. (J. SI.)
Index. Academies, 472. Adelaide, queen, 483. Administration, 463. Adolf of Nassau, 493. Agnes, empress, 487. Agriculture, 451. Albert I. of Austria, 493. Albert II., 496. Alemanni, 476 Alemannian language, 519. Alsace taken by France, 502; restored to Ger- many, 513. Animals. 451. Anno, archbishop, 487. Area, 447. Arminius, 475. Army, statistics of, 467; ancient, 474. Arndt, Ernst Moritz, 543. Arndt, Johann, 529. Arnim, Achim von, 542. Arnulf, 481. Aschaffenburg, concordat of, 496. Asphalt, 453. Attila, 476. Aue, Hartmann von. 523. Augsburg confession,498; peace of, 499. Austria erected a duchy, 490; wars of, with the Turks, 496; under Maria Theresa, 503; shattered by Napoleon, 504; Prussia‘s jealousy of, 505, 508; revolution of 1848, 507; war with Prussia, 511. Ballads, early, 524. Banking, 466. Barbarossa, 489. Barditus, 522. Basedow, 540. Bavaria, 476 ; incorporated by Charlemagne, 479. Bavarian language, 517. Bee culture, 432. Beetroot sugar, 451. Berengar of Lombardy, 483. Berlin assembly, 507. Berthold the monk, 526. Bibliography, 472, 514, 546. Biography, writers on, 545. Bismarck, 510, 514. Boehme, Jacob, 529. Boniface, st, 473, Book trade, 472. Bouvlnes, battle of, 491. Brandenburg granted to Frederick of Hohen-zollern, 495. Brandt, Sebastian, 527. Breitenfeld, battle of, 500. Bremer Beiträge, 533. Bremen, trade of, 463. Breteslaus of Bohemia, 487. Breweries, 451. Brockes. poet. 531’. Bund, the, 509. B{{{1}}}irger, 540. Burgundians, 475. Burgundy bequeathed to Conrad II., 487. Caesar, Julius, 474. Canals, 460. Cunossa, Henry IV.'s penance at, 438.
Carlsbad decrees, 595.
Catholic league, 500.
Census statistics, 4-‘-5.
Chamisso, 542.
Charlemagne, 478.
Charles Martel, 477.
Charles the Great, 478.
Charles the Bald, 450.
Charles the Fat, 48l.
Charles IV., 495.
Charles V., 497.
Charles VI., 502.
Charles VII., 503.
Chiefs, ancient, 474.
Childeric, 476.
Chivalry, age of, 4'32;