Aesthetical and philosophical essays : $b introducing the dissertation on the "connection between the animal and spiritual man"Schiller, Friedrich
Philosophy
Aesthetical and philosophical essays : $b introducing the dissertation on the "connection between the animal and spiritual man"
Schiller, Friedrich
Aesthetics; Philosophy
Accordingly the satire of pathos must always issue from a mind deeply
imbued with the ideal. It is nothing but an impulsion towards harmony
that can give rise to that deep feeling of moral opposition and that
ardent indignation against moral obliquity which amounted to the fulness
of enthusiasm in Juvenal, Swift, Rousseau, Haller, and others. These
same poets would have succeeded equally well in forms of poetry relating
to all that is tender and touching in feeling, and it was only the
accidents of life in their early days that diverted their minds into
other walks. Nay, some amongst them actually tried their hand
successfully in these other branches of poetry. The poets whose names
have been just mentioned lived either at a period of degeneracy, and had
scenes of painful moral obliquity presented to their view, or personal
troubles had combined to fill their souls with bitter feelings. The
strictly austere spirit in which Rousseau, Haller, and others paint
reality is a natural result, moreover, of the philosophical mind, when
with rigid adherence to laws of thought it separates the mere phenomenon
from the substance of things. Yet these outer and contingent influences,
which always put restraint on the mind, should never be allowed to do
more than decide the direction taken by enthusiasm, nor should they ever
give the material for it. The substance ought always to remain
unchanged, emancipated from all external motion or stimulus, and it
ought to issue from an ardent impulsion towards the ideal, which forms
the only true motive that can be put forth for satirical poetry, and
indeed for all sentimental poetry.
While the satire of pathos is only adapted to elevated minds, playful
satire can only be adequately represented by a heart imbued with
_beauty_. The former is preserved from triviality by the serious nature
of the theme; but the latter, whose proper sphere is confined to the
treatment of subjects of morally unimportant nature, would infallibly
adopt the form of frivolity, and be deprived of all poetic dignity, were
it not that the substance is ennobled by the form, and did not the
personal dignity of the poet compensate for the insignificance of the
subject. Now, it is only given to mind imbued with beauty to impress its
character, its entire image, on each of its manifestations,
independently of the object of its manifestations. A sublime soul can
only make itself known as such by single victories over the rebellion of
the senses, only in certain moments of exaltation, and by efforts of
short duration. In a mind imbued with _beauty_, on the contrary, the
ideal acts in the same manner as nature, and therefore continuously;
accordingly it can manifest itself in it in a state of repose. The deep
sea never appears more sublime than when it is agitated; the true beauty
of a clear stream is in its peaceful course.
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