Bildungsromans; Germany -- Fiction; Poets, German -- Fiction
Men, who are born for business, for action, cannot too soon contemplate
for themselves and animate all things. They must themselves grapple
with and pass through many relations, must harden their whole being
against the influence of new situations, and the dissipation which a
multitude and variety of objects engenders; and they must accustom
themselves, even in the urgency of great occasions to hold fast to the
thread of their object. They should not yield to the invitations of
inactive contemplation. Their soul must not be gazing at self; it must
be ceaselessly directed to outward things, a handmaid to the
understanding, active and prompt in discrimination. They are heroes;
and events press about them which must be fulfilled, and their problems
solved. By their influence all occurrences of chance become history,
and their life is an unbroken chain of remarkable and splendid,
intricate and singular events.
Far otherwise is it with those quiet, unknown men, whose world is their
own mind, whose activity the action of the contemplative intellect, and
whose life a gentle development of their inner powers. No desquietude
drives them to outward things. A tranquil possession satisfies them;
and the immense drama without does not entice them to engage in it
themselves; but they regard it as significant and wonderful, a source
of contemplation for their leisure moments. Longings for the spirit
hold them in the distance; and it is this spirit that destines them to
act the mysterious part of the mind in this human world, while others
represent the outer limbs and senses, the mind's projected powers. They
would be disturbed by great and various events. A simple life is their
lot, and they become acquainted with the rich subject-matter and
countless phenomena of the world from relations and writings alone. But
seldom in the course of their lives does any occurrence draw them along
with it in its sudden vortex, in order to acquaint them by a few
experiences more accurately with the situation and character of active
men. On the contrary, their susceptible minds are already sufficiently
busied with near and insignificant phenomena, which represent the great
world as it were renewed; and they will advance no step, without making
the most surprising discoveries in themselves, concerning the nature
and significance of these phenomena. They are poets, those men of rare
inspiration, who at times wander through our dwelling-place, and
everywhere renew the ancient, venerable, service of humanity, and of
its first gods,--the stars, spring, love, happiness, fertility, health,
and the joyous heart; they, who are already here in possession of
heavenly rest, and, driven about by no foolish desires, breathe only
the fragrance of earthly fruits, without devouring them, then to be
irrevocably chained to the lower world. They are free guests whose
golden feet tread softly, and whose presence involuntarily outspreads
its wings around.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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