Wilhelm Meister's apprenticeship and travels, vol. 1 (of 2)Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
General
Wilhelm Meister's apprenticeship and travels, vol. 1 (of 2)
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Bildungsromans; German fiction -- Translations into English; Self-realization -- Fiction
My dear Lord Baron, now to me
It seems, we well alone should let,
That you your father's son still be,
And I remain my mother's pet:
Let's free from envy live, and hate;
Nor let's desire each other's title:
No place you on Parnassus great,
No noble rank I in requital."
--_Editor's Version._
Upon this poem, which various persons were possessed of, in copies
scarcely legible, opinions were exceedingly divided. But who the author
was, no one could guess; and, as some began to draw a spiteful mirth
from it, our friend expressed himself against it very keenly.
"We Germans," he exclaimed, "deserve to have our Muses still continue in
the low contempt wherein they have languished so long; since we cannot
value men of rank who take a share in our literature, no matter how!
Birth, rank, and fortune are no wise incompatible with genius and taste;
as foreign nations, reckoning among their best minds a great number of
noblemen, can fully testify. Hitherto, indeed, it has been rare in
Germany for men of high station to devote themselves to science;
hitherto few famous names have become more famous by their love of art
and learning; while many, on the other hand, have mounted out of
darkness to distinction, and risen like unknown stars on the horizon.
Yet such will not always be the case; and I greatly err, if the first
classes of the nation are not even now in the way of also employing
their advantages to earn the fairest laurels of the Muses, at no distant
date. Nothing, therefore, grieves me more than to see the burgher
jeering at the noble who can value literature; nay, even men of rank
themselves, with inconsiderate caprice, maliciously scaring off their
equal from a path where honor and contentment wait on all."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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