As an example lying close to hand of an idyllic Epos I will merely mention the "Luise" of Voss, as also and above all Goethe's masterpiece, "Herman and Dorothea." In the latter work we have no doubt our attention directed to the background of the greatest world-event of our age, with which the circumstances of the innkeeper and his family, of the pastor and the apothecary, are directly associated. And inasmuch as the little country town is not placed before us in its political relations we at once remark a gap in the narrative which is not explained or mediated by any connecting link. Yet it is precisely through this omission of the intermediate link that the whole keeps its unique character. For with the stroke of a master Goethe has removed the revolution into the background, despite the fact that he has known how to make the most happy use of it in the enlargement of his poem. He only interweaves such circumstances with the action as, in their simple humanity, connect themselves absolutely without constraint with domestic and civic conditions. The main point, therefore, is that Goethe in this work has succeeded in detaching from the reality of our modern life traits, descriptions, conditions, and developments, and depicting the same, which in their province once more make that alive which contributes to the imperishable charm of those primitive human conditions of the Odyssey and the patriarchal picture of the Old Testament. In respect to other spheres of our present national and social life I would observe in conclusion that in the field of epic poetry there are practically unlimited opportunities for the _romance_, the _narrative_, and the _novel._ I am, however, unable, even in the most general outline, to follow the history of these in the breadth of their development from their first appearance until the present time. [Footnote 1: _Die echt poetische Abrundung._ Not, however, merely literary finish, but complete ideal totality.] [Footnote 2: _Einem bestimmten Tone_. Perhaps more truly "a particular strain or atmosphere." But both aspects are suggested.] [Footnote 3: There is a misprint here _eine recht_ for _einer echt_, and also I should prefer eight lines lower down _die_ for _das_ agreeing with _Freiheit_ rather than _Leben._] [Footnote 4: This sentence is obviously ironical, but the sense intended is not very clear. The words _die sic_ are clearly a misprint for _die sick,_ and I presume _kindisch_ is not used in its more common depreciatory sense of childish. I am, however, not very confident of my translation. _War es ein Zeichen_ would apparently refer back to the general intention of the previous sentence, _i.e.,_ the attempt of Klopstock and others to make a national book.] [Footnote 5: See vol. I, pp. 240-289, and particularly pp. 270-289.] [Footnote 6: _Eine Sittlichkeit._] [Footnote 7: Poet., c. 14.]