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200 GERMAN XITERATTJRE.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
*. "We Cannot Commence Our Usual Notice ...
surpass him . An intense appreciation of the beautiful in natural and a deep sympathy with liunian nature , are equally
apparent scenery , In his writings . In simple ballads he succeeded beyond measure , the spirit of the treatment being excellent and masterly 7
so that a true and permanent effect is often created by a few telling touches ; such poems ( though small in compass ) may be aa
complete , or as the Germans would say " self-standing" as the loner ics or more pompous didactic piecesand are not to be
gep , despised for their apparent insignificance . Uhland did not endeavour to rise to ideal heights , or to solve the hidden mysteries of
nature , like his predecessor Gothe ; nor could he endow the world of tragedwith his creative power like the earnest and feeling
Schiller . y But he rarely attempted what he could not perform , and the reader seldom wishes him to be otherwise than what he is .
His simplicity is without weakness and his enthusiasm is without extravagance . He has a great admiration for the spirit of the
middle ages ; but , though his mind leans to the symbolic and mysterious , we have no occasion to fear that high and holy subjects
will be treated by him in a spirit of flippant speculation . Love and friendship are indispensable to him , and yet he is free from
that exaggerated and impetuous sentiment which is likely to lead to unhealthre-action . With all thisthe patriotism of Uhland
is essentially y characteristic of the man . , In the free and courageous tone of his poetry , Uhland struck the keynote of that longing for
national independence which animated his fellow-countrymen . But he could scarcely have written otherwise . He had inhaled
the lessons of freedom with the pure air which he had breathed , and with the sunshine which had shone upon him from his earliest
boyhood . _, ' There is this atmosphere of healthy country life about all the writings of Uhland . Nature had whispered of hope to
him from his childhoodand had confirmed the impulses of his heart . From the vine- , lanted hills which surrounded his native
valley , and from the brook p s and forests which he had loved to watchhe had learnt his admiration for romance , and his songs
were the , songs of freedom . It is easy to imagine how with this intense appreciation of the freshness and beauty of nature , the
ardour of the poet was somewhat damped when he returned to what appeared to be narrow or conventional in eveiyday life , and
how he delighted to picture to himself in his imaginative ballads a golden where the heroes triumphed and the troubadours
sung-In the age writings , of Uhland we may certainly trace a singular connection between a longing for freedom , in the present , and a
sentimental admiration for the supposed grandeur of the past . In this respect he had a strong bond of sympathy with
the" romanticists " of modern Franceand with the men who ( under such leaders as Theodore Mundt , Heinrioli Heine , and Ludwig
Borne ) had styled themselves by the , name of " Young Germany "
200 German Xiterattjre.
200 GERMAN XITERATTJRE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1863, page 200, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051863/page/56/
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