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Untitled Article
with HowardV Thepry of the Clouds , he framed a . terminology frpnx Howard ' s , and kept . a diary , of the clouds . It was in this same year , 1813 * when he took so sympathising ail interest iii the scientific labours of others , that the mighty power of Napoleon suddenly fell , which had weighed espe * cially on the north of Germaay like a nightmare . This event is very brie 0 y adverted to by him in his journal . He did , however , compose a mask for the festivities that accompanied the peace , —— * The Awakening of Epimenides . ' Indeed he confesses that it was one of his peculiarities to withdraw from the consideration of public matters whenever the political world was threatened by a dreadful convulsion . During Napoleon ' s last fatal campaign in the north , Goethe was studying the history of the Chinese Empire . And it was about this period that he ! astonished the literary world by a publication for which it was not prepared ,- —* The WesUEastern Divan , *—a collection of Oriental poems ,, with a volume of criticisms on the Persian and Arabian poets . This was the more surprising , as early in life he had betrayed a marked distaste to Oriental literature , as
opposed to the Grecian , a circumstance to which we ascribe no small portion of the alienation between him and Herder , who was oriental in all his tastes and feelings . Now , however , an elaborate work appeared which astonished the public , who asked for explanations * Are they translations , or imitations , or a com pound of both ? The answer is still to be given . * Let them wonder on , ' said Goethe ; * I am accustomed to see Germans startled before they feel and enjoy . ' During the following years Goethe continued revising , republishing , and reviewing , not attempting the composition of any elaborate work of imagination ; the works of others , and of his former self , being the objects of his attention . And as a ready vehicle for the publication of small poems , as well as criticisms , in the year 1816 he began a very small periodical work called f Kunst und AlterthumS- ^ AYt and Antiquity , in which he has deposited many an elegant trifle and curious fcriticism . He published about nine numbers .
Of Goethe s criticisms , it is necessary to remark that they are written on a principle the very opposite of that which is the rule with our reviewers : his purpose is always to point out what is in a work ; our . reviewers are more bent on informing us what is not *' in other words , Goethe dwells on the positive qualities—that which 1 b . actually produced . And as to that which is omitted and is not -- —wh y as nothing can come of nothing , he says nothing about it . This is certainly not the way to acquire reputation , and might bet
imputed to a want , of discernment . Among the rising generation o {\ poets , none seem to have interested him bo much && Manzoni ""Tin Ital y * and our JLord Byron . At first , indeed , though he ' acknowledged the power , he was repelled by the personality of
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$ 04 , Ooteike .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1832, page 306, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1812/page/18/
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