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only in the more apparent object of being intended for music ; as , in fact , they have been often composed , Goethe ' s songs being attempted by every German composer , among whom Rejfhard enjoys at present the most popularity . The remarkable features of this class are occasionally deep pathos ; and more frequently the expression of his own philosophy of life . We must illustrate this by one example .
' Offne Tafel—( Public Table . ) * I invited many guests to-day : and the dinner is ready . All promised to come . Look , Mary , can you see them ? I invited wives who love their husbands the more , the more cross they are . They promised to come , ' &c . And then there follow some half-dozen stanzas of invitations
qualified in like manner : such as poets who would rather hear the songs of others sung than their own . But the meat is overroasting , and the fish is overboiling , for no one comes . At length the host recollects himself . 4 Ah ! I fear we have been too precise , Mary ! What say you ? Nobody will come , &c . Do run , Mary , and invite fresh guests for me —~ ' Jeder komme wie er ist , Das ist wohl das beste /
[ Let every one come as he is ; that is best . ] ' It is already known in the town . Open the door , Mary . See , they are all coming . ' Now in this familiar song lies Goethe ' s practical wisdomto be content with men and things as they are : turning to as good an account as may be , even the weaknesses as well as the powers of mankind . His philosophy may be designated a poetical epicureanism , in which the pleasures of imagination hold the balance with those of sense .
Next follow the Ballads . These are as popular as the Songs . More of these are known in English than of any other kind of Goethe's poems , Mr . Beresford having translated several of them in the 'Erato . ' The < Fisherman , ' ' Earl King , ' King in Thula , ' &c . &c . have been translated into all languages . But the most important are still unknown to us . There are two which have drawn on the author loud reproaches—the' Braut von Corinth , * and ' Der Gott und die Bajadere . ' * The Bride of Corinth * is a legend of the
middle ages . A girl betrothed under the old religion is forced into a nunnery : and when the lover arrives for his mistress , she comes to him as a sort of vampire ; and , after a short interview , announces his death to him . She had cut off a lock of his hair , and devoted him , by that act , to the infernal gods . She then bursts out into pathetic declamations on the extinction of the beautiful divinities that before animated every grove and every fountain , to make room for a solitary tyrant / Now we do not mean to praise the purpose of this poem , but surely it is harmless . There is nothing seductive in it *—Indeed it would be very disgusting , but for the inimitable perfection
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Goethe ' s Works . 365
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1832, page 365, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1814/page/5/
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