The Poems of Goethe
Translated in the original metresby Edgar Alfred Bowring
THE reluctance which must naturally be felt by any one inventuring to give to the world a book such as the present, wherethe beauties of the great original must inevitably be diminished,if not destroyed, in the process of passing through thetranslator's hands, cannot but be felt in all its force when thattranslator has not penetrated beyond the outer courts of thepoetic fane, and can have no hope of advancing further, or ofreaching its sanctuary. But it is to me a subject of peculiarsatisfaction that your kind permission to have your nameinscribed upon this page serves to attain a twofold end—onedirect and personal, and relating to the present day; the otherreflected and historical, and belonging to times long gone by. Ofthe first little need now be said, for the privilege is whollymine, in making this dedication: as to the second, one word ofexplanation will suffice for those who have made the greatestpoet of Germany, almost of the world, their study, and to whomthe story of his life is not unknown. All who have followed thecareer of GOETHE are familiar with the name and character ofDALBERG, and also with the deep and lasting friendship thatexisted between them, from which SCHILLER too was not absent;recalling to the mind the days of old, when a Virgil and a Horaceand a Maecenas sat side by side.
Remembering, then, the connection that, in a former century,was formed and riveted between your illustrious ancestor and himwhom it is the object of these pages to represent, I deem it ahappy augury that the link then established finds itself notwholly severed even now (although its strength may beimmeasurably weakened in the comparison), inasmuch as this pagebrings them once more in contact, the one in the person of hisown descendant, the other in that of the translator of his Poems.
Believe me, with great truth,
Very faithfully yours,
EDGAR A. BOWRING.
London, April, 1853.
I feel no small reluctance in venturing to give to the public awork of the character of that indicated by the title-page to thepresent volume; for, difficult as it must always be to rendersatisfactorily into one's own tongue the writings of the bards ofother lands, the responsibility assumed by the translator isimmeasurably increased when he attempts to transfer the thoughtsof those great men, who have lived for all the world and for allages, from the language in which they were originally clothed, toone to which they may as yet have been strangers. Preeminentlyis this the case with Goethe, the most masterly of all the masterminds of modern times, whose name is already inscribed on thetablets of immortality, and whose fame already extends over theearth, although as yet only in its infancy. Scarcely have twodecades passed away since he ceased to dwell among men, yet henow stands before us, not as a mere individual, like those whomthe world is wont to call great, but as a type, as an emblem—therecognised emblem and representative of the human mind in itspresent stage of culture and advancement.
Among the infinitely varied effusions of Goethe's pen, perhapsthere are none which are of as general interest as his Poems,which breathe the very spirit of Nature, and embody the realmusic of the feelings. In Germany, they are universally known,and are considered as the most delightful of his works. Yet inthis country, this