[Footnote 37: _Werke, Briefe_, Band i. 67.]
[Footnote 38: _Ib._ p. 88.]
[Footnote 39: Notably in his paper, entitled _Literarischer
Sansculottismus_. See above, p. 4. Regarding Lessing he made this
remark to Eckermann (February 7th, 1827): "Bedauert doch den
ausserordentlichen Menschen, dass er in einer so erbaermlichen Zeit
leben musste, die ihm keine bessern Stoffe gab, als in seinen Stuecken
verarbeitet sind!"]
[Footnote 40: "Lessing war der hoechste Verstand, und nur ein ebenso
grosser konnte von ihm wahrhaft lernen. Dem Halbvermoegen war er
gefaehrlich." (To Eckermann, January 18th, 1825.)]
Considering his other manifold preoccupations, the amount of Goethe's
literary output during his three years in Leipzig is sufficient
evidence that his poetic instincts remained the dominant impulses of
his nature. He sprinkled his letters to his friends with poems in
German, French, and English, and he composed twenty lyrics which were
subsequently published in the autumn of 1769 under the title of _Neue
Lieder_[41]; and two plays, entitled _Die Laune des Verliebten_ and
_Die Mitschuldigen_. The biographic interest of all these productions
is the light which they throw on the transformation which Goethe had
undergone during his residence in Leipzig.
Pages:
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76