It formed a fitting background, he says,
for such poetical creations as _Goetz von Berlichingen_ and _Faust_. To
the cathedral and its suggestions, even more than to Herder, perhaps,
we should trace the inspiration that produced these works--the former
of which met with Herder's questioning approval. To the full force of
that inspiration Goethe gave direct expression in a composition which
is the most characteristic product of his Strassburg period--a short
essay, entitled _Of German Architecture_. Probably sketched in
Strassburg, it was not published till his return to Frankfort. Its
rhapsodical style, as well as the conceptions of art and nature which
it embodies, directly recall Young's _Conjectures on Original
Composition_. Like Young he proclaims that genius is a law to itself,
that all imitation and subservience to rule is disastrous to
imaginative production. "Principles," he declares, "are even more
injurious to genius than examples." The burden of the Essay is the
glorification of the genius of the architect of Strassburg cathedral,
and of Gothic architecture in general, which, Goethe maintained,
should be correctly designated "German" architecture, as having had
its origin on German soil.
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