It had
precursors of more or less importance in other countries, but, by the
nature of its subject, by its audacious disregard of reigning models,
and by its resounding notoriety, it gave the signal for a fresh
reconstruction of art and life. It gave the decisive impulse to the
writer who is the European representative of the romantic movement,
and whose genius specifically fitted him to work the vein which was
opened in _Goetz_--a task to which Goethe himself was not called. In
1799 Scott published his translation of _Goetz_,[107] and followed it
up by his series of romantic poems in which the influence of Goethe's
work was the main inspiration. But it was in his prose romances,
dealing with the Middle Ages, that he found the appropriate form for
his inspiration--a form which ensured a popular appeal, impossible in
the case of the severer form of the drama. In the enchanter's sway
which Scott exercised over Europe during the greater part of the
nineteenth century, the memories of _Goetz_ were not the least potent
of his spells.
[Footnote 107: Two of the scenes in _Goetz_ were imitated by Scott in
his own work--the Vehmgericht scene in _Anne of Geierstein_ and the
description of the siege of Torquilstone by Rebecca to the wounded
Ivanhoe.
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