after his wife’s death goethe became anxious that arrangements should be made for the marriage of his son august, who had for some time had an official appointment at weimar. goethe’s choice fell upon ottilie von pogwisch, a handsome, clever girl, the granddaughter of a lady for whom he had much regard. august was of opinion that a better wife could not have been selected for him, and so they were married on the 17th of june, 1817. goethe laughingly warned ottilie that she was never to contradict her husband, and that if she ever wanted to have the rapture of a quarrel, she must come and have it out with him. they occupied the top floor of goethe’s house, the rooms of which had been carefully prepared and furnished for them; and by and by they received as a permanent inmate of their home ottilie’s sister ulrica. two children were born of the marriage, and his grandsons were to goethe an inexhaustible source of delight.
much as goethe had done for the weimar theatre, the business connected with it had often been an occasion of trouble and annoyance, due chiefly to the intrigues of the{171} actress fr?ulein jagemann, who had great influence over the grand duke. early in 1817 it was decided, in opposition to goethe’s wishes, that the birthday of the grand duchess should be celebrated by the representation of one of kotzebue’s plays. the performance was a failure, and goethe handed in his resignation of the directorship. he was persuaded to withdraw it, but later in the year, when, in deference to fr?ulein jagemann, the grand duke sanctioned the representation of a play in which a leading part was to be taken by a dressed-up poodle, goethe felt that it was impossible for him to retain a position in which his authority was disregarded. from this time he confined himself exclusively, in his official duties, to the control of institutions for the promotion of science and art. he devoted attention especially to the university of jena, the prosperity of which he had missed no opportunity of furthering ever since his settlement at weimar.
goethe, who seemed to have the secret of eternal youth, carried with him into middle life and old age much of the fresh vivacity of his early years. he was especially remarkable for his sensitiveness to feminine influence. while writing the “wahlverwandtschaften” he had been strongly attracted by the beauty, thoughtfulness, and amiability of wilhelmine herzlieb, the foster-daughter of the wife of herr frommann, a bookseller at jena, at whose house he was a frequent and welcome guest. some of wilhelmine’s qualities were reproduced in ottilie, the lovely and pathetic figure who is overtaken by so sad a fate in the “wahlverwandtschaften.” at the time when most of the poems in the “west-oestlicher divan” were written, he had a still more cordial relation with{172} marianne, the fascinating wife of his friend geheimerath von willemer, of frankfort. in 1814 and 1815 he had much pleasant talk with marianne in her home, and in 1815 she and her husband spent some happy days with him at heidelberg. marianne was not only a handsome woman, of a sound and affectionate character, but had a touch of poetic genius. she followed with warm interest and sympathy goethe’s progress in the composition of the poems of the “divan.” some of them were addressed to her, and she responded with original verses, of which goethe thought so highly that he interwove them with his own work.
goethe’s relations to wilhelmine herzlieb and marianne willemer were much the same as dr. johnson’s relations to frances burney and mrs. thrale. both women interested him, appealed to his imagination, and liked him as heartily as he liked them; and, as a poet and a german, he could give warm expression to his regard for them without running the slightest risk of being misunderstood by either. when he sent to frau willemer the exquisite little lyric, “nicht gelegenheit macht diebe,” and she, as suleika, replied with the equally beautiful poem, “hochbeglückt in deiner liebe,” they would have been astonished and dismayed had any one been stupid enough to suppose that, so far as their relations to one another were concerned, either set of verses represented more than a light and delicate play of fancy.
afterwards, however, goethe passed through a deeper experience. this was his love for ulrica von levezow, whom he met with her mother, an old friend of his, at{173} marienbad in 1822, when he was in his seventy-third year. goethe was charmed by the beautiful maiden, and loved her as ardently as if he had been fifty years younger. in the following year he met her again with her mother at the same place, and the fascination she exerted over him was so obvious that gossips began to talk of an approaching betrothal. when ulrica left marienbad, goethe felt sadly depressed. he found relief, however, while listening to the playing of the polish pianist, madame de szymanowska, and then he was able to give in the fine poem “auss?hnung” (“reconciliation”) full expression to his sense of what seemed for the moment his recovered freedom. it cost goethe a hard struggle to overcome this late-flowering passion. he was determined that it should be mastered, and in the end succeeded in suppressing it.
on the 3rd of september, 1825, the fiftieth anniversary of the grand duke’s accession was celebrated. goethe was deeply moved by the memories which crowded in upon him on this occasion. it was arranged that early in the morning a cantata should be sung in front of the roman house, in the park, where the grand duke was staying; and, while this was being done, goethe entered, anxious to be the first to congratulate the sovereign he had served so well. the grand duke took goethe’s hands in his own, and said, “to the last breath together!” about two months afterwards the fiftieth anniversary of goethe’s arrival at weimar was also celebrated. the grand duke presented him with a gold medal struck for the occasion, and expressed in a letter all that he felt about the magnificent services goethe had for half a{174} century rendered to himself and his people. by the grand duke’s order, a copy of this letter was posted on a wall opposite goethe’s house. seeing a crowd, goethe sent a friend to find what was interesting them. “that is he!” cried goethe, when he learned what had been done. in the evening “iphigenie” was represented, and the town was brilliantly illuminated.
goethe was saddened, almost beyond the power of expression, by the death of the grand duke in 1828, and that of the grand duchess in 1830. he had been associated with them so long, and had loved them, and been loved by them, so truly, that their death, in the first moments of grief, seemed like the breaking-up of all that had made life valuable. happily, he had every reason to be satisfied with his relations with the young grand duke and grand duchess. they looked up to him with reverence, and delighted to do him honour.
in his home goethe had much wearing anxiety and distress. his son august, although endowed with many good qualities, was of a wayward and uncertain temper, and at last took to hard drinking. he loved his father deeply, but even goethe’s influence was not strong enough to deliver him from this hideous tyranny. in 1830 he went to italy, and he died at rome on the 27th of october. it was found that he had been suffering from malformation of the brain.
in 1821 a student at g?ttingen, johann peter eckermann, submitted a copy of his poems to goethe, with a sketch of his life; and goethe, as was his wont on such occasions, sent a friendly answer. two years afterwards eckermann, encouraged by this reply, despatched a manu{175}script to goethe, begging that he would forward it to cotta. on the 10th of june, 1823, an interview took place, and eckermann made so good an impression that goethe gave him some work to do, and ultimately made him his secretary. the result was that many years afterwards the world received eckermann’s “conversations with goethe.” eckermann was not, like boswell, a great artist, and goethe does not live in his book as johnson lives in boswell’s. nevertheless, these “conversations” present a most striking picture of goethe in old age, and it is impossible to read them without feeling that they bring us into contact with an intellect and character of superb quality. almost every subject interests goethe, as he is here revealed; and on all matters, from the humblest to the most lofty, about which he expresses an opinion, he has something to say that indicates a mind fresh, vigorous, and richly stored with the fruits of a life of thought, action, and study. above all, the reader is impressed by the noble feeling of humanity that pervades his utterances. goethe has seen as much of the world as it is given to men to see; yet in his judgments there is no trace of a bitter or querulous temper. he is mild, serene, and helpful.
weimar had now become a place of pilgrimage for young poets, who looked to goethe as the supreme master of their craft. among those who came to him was the poet who was destined to take, after goethe’s death, the first place in the imaginative literature of germany—heinrich heine. heine visited weimar when he was twenty-five years of age, and had already taken rank among the most powerful writers of his day. long{176} afterwards, in “ueber deutschland,” he said that in talking with goethe he involuntarily looked at his side for the eagle of zeus. “i was nearly,” he says, “addressing him in greek.” many a time, when he had thought of visiting goethe, he had reflected on all sorts of sublime things he would like to say. when he found himself actually in the great man’s presence, he remarked that the plums by the wayside between jena and weimar were uncommonly good! so, at least, we are assured by heine, whose reminiscences were seldom intended to be taken quite seriously. goethe appreciated heine’s rare gifts, but said to eckermann that with all his brilliance one thing was wanting to him—love. he predicted, however, that heine would be greatly feared.
from abroad, as well as from all parts of germany, testimonies of admiration were from time to time sent to goethe. on his last birthday he received from fifteen (or perhaps nineteen) englishmen, among whom were sir walter scott, wordsworth, southey, and carlyle, a seal bearing the motto from one of his poems, “ohne hast, aber ohne rast” (“without haste, but without rest”). the suggestion that this tribute of respect and gratitude should be offered to goethe had been made by carlyle, with whose translation of “wilhelm meister” he had been greatly delighted. goethe, although he never saw carlyle, recognized his genius, and foretold his future greatness.
during his last years goethe took little interest in the public affairs of europe. least of all did he interest himself in the proceedings of liberal politicians. on the day when the tidings of the french revolution of{177} 1830 reached weimar, his friend soret went to see him. when soret entered his room goethe was in a state of intense excitement, and began to talk of the mighty volcanic eruption at paris. soret replied that nothing else was to be expected from such a ministry. goethe looked at him in astonishment. what had the ministry to do with the matter? he had not been speaking of “those people,” but of the contest in the french academy between cuvier and geoffrey st. hilaire!—a contest in which st. hilaire had supported goethe’s ideas as to the true way of conceiving organic nature.
the essential aim of the liberal party all over europe in those days was to secure a political system in which the functions of the government should be restricted within the narrowest possible limits. every interest of life was to be submitted to the operation of the principle of free competition. goethe could have no sympathy with a movement of which this was the ultimate object, for it was one of his deepest convictions that strong government is an enduring necessity of society, and that the path of free competition is a path that leads to ruin. and have events proved that in this opinion he was utterly mistaken? so far as industry and trade are concerned, the western world has had ample experience of free competition, and can we take much pride in such of its results as are seen in the foul and pestilent dens in which, in every great city, multitudes of men, women, and children are compelled to lead degraded and unhappy lives? goethe did not mean by strong government a system which should crush thought and true individuality. on the contrary, to him thought and true individuality{178} seemed the vital conditions of human progress. but he wished, too, that the weak should be protected against the tyranny of the strong; that the state should be the supreme organ of practical reason for the establishment and maintenance of wholesome relations between man and man, and for the execution of measures designed to promote the free development, not of this class or of that only, but of the community as a whole.
many liberal politicians were never tired of talking of goethe as one who cared nothing for the practical interests of the world. they mistook indifference to their party for indifference to humanity. the truth is, he was in one sense far ahead of those who virulently assailed him as a reactionary. as we know from many passages in “wilhelm meisters wanderjahre,” he saw that the real problems of the future were not merely political but social; that communities could never hope to solve these problems by simply giving free scope to the forces contending for mastery; and that for the new conditions of the world new forms of co-operative industrial organization would become inevitable. he devoted much earnest attention to the principles expounded during this period by st. simon, and his ideas about social progress have a close affinity to some of those with which the english-speaking world has been made familiar by the most illustrious of its modern spiritual teachers, carlyle and ruskin.
even in old age goethe never paused in his labours as a man of letters. one of the works now issued by him was “wilhelm meisters wanderjahre” (“wilhelm meister’s years of travel”). it was published in its{179} earliest form in 1821, but afterwards it was recast, the work as we now have it being finished in 1829. this book has little real connection with the “lehrjahre,” and ought not to be read as a complete work of art, for goethe hardly even attempts to give unity to the various elements of which it is made up. much of it is rather tiresome, but it also contains tales and passages as remarkable for nobility of style as for depth of thought. especially valuable are those parts of the book in which he develops his mature convictions with regard to education, and the conditions of the high and enduring welfare of industrial societies. here he anticipates much of what is most deeply characteristic of the thought of our own day.
in all directions goethe continued to exercise his widely varied powers. he edited a periodical called for some time “kunst und alterthum in den rhein und maingegenden” (“art and antiquity in the districts of the rhine and the main”). afterwards he called it simply “kunst und alterthum,” and included in it, besides papers on art and arch?ology, some of his poems and essays in literary criticism. he also published, between 1817 and 1824, a scientific periodical, in which he printed his treatise on the intermaxillary bone, and communicated his discovery as to the constitution of the bones of the skull. this discovery had in the interval been independently made by oken, but to goethe the question of priority appeared to be one of absolutely no importance.
during this time, too, he went on writing lyrical and other poems, as he had done during all the earlier periods of his career; and he devoted great attention to{180} the preparation of a complete edition of his works, the first volume of which was published in 1827. he also found time to write or dictate an extraordinary number of letters. goethe had always been a model correspondent, and the various collections of his letters are of inestimable value for the light they throw upon his character. he himself issued, in 1828-29, his correspondence with schiller; and he prepared for publication his correspondence with zelter, the genial and eccentric berlin musical composer, to whom he was warmly attached. we now possess a vast series of goethe’s letters, some dating from early youth, others written immediately before his death. they reflect accurately many different moods, corresponding to the different stages of his development; but in the letters of all the periods of his life the mind which unconsciously discloses itself is one dominated by a passion for truth, by a lofty sense of honour, and by manly, humane, and generous impulses.
the most important work of his old age is the second part of “faust.” some portions of it had been written even before the appearance of the first part; but the work belongs in the main to his latest period. he finished it before his last birthday, and told eckermann that, this task being done, he would regard the rest of his life as “a pure gift.”
“faust,” therefore, had accompanied him during the entire course of his literary career. in it he had represented all the various phases of evolution through which his thought and character had passed.
as a work of art, the second part is far inferior to the first. it lacks the unity which is to some extent given{181} to the first part by faust’s relation to gretchen; and it contains a multitude of symbolical ideas, the meaning of which it is hard to unravel. we miss, too, the fire and glow of the scenes conceived in goethe’s early days, when “faust” served as the direct imaginative expression of his own tumultuous thoughts and longings. nevertheless, there are individual passages, especially in the scenes relating to helen of troy, full of splendid power; and the idea in which all is summed up is in every way worthy even of the grandest of the original elements of goethe’s scheme. before dying, faust feels that a moment might come to which, with all his heart, he could say, “oh, stay! thou art so fair!” but it is a moment which mephistopheles, the representative of the evil in his nature, could never have secured for him. it is a moment of pure delight springing from the contemplation of the results of disinterested labour in the service of humanity.
this was goethe’s last word to the world; the expression of his deepest and most settled conviction. to make selfish joy, as faust had done, the supreme object of existence—that way lie perpetual evil and misery; to sacrifice self, to bring the will into harmony with ideal law, in all things to think and act in a spirit of love and brotherhood, as faust, after fierce struggle, learns to do—in that, and in that alone, can man find a life truly fitted to his nature and capable of satisfying his deepest, inmost wants. the idea with which goethe seeks to solve the problem of “faust” is the old, yet ever new, doctrine—“he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.{182}”
for many years goethe enjoyed excellent health, and from day to day his work went on without serious interruption. the end—described simply and graphically in düntzer’s “goethes leben”—came somewhat suddenly, when he was in his eighty-third year. on thursday, march 15, 1832, when the young grand duchess paid him her usual weekly visit, he had much to say about a drawing which a friend had sent him from pompeii. it was a sketch of an ancient design in mosaics, representing a scene in the life of alexander the great. the grand duchess saw in her friend no sign of an approaching illness, nor was goethe, when he retired to his room in the evening, conscious of any physical change. during the night, however, he could not sleep, and next morning it was obvious that he had lost much of his usual vigour. between the 19th and the 20th of march, about midnight, he had severe pains in the chest and suffered from an attack of breathlessness. even these symptoms did not alarm him, and on the 20th he had strength enough to sign an official paper securing that aid should be granted to a lady whose talents as an artist had excited his admiration. but life was gradually ebbing away. on the morning of the 22nd of march, he sat in his armchair, holding the hand of his daughter-in-law, ottilie, in his own, and conversing with her brightly. as he talked, his words came with increasing difficulty, and at last he wholly lost the power of speech. he made signs in the air, and, when his arm dropped, moved his fingers as if writing on his knee. shortly before midday, leaning back in a corner of his chair, he softly passed away.{183}
if we look back upon the course of goethe’s long life, it is impossible not to be struck with admiration when we think of the extraordinary range of his activity. there are few departments of intellectual life into which he did not penetrate, and in everything which, as a thinker and writer, he undertook, he displayed the highest order of mental power. as a man of science, he ranks among the foremost investigators of his age. he had no sooner begun to reflect seriously on scientific problems than he placed himself in what proved to be the central current of modern thought. the supreme idea of the nineteenth century is the idea of evolution, and the position of those inquirers who immediately preceded darwin is necessarily determined by the answer which must be given to the questions—were they, in their observations and speculations, guided by aims which in the main accord with darwin’s principle? were they among the forerunners who prepared the way for the doctrine in which all that was best and most vital in pre-darwinian scientific thought is summed up? in regard to goethe, these questions must be answered emphatically in the affirmative. his discoveries, resulting almost equally from the exercise of his perceptive and imaginative faculties, were on the lines which led directly to the theory of evolution. it is only, indeed, since the law of evolution was detected, that the world has recognized the full meaning and importance of his contributions to scientific progress.
as a writer on art, goethe was less original than as a man of science. but here also he was on the track that has been followed by the greatest of his succes{184}sors. greek architecture and sculpture winckelmann had made in part intelligible; and, having absorbed his teaching, goethe, as the result of his own observations in italy, had many a luminous suggestion to offer as to masterpieces of ancient art, and as to the general processes of development with which they were related. in his study of modern art it was to the painters and sculptors whose technical skill was used in the service of high imaginative ideas that he instinctively turned; and no writer of his day sought more earnestly to show how little can be achieved in art if it is divorced from serious and noble thought. he felt, too, as only a few of the world’s intellectual guides have yet felt, how great is the place which properly belongs to art as one of the influences capable of giving dignity and refinement both to individual and to social life.
great, however, as were goethe’s achievements in the criticism of art and in science, they are of almost slight importance in comparison with his work as an imaginative writer. as a writer of romance, as a dramatist, as a lyrical poet, he towers high above all other men of letters whom germany has produced. in the literature of his country he takes the rank which in that of greece belongs to homer, in that of italy to dante, in that of england to shakespeare. almost every element of human life is touched in his creations, yet he has told us that his writings are to be regarded as parts of one great “confession.” however remote they may seem to be from his own experience, they are directly or indirectly rooted in the facts of his personal history. to this is due one of the most distinctive qualities of his work{185} both in verse and in prose—the extraordinary vitality of his ideas; the vividness with which all that he depicts is made to pass before us, as if it were a part of the outward and visible world. he cannot, however, be truly described as a realist, if by a realist is meant one who seeks to do no more than represent exactly what he himself has seen or felt. in taking reality as the basis of ideal structures, goethe severed from it associations which were only of temporary or accidental interest. he brought it into new relations, touched it with the transforming power of the imagination, and gave to individual facts universal significance. hence the greatest of his works are as fresh to-day as when he wrote them; and they could lose their living power only if human nature itself were radically changed.
as a critic of literature, he had the sanity of judgment and the intuitive insight which mark all poets of the highest genius. he has never, perhaps, been surpassed in his power of detecting the signs of a genuinely creative capacity; and this power, remarkable even in his youth, did not desert him in old age. he was constantly on the outlook for new intellectual forces, and, when they appeared, seldom failed to divine the direction in which they were moving, and the nature of the results they were likely to accomplish. byron, scott, manzoni, victor hugo, carlyle—all were hailed by goethe as, in different ways, potent representatives of the later periods of the era to which he himself belonged. it did not occur to him to think of them as rivals. he thought only of his good fortune in having lived to see them carry on the movement of european literature.{186}
when a writer achieves world-wide fame, we cannot resist the impulse to ask what he has to tell us as to the great, enduring spiritual problems of existence. we have seen how deeply goethe, in youth, was influenced by spinoza; and during the whole of his mature life his conception of the universe in some respects closely resembled that of the teacher whom he had so profoundly revered. atheism was not only repugnant to his feeling, but seemed to him the last development of human folly. to him the world was but the manifestation of divine energy; he thought of it as “the living garment of the deity.” so far, his idea of the ultimate nature of things was simply spinoza’s idea; but, when he had fought his way to an independent conviction, he differed widely from spinoza in his mode of conceiving the reality which reveals itself in the phenomenal order. the god in whom goethe believed was not simply “substance.” the enduring types or patterns to which, in his interpretation of nature, he attributed such vast importance, imply the existence of something more and deeper than abstract force. they are divine ideas, and would be unintelligible apart from mind or reason. that the word reason, when applied to the creative energy of the universe, expresses absolute truth, goethe nowhere says; but he held that man cannot but form far himself some representation of the unknowable power, and that to represent it as reason is the least inadequate way in which we can catch some glimpse of its unutterable splendour.
the notion that the world was formed for man seemed to goethe the offspring of extravagant self-conceit. yet{187} he had no mean estimate of the greatness of the human spirit. he recognized in it powers capable of indefinite growth and expansion, and did not doubt that there is an invisible realm in which, after it has fulfilled its mission in the present world, it passes to new and higher destinies. it appeared to him, however, strange and most unreasonable that men should miss what is great and worthy in this life by dreaming vaguely about a life to come. he conceived that the truest preparation for whatever may be in store for us in other states of existence must be the wise cultivation of the faculties with which we are endowed; and among these faculties he gave the highest place to the impulses which bring men into intimate and helpful association with their fellows.
the conduct of life he made a subject of profound reflection, and no modern writer illuminates it with a light at once so clear and so steady. it is for this reason that a quite peculiar relation springs up between goethe and those who feel the power and the charm of his genius. they go back again and again to his works, his letters, his “conversations,” and never fail to find in them some fruitful word that brings with it fresh hope and courage. his wise and noble sayings are the more inspiring because they almost invariably suggest deeper meanings than they directly utter. the mind, in appropriating them, is placed in contact, not with abstract dogmas, but with life itself, and is stimulated to the free exercise of its own energies.
goethe had an almost unequalled opportunity of developing his powers, and apprehended vividly the full extent of the obligation it imposed. his life, therefore,{188} has the note of greatness which distinguishes his writings. it was a life of lofty aim and strenuous endeavour, and left a mark, wide, deep, and abiding, on the thought and aspiration of mankind.
