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Verse Plays and Epic
This volume presents the four plays and the narrative poem that, along with Faust, established Goethe as one of the masters of European verse drama and epic. These works in particular display a balance between poetic form and ethical sensibility that characterizes much of Goethe's work during the era of Weimar Classicism. Here we are offered new translations of the dramas Iphigenia in Tauris , Torquato Tasso , The Natural Daughter , and Pandora and of the epic poem Hermann and Dorothea .
328 pages, Paperback
Published April 3, 1995
About the author
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
13.6k books7,336 followersA master of poetry, drama, and the novel, German writer and scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe spent 50 years on his two-part dramatic poem
Faust
, published in 1808 and 1832, also conducted scientific research in various fields, notably botany, and held several governmental positions.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .
With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided with Enlightenment, sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours , he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. He also long served as the privy councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.
Goethe took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.
George Eliot called him "Germany's greatest man of letters... and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Works span the fields of literature, theology, and humanism.
People laud this magnum opus as one of the peaks of world literature. Other well-known literary works include his numerous poems, the Bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther .
With this key figure of German literature, the movement of Weimar classicism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries coincided with Enlightenment, sentimentality (Empfindsamkeit), Sturm und Drang, and Romanticism. The author of the scientific text Theory of Colours , he influenced Darwin with his focus on plant morphology. He also long served as the privy councilor ("Geheimrat") of the duchy of Weimar.
Goethe took great interest in the literatures of England, France, Italy, classical Greece, Persia, and Arabia and originated the concept of Weltliteratur ("world literature"). Despite his major, virtually immeasurable influence on German philosophy especially on the generation of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling, he expressly and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the rarefied sense.
Influence spread across Europe, and for the next century, his works inspired much music, drama, poetry and philosophy. Many persons consider Goethe the most important writer in the German language and one of the most important thinkers in western culture as well. Early in his career, however, he wondered about painting, perhaps his true vocation; late in his life, he expressed the expectation that people ultimately would remember his work in optics.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
February 26, 2020
Iphigenia in Taurus *** This is not one of Goethe's better works, at least judging by this translation. The characterization is stiff and the dialogue tired and inflated. Being modeled after classical Greek theater, I can understand the stiffness. It's the language that disappoints. Here are a couple samples of the text pulled out at random:
"Now may our goddess bless you royally,
Oh King, and grant you victory and fame
And wealth and the well-being of your people
And every pious wish in plentitude." (line 220-2024)
"Oh king, the image of the goddess need not
Divide us now! For now I understand
The error that bemused us, by Apollo's
Decree, when he commanded us to come here." (Line 206-210)
These are typical samples. Maybe these passages sing in the original German, but as English poetry this just seems bloated and awkward with no emotional punch. It has about everything you'd expect of a poor Shakespearean imitation except a "Woe is me!"
While Goethe added a few entertaining twists to the original Iphigenia story, they play ends up being swamped by the melodrama.
The play, however, does include some interesting themes on humanism, empathy, moving from reliance on the gods, and even feminism. While it may bring Greek theater into the modern day (and stage) of the eighteenth century, it fails to carry over the depth and scope of the original playwrights.
Torquatto Tasso *** (6/06)
"Now may our goddess bless you royally,
Oh King, and grant you victory and fame
And wealth and the well-being of your people
And every pious wish in plentitude." (line 220-2024)
"Oh king, the image of the goddess need not
Divide us now! For now I understand
The error that bemused us, by Apollo's
Decree, when he commanded us to come here." (Line 206-210)
These are typical samples. Maybe these passages sing in the original German, but as English poetry this just seems bloated and awkward with no emotional punch. It has about everything you'd expect of a poor Shakespearean imitation except a "Woe is me!"
While Goethe added a few entertaining twists to the original Iphigenia story, they play ends up being swamped by the melodrama.
The play, however, does include some interesting themes on humanism, empathy, moving from reliance on the gods, and even feminism. While it may bring Greek theater into the modern day (and stage) of the eighteenth century, it fails to carry over the depth and scope of the original playwrights.
Torquatto Tasso *** (6/06)
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review