[Born at Marbach, in Germany, 1759. Died at Weimar, 1805. Aged 46.]
According to the Germans, Schiller stands second in the list of their
great poets, Goethe being the first; but in the esteem of the rest of
the world, Schiller is pre-eminently the greatest of German poets. In
universality, breadth and power, his genius yields to that of his
illustrious rival; but in delicacy of perception, refinement of feeling,
intense sympathy with the passions he represents, exquisite purity of
thought and diction, and in the treatment of ideal beauty, he is without
a competitor in his own country. His manifest delight in the delineation
of pure and generous characters is not the least grateful of his
excellences. His poetry is the bright intellectual reflexion of his own
chastened spirit, as the writings of Goethe constitute the masculine and
mighty expression of his essentially sensual nature. The German stage
was formed by Schiller, whose later tragedies gave to the drama of his
country a rank that it had never held before. At the outset of his
career Schiller studied law, then medicine; and whilst his own tastes
would have led him to the pastoral office, he found himself, at the age
of 30, appointed to the Chair of History at Jena. His acknowledged
greatest work is the tragedy of “Wallenstein.” He died of consumption,
and was buried with public honours. He conferred dignity upon the
literature of his country, and helped, more than any other man of his
time, to bring it abreast of the poetry of other nations; but the
originality, beauty, and force of his productions are not more worthy of
contemplation, than the aspiring grandeur and nobility of his moral
character. He was the friend and pupil of Goethe. The teacher was the
more consummate artist, the disciple was the purer man. Schiller exalts
our idea of humanity, Goethe lowers it.
[By Dannecker. Marble. 1805. The original was bequeathed by the artist
to King William of Würtemberg, who presented it to the Museum at
Stuttgart.]
338A. FRIEDRICH CHRISTOPH VON SCHILLER. _Poet._
[This colossal bust was executed by order of King Louis of Bavaria for
the Walhalla.]