Hometown of the Goethe. Biography of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe- German poet, statesman, thinker.

Goethe is born August 28 1749 years in Frankfurt am Main in a wealthy bourgeois family. His father is an imperial adviser, a lawyer, his mother is a noblewoman, the daughter of a Frankfurt elder.

Already in childhood, Johann began to show amazing abilities for science. Already at the age of seven he knew several languages, in addition, at this age he began to write his first poems and compose plays. A talented child read a lot and tried to replenish his knowledge base as much as possible.

AT 1765 year Goethe becomes a student at the University of Leipzig, where he was supposed to study law. At this time, he falls in love for the first time, and this was the reason for the creation of the lyrical collection of poems "Annette" (1767).

Serious illness in 1768 year almost put an end to the biography of Johann Goethe, forcing the young man to leave his studies at the university, which he could continue only in 1770 in Strassburg. Here, along with the acquisition of legal knowledge, he studied natural sciences and medicine.

AT 1771 g. after defending his dissertation, Goethe becomes a doctor of law.

AT 1772 Goethe moves to Wetzlar to practice law. It is in this city that the poet experiences the pangs of unrequited love for his friend's fiancee Charlotte Buff. Goethe depicted his deep feelings and torments in his work “The Sufferings of Young Werther” - this novel made the poet famous.

AT 1775 In the year Johann Goethe receives an offer from his close friend, Prince Karl-August, to enter the civil service. He agrees and settles in Weimar. A well-known writer and poet, having broad powers, controlled finances, the state of roads, and education. For his success in this field, Goethe was elevated to the rank of nobleman in 1782, and in 1815 he became the first minister in the government of Charles August. 1791 was marked by the opening of a theater in the city, which happened with the direct participation of the writer.

AT 1784 In 1790, Goethe discovered the human premaxillary bone, and in 1790, the treatise “Experience in the Metamorphosis of Plants” was published.

When Goethe was almost sixty years old, he married Christiane Vulpius, his lover and mother of his children, despite the fact that she was a commoner, and this provoked public outcry.

In 1808, the first part of the tragedy Faust was published. The end of work on Faust falls on 1831.

Brilliant writer dies March 22, 1832, leaving his brilliant legacy in the form of many poems, ballads, plays, novels, scientific works in the field of anatomy, geology, mineralogy, physics.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe - the greatest German poet, educator, statesman, politician, natural scientist, thinker, philosopher. His homeland was the city of Frankfurt am Main, where on August 28, 1749 he was born into the family of an imperial adviser and a noblewoman. With the genes of his burgher father, scrupulousness, stamina, curiosity were transferred to him, from his mother Johann Wolfgang inherited an interest in writing. Wealthy parents did not spare money for his education. In 1755, home teachers were invited to the boy. At the age of seven, a capable child knew several languages, at the age of 8 he wrote the first poems in his life, composed plays that were played in a home puppet theater. The young Goethe replenished his baggage of knowledge on his own, often looking into the rich home library.

In 1765, the 16-year-old Goethe was a law student at the University of Leipzig. In 1767, he wrote the first collection of lyrical poems - "Annette", which he was inspired by his first love. In 1768, Goethe became so ill that he had to forget about his studies. He resumed his education only in 1770, but already at the University of Strasbourg. During this period, he not only received knowledge of jurisprudence, but also paid considerable attention to the study of natural science, medicine, and was seriously interested in literature. In Strasbourg, he met Herder, and this meeting revolutionized Goethe's views on creativity, on culture in general. Here, in Strasbourg, his formation as a poet takes place, here he turns into one of the brightest representatives of the Sturm und Drang movement.

In 1771, after defending his dissertation, Goethe became a doctor of law. In order not to disappoint his relatives, the newly minted lawyer worked as a lawyer, moving to Wetzlar in 1772, but his literary activity, his true passion, was extremely intense during this period. Under the influence of a new love, he wrote the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), which made Goethe famous throughout the world. Personal circumstances (falling in love with a friend's fiancee) forced the writer to leave Wetzlar. Departure drew a line under a whole period in his biography - a stormy youth, passionate hobbies and sentimentalism in his work.

In the autumn of 1775, Karl August, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, invites the illustrious author of The Sorrows of Young Werther to his service as a manager. In this regard, Goethe moves to Weimar in order to stay here forever. Karl August endowed him with broad powers, the famous writer had to deal with finances, education, culture, etc., and in the field of public service he turned out to be no less talented. In 1782, the duke awarded him a noble title for his successful work, and in 1815 Goethe had the honor of becoming the first minister of the government formed by Karl August.

With all his busyness, Goethe found time for literary activity. So, in 1796, the novel “Years of the Teaching of Wilhelm Meister” was completed, in 1808 - the first part of the tragedy “Faust”, one of those works that make up the treasury of world literature. The idea for the book arose as early as 1770, and work on it did not stop until the writer's death.

In the autumn of 1806, Goethe, who was already under 60, ignoring the discontent of the court, combined a civil marriage with a commoner Christiane Vulpius, an old lover and mother of his children. In 1826, the list of Goethe's regalia was supplemented by his election as an honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He was an excellent illustration of the thesis that a talented person is talented in everything, having gained fame not only as a writer, but also as a natural scientist. Throughout his life, Goethe published scientific works on mineralogy, geology, comparative morphology of flora and fauna, anatomy, acoustics, and optics. It is difficult to find a topic that he, with his inherent depth and artistic talent, did not touch upon in literary work: the Great Weimar edition of Goethe's works amounted to almost one and a half hundred volumes. The great son of the German people met old age and death in Weimar, which became his native, and died on March 22, 1832.

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

German poet, writer and playwright, founder of modern German literature. He was at the head of the romantic literary movement "Storm and Drang". Author of the biographical novel The Sufferings of Young Werther (1774). The pinnacle of Goethe's work is the tragedy Faust (1808-1832). A visit to Italy (1786-1788) inspired him to create the classic dramas Iphigenia in Tauris (1787), Torquato Tasso (1790). First Minister of the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar (1775-1785). Author of the autobiographical book "Poetry and Truth" (ed. 1811-1833), "The Years of Wilhelm Meister's Teaching" (1795-1796), "The Years of Wilhelm Meister's Wanderings" (1821-1829), a collection of lyric poems "West-Eastern Divan" ( 1814-1819), etc.

Goethe was known as the greatest admirer of women in the history of literature, he had many mistresses.

Kind, handsome, brilliant ... In addition, he himself is very amorous. And therefore the sun of German poetry, wherever fate brought it, always appeared in the company of a pretty girlfriend. The woman was his ideal, a guiding star, an element. And this star shone for him from his youth until the end of his life.

Gretchen is considered the first love of the poet. However, some biographers and commentators argue that it was just a figment of a young imagination. She haunted Goethe in his youth, accompanied his dreams in adulthood, served as his muse in his old age, embodied in the end in the form of the charming Faustian Gretchen, the best and most attractive of Goethe's heroines. However, the poet's mother remembered Gretchen as her son's first love, and in Goethe's autobiography he described his love in detail...

One day, young Wolfgang met a company of cheerful young people. They obtained money for revelry in very unusual ways: they forged bills, found orders for poems for the poet for various solemn occasions: weddings, funerals, etc.

At one of these parties, Goethe met a charming blonde named Gretchen. She was older than him by a year or a year and a half and, generously accepting the worship of the young poet, nevertheless did not allow him any liberties.

At one feast, a cheerful company stayed up past midnight. Goethe, fearing the wrath of his father, decided not to return home, and stayed with friends. They spent time in conversation until sleep overcame one after the other. Gretchen also fell asleep, resting her pretty head on the shoulder of her boyfriend, who sat proudly and happily, trying not to move. In the morning, Gretchen was already more affectionate with the poet and even gently shook his hand. It seemed that nothing would prevent the rapprochement of young people, when suddenly the police found out about the tricks of a cheerful company. An inquiry began and interrogations followed.

Gretchen stated that she really met Goethe, and not without pleasure, but she always looked at him as a child, and treated him like a sister to her brother. Wolfgang was offended to the core. At fifteen, he considered himself a real man, and not a boy who was looked down upon! Goethe wept, became angry, indignant, and, of course, "teared out of his heart the woman" who so cruelly ridiculed his sincere feelings!

But how fleeting are the passions of youth! If Wolfgang Goethe had been told at the time of his first love that he would soon forget his charming Gretchen and give his warm heart to another girl, just as beautiful, but even closer in spirit, he would have been indignant. Nevertheless, two years later, when Goethe was already studying in Leipzig, this is exactly what happened.

In the house of the innkeeper Schenkopf, a company of young people gathered at the table d'hôte, among whom was Goethe. The owner and hostess, very nice people, sat right there, and their charming daughter busied herself in the kitchen and served wine to the guests. This was Anna-Katerina, or simply Ketchen, whom Goethe in his early collections called either Ankhen or Annette.

The appearance of a 19-year-old girl can be judged from the letter of Gorn, one of Goethe's friends. “Imagine a girl,” he wrote, “of good stature, but not very tall, with a round, pleasant, though not particularly beautiful face, with easy, sweet, charming manners. There is a lot of simplicity in her and not a drop of coquetry. Moreover, she is smart, although she did not receive a good upbringing, he loves her very much and loves her with the pure love of an honest man, although he knows that she can never be his wife. Kathen did not remain indifferent to the feelings of the young poet and reciprocated.

And suddenly Wolfgang began to be furiously jealous of the girl, and completely unfounded. In the end, Kathen got tired of the suspicions that offended her dignity, and she left Goethe and never returned to him. The poet tried to regain her favor, but without success. Only after the breakup, Goethe realized how much he loved this girl.

Strong mental anguish forced him to seek oblivion in wine and revelry, which seriously undermined his health. To restore his strength, Goethe went home to Frankfurt, but the image of a charming girl haunted him there too. Two years after the break, he learned that Kätchen was getting married, moreover, to his good friend, Dr. Kanne, the future Vice-Mayor of Leipzig. The shock was so great that the poet opened pulmonary bleeding. Wolfgang wrote touching letters to his beloved, in which he promised to go away and forget her forever, warned that she should not answer him. But in a noble impulse of self-sacrifice, regret for the lost happiness awakened in his soul, and the pen brought out sad, sincere lines: “You are my happiness! You are the only woman I could not call a friend, because this word is too weak compared to the one what I feel".

The fruit of Goethe's love for Kathen was the pastoral "Whims of a Lover". In her heroes, who spend their time in incessant quarrels, Goethe and Kathe are easily recognizable. The plots for his works often served as events from his own life. The great poet once said: "All my works are only fragments of the great confession of my life."

When Goethe recovered, he was sent to Strasbourg to study law. Strasbourg was a gay city, and Goethe soon forgot about Käthe. There was a lot of dancing in this city, even in the open air, and Goethe could not help but succumb to the general enthusiasm. He began taking lessons from a local dancing master, who had two daughters, Lucinda and Emilia. After the very first lesson, it turned out that Goethe fell in love with Emilia, and Lucinda fell in love with Goethe.

Alas, Emilia loved another, so Goethe did not have to count on reciprocity.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Meanwhile, Lucinda, like a true Frenchwoman, did not hide her feelings and often reproached Goethe for neglecting her heart. One day she turned to a fortune teller. The cards showed that the girl did not enjoy the favor of the person to whom she was not indifferent. Lucinda turned pale, and the fortune-teller, guessing what was the matter, spoke of some letter, but the girl interrupted her with the words: "I have not received any letter, and if it is true that I love, then it is also true that I deserve reciprocity." She ran away in tears. Goethe and Emilia rushed after her, but the girl locked herself up, and no requests could force her to open the doors.

Emilia invited Goethe to stop dancing lessons and frankly confessed to him that she loved another and was connected with him by a word. Emilia also said that Goethe would act nobly if he left their house, since she, too, began to have sympathy for him, and this could have bad consequences. Obedient to bitter necessity, Goethe withdrew.

Among the numerous novels experienced by the great poet, his relationship with the daughter of the Sosenheim pastor Brion, Friederika, deserves special attention.

The twenty-year-old Goethe was four years older than the kind, poetic Friederike. He came to Sosenheim by accident and experienced a feeling of surprise mixed with admiration when, in the modest house of the Sosenheim pastor, little Friederika appeared before him, shining with chaste beauty. She was in a short skirt and a black apron, her eyes shone, her slightly upturned nose seemed to ask what kind of stranger he was, who had come from a noisy city to their quiet village, where everything is peaceful and simple, where people live the way their ancestors lived. And the stranger answered her. But what an answer! Passion flowed from his lips, inspiration sparkled in his eyes. The girl fixed her eyes on his beautiful face, she greedily caught his every word, tried to remember every gesture. Still, after all, the great Goethe spoke to her!

On the very first day he fell passionately in love, and his heart beat uneasily at the thought that she might already have loved, perhaps even betrothed. Fortunately, Fryderyka, like a spring flower, was just beginning to live and rushed to meet the one who would be the first to stretch out his hand to her ...

The next day, young people walked together. How many words were said in those minutes! Then they listened to the pastor's sermon in the church. And then, during the day, when the voices of their friends rang in the air, how greedily was the touch of their lips, during the game, but heated by the inner flame! A secret kiss, a real one... And the next day, the departure to Frankfurt. He left almost as a groom, although there was no engagement, because only two days had passed between Goethe's first meeting with his beloved and the highest moment of his love delight!

The history of European literature owes a lot to the poor country girl who inspired a strong feeling in one of her greatest representatives. For Goethe, after meeting with Friederike, the world sparkled with new colors. The significance of this was all the more great because, since the sad story with Katchen, he had almost parted with his muse. After meeting with Friderika, he woke up with a craving for creativity.

Unfortunately, the end of the affair with Friederika did not bear much resemblance to its beginning. Goethe did not marry her, although in fact he was already considered her fiancé. The daughter of a poor pastor could not become the wife of the son of an eminent Frankfurt citizen who would never consent to such a marriage. And Goethe himself understood this when the pastor's family arrived in Strasbourg. If in the village Friederike seemed like a forest flower or a nymph, then in the city where she would have to live, having married Goethe, she looked like a simple peasant woman.

He continued to love her, missed her, but clearly realized that separation was inevitable. Friederike remained faithful to Goethe until the last days of her life. Despite numerous proposals, she never married. "Who was loved by Goethe," Frederick once said to her sister, "cannot love anyone else."

After parting with her and wanting to drown out the heavy feelings in his soul, Goethe tried to find solace in his work, wrote many works, including the sensational "Getz von Berlichingen", which immediately placed its author at the head of the direction known in the history of literature under the name "storm and onslaught". ". Then he sketched out the plan of "Prometheus" and "Faust", which immortalized his name. In order to forget the image of his beloved girl, he delved into the study of antiquity, which was also reflected in his works.

From May to September 1772, Goethe practiced as a lawyer at the Imperial Court of Justice in Wetzlar. Wolfgang immediately became known as a philosopher and conquered everyone with his sharp mind. Beautiful girls were looking for his acquaintances. In Wetzlar, the 23-year-old poet met Charlotte Buff, the daughter of the manager of the estates of the German Order of Knights. The girl was engaged to Christian Kestner, who served in the Imperial Court of Justice as the plenipotentiary secretary of the embassy of the city of Hanover.

Without Goethe's unhappy love for Charlotte Buff (he called her Lotta), one of the poet's most famous works, The Sorrows of Young Werther, would not have been created. Goethe fell in love with 19-year-old Charlotte at first sight, for her gentle beauty and cheerful character could not help but attract the poet.

In The Suffering of Young Werther, the scene of the meeting with Lotta is vividly described, a scene subsequently immortalized on the canvas by Kaulbach. “After passing through the courtyard to a beautiful building and climbing up the stairs, I opened the door, my eyes met the most delightful sight I have ever seen. In the first room, six children from eleven to two years of age were spinning around a beautiful, medium-sized girl dressed in a simple white dress with pink bows on the chest and sleeves. She held black bread and cut portions to the little ones around her, according to the age and appetite of everyone, and served with such affability! " It was a picture in the spirit of that sentimental time, and Goethe met Lotta in 1772.

A sad time began in Goethe's life. Consumed by the desire to get close to the charming daughter of the adviser Buff, the poet at the same time understood that he must either destroy someone else's happiness, or suppress a flared feeling in himself. But the second way meant suicide.

Surprisingly, the poet did not hide his feelings for her from the groom, and the groom himself encouraged their meetings, confident that Goethe was too honest, and Lotta was too noble for the base role of lovers. And Goethe decided to leave the city. He did not say goodbye to his beloved and her fiancé, instead he sent them a note with passionate outpourings, sighs and tears, and almost immediately decided to describe his mental anguish.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The fruit of his experiences became "The Suffering of Young Werther" ...

Lily's name is familiar to anyone who has read Goethe's famous elegy "Park Lily". Anna-Elisabeth Schönemann was the bride of Goethe and almost became his wife. The poet dedicated several poems to her: "Longing", "Bliss of sorrow", "Autumn", "Lily", "New love, new life", "Belinda", "The golden heart that he wore on his chest" ...

Rich, cheerful, frivolous, always living in luxury, surrounded by secular dandies, constantly revolving in high society, the girl was the complete opposite of the great poet. Even the closest friends and buddies did not allow the thought of marriage between them.

Goethe met Elisabeth Schönemann at the end of 1774 at her parents' house in Frankfurt. Sixteen-year-old Lily sat at the piano and played a sonata. When she finished, Goethe introduced himself to her. “We looked at each other,” he wrote in his autobiography, “and, I don’t want to lie, it seemed to me that I felt an attractive force of the most pleasant quality.” For the ardent Goethe, one meeting was enough to immediately write a poem and pour out his feelings.

Lily quickly tied Goethe to her, and he was really happy when she honored him with a caress.

The coquettish Lily liked the handsome poet. She enthusiastically told him about her life, complained about its emptiness, said that she only wanted to test her power over Goethe, but she herself was caught in the net. The young people explained themselves, and the matter would probably have ended in marriage, if not for the difference in social status between the families. Knowing her father's fastidiousness in this matter, Cornelia, Goethe's sister, strongly opposed this marriage. Others also objected. But Goethe did not listen.

A certain damsel Delph undertook the difficult task of arranging the matter. Once she told the lovers that the parents agreed, and ordered to shake hands with each other. Goethe approached Lily, and she slowly but firmly raised hers and placed it in his hand, after which both "with a deep sigh" threw themselves into each other's arms. Then the engagement took place. But the marriage still fell apart. Goethe's trip to Switzerland also played a role, during which Lily's entourage tried to assure her of the coldness of her fiancé. In the end, the young people had to leave. Goethe took the breakup hard. He stood under her window for hours, wrapped in a cloak, and returned pleased when he happened to see her shadow in the windows.

Subsequently, Lily married a Strasbourg banker, and Goethe, leaving for Italy, wrote in his notebook: “Lily, goodbye! For the second time, Lily! Parting for the first time, I still hoped to unite our fate. Now it’s decided: we must play our parts apart. I'm not afraid for myself or for you. It all seems so confusing. Goodbye."

With 33-year-old Charlotte von Stein, Goethe met in 1775 and loved her for fourteen years, despite the fact that she was married to the chief equestrian of the Weimar court, and she was surrounded by seven children. True, she was very educated, tactful, intelligent, but ... the poet was only 26 years old! Probably, the fact that Goethe was alone in small, cheerful Weimar, where he found himself after his native Frankfurt and where the new duties of a courtier weighed heavily on him, played a role here.

Wolfgang described his feelings for Charlotte in the famous Iphigenia. Some biographers of Goethe believe that his love for Charlotte was platonic. They exchanged passionate confessions, wrote fiery letters to each other during separation, but never went beyond the line of what was permitted, although Charlotte's husband was at home only once a week. At the same time, one cannot ignore the fact that when Goethe became close to Christian Vulpius, his future wife, Charlotte, burning with anger and demanding back her letters, burned them, and with Goethe stopped all relations. The seriousness of their relationship is also evidenced by the drama composed by Charlotte, where Goethe is depicted in an unattractive way. The poet is presented in it as the most stupid braggart, a rude cynic, conceited to the point of ridiculousness, a perfidious hypocrite, a godless traitor...

In the summer of 1788, Goethe, the Duke's Privy Councilor, returned to Weimar after a year and a half in Italy. Charlotte von Stein pointedly avoided him. After all, he left for Italy without saying a word to her, and for a long time did not report his whereabouts. And when he decided to tell her the "beautiful secrets" of his erotic adventures with a Roman widow, she, with her stiffness, did not find anything sublime in his stories. He became overly "sensual," she wrote in one of her letters.

It is not difficult to imagine that after the very first days in Weimar, Goethe felt lonely, he sorely lacked the artistic treasures of Italy and its free life. He had to be content with a camp bed in a garden house in the Ilm Park, and the Roman widow, whom he called Faustina, no longer delighted his lonely nights.

Goethe was at the zenith of his glory. He was the best friend of the Duke of Weimar, who personally granted him the title of nobility and, in addition, almost all the highest positions and awards of the tiny state. Goethe was associated with the giants of thought of his time. He was thirty nine years old. Do not count his novels with noble and educated European ladies. He was on his way to Olympus, the national hero of Weimar.

Christiana Vulpius, a small, unremarkable flower girl of twenty-three, had a modest income, she helped her mother to support her younger children after her father left the family. She was not educated, spoke with a strong Thuringian accent, read with great difficulty, and wrote even worse. But she was fresh, with soft skin, a clear look and ruddy cheeks, unruly chestnut curls fell on her forehead. She had a cheerful disposition, and she willingly laughed, joked and recklessly built her eyes. She worked as a flower girl in a factory in Weimar, where she made artificial flowers from silk shreds, which then adorned the hats and necklines of beautiful Weimar ladies.

A giant of spirit and an uneducated flower girl - can you imagine more dissimilar people?

So the two met in the Palace Park in Weimar. And it is no coincidence: Christiane had been standing there for a long time, waiting for him. She had an unusual business with him, it concerned not her personally, but her brother, and therefore the whole family. In her hand she held a letter written by her brother asking for help. The brother calculated correctly: the request would have an effect if it was passed to the poet by a pretty sister.

Christiana's brother, August Christian Vulpius, entered the history of literature thanks to the meeting of his sister with Goethe in the Weimar Palace Park on that June day in 1788.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If Goethe had helped him, he would have created a masterpiece, the most vivid novel from the life of robbers - a novel about the noble Rinaldo Rinaldini. His dream came true: after meeting in the Palace Park with his sister, Goethe showed him favor. Of course, it was not the obscure Vulpius and not his literary masterpiece, finished or just conceived, that interested Goethe. The spoiled ladies' man was smitten by a girl.

Everything suggests that Christiana became Goethe's beloved on the same day, for both annually celebrated on July 12 the anniversary of their union. Some stanzas in the "Roman Elegy" are undoubtedly dedicated to Christians: "My dear, do you repent that you gave up so soon? Do not repent: with a bold thought, believe me, I will not belittle you," - this is how the third elegy begins.

Soon, Christiana left her job and moved in with Goethe, becoming his secret mistress, whose existence he hid in every possible way.

The guest room in Goethe's house was always ready to receive Fritz von Stein, the youngest son of the poet's old friend Charlotte von Stein. The boy often lived for a long time with the lonely Goethe, even after the break between his mother and the poet. And now Fritz was telling his mother about a new girl who had appeared in Goethe's house. Charlotte took the news, of course, painfully. After so many years of love, spiritual fellowship on an equal footing, she felt deeply offended, being rejected for the sake of an uneducated, unworthy young flower girl.

The news quickly spread throughout the city. People gossiped, indignant at the immorality of the poet. Almost the highest being was revered in Goethe, and the rumor did not condemn his connection with Mrs. von Stein, who was his equal in everything. Now they saw in him a vicious seducer who only knew what to indulge his whims. In July 1790, he wrote: "I got married, but without a solemn ceremony." This is precisely what seemed indecent to Weimar society. Friend Schiller, when he was in the house on the Frauenplan, simply did not notice Christiane. In 1800, when Goethe's work was experiencing some decline, Schiller was sure that this was a consequence of his life together with Christiana.

Indeed, it is difficult to imagine a more unequal couple. An irrational beginning was present in their relationship from their acquaintance: Goethe fell in love instantly. But it happened to him so many times in his life! More recently, in the history of literature, the poet's work was divided into periods associated with the names of the women who inspired him: Lotta, Friederike, Marianne, Lily, Charlotte ... However, much less often they wrote about Christian in this sense. Perhaps because their relationship was very long, lasting over thirty years, until her death in 1818. Partly because it is hardly possible to talk about direct "inspiration" here, which, for example, Lotta Buff had on the appearance of "The Suffering of Young Werther" or Frederic Brion - on memories of his youth in the novel "Poetry and Truth. From My Life" .

First of all, "Roman Elegies", and even, perhaps, a few poems written for the occasion. That's probably all.

She was just the person he needed so much: a simple, cheerful, laughing, free nature, so contrasting with his isolation, high demands on the ideal, intellectual exercises, refined communication in secular salons, with the prim atmosphere of the court. Apparently, Goethe liked how cheerfully his "child of nature", his "little eroticon" chatted.

She remained his mistress for seventeen years before he decided to legalize their relationship with a modest civil marriage in 1806 under the French occupation authorities. Even when she became the mother of his son Augustus, who was born in the Christmas week of 1789, he did not think about marriage. But even before the birth of a son for a stubborn bachelor, she actually created a family, which included her half-sister, an old aunt and a brother - the one who wrote about Rinaldo Rinaldini. The family would have been larger: Christiana gave birth to four more children, but two died at birth, two were stillborn. Over the unequal union, it was as if fate itself had spread its black wings, because August, who lived to adulthood, was a physically weak and mentally unstable person.

In a word, their family life did not look like an idyll, they had to go through a lot of dramas, which, of course, could not but leave their mark on the character of the most cheerful of the flower girls.

So Christiana was the opposite of a poet. For her, there were no difficult problems, she laughed, joked and spoiled him. She was the embodiment of sensual warmth and feminine immediacy, as Goethe wrote in his Roman Elegies. She was "ein Lieb mit alien seinen Prachten" ("flesh in all its splendor"). Here we are talking about purely physical, sensual love, which Christiana evoked in him. Without her, he would not have created such a complete picture of love. After all, love is not only an all-consuming passion of the soul, but also a "little eroticon", as Goethe himself beautifully wrote about it. Perhaps she personified love in the poet's life.

The Duke of Württemberg was sympathetic to the situation - who does not have a lover. Karl August willingly agreed to become the godfather of the poet's son, Augustus; the child was probably named after a high patron. Christiana, of course, was not present at her son's christening. Even Goethe could not allow such a meeting - the duke with his beloved.

Augustus was five years old when his grandmother, who lived in Frankfurt, finally found out about the existence of a grandson. Christiane was nowhere shown with Goethe. On the contrary, she enjoyed spending time with people of her circle, among whom were many artists from the small Weimar court theater. Over the years, she grew stout, weighed down, and at the end of her life she turned into a swollen fat woman.

In 1806, Goethe finally decided to legalize his relationship with Christiana. On October 19, they officially got married. And this time everything went modestly: they got married in the sacristy of the church of St. James.

The very next day after the marriage, Frau von Goethe appeared in the salon of Johanna Schopenhauer, the mother of the famous philosopher, who had just been widowed and decided to settle in Weimar. The reasoning of this lady boiled down to something like this: since Goethe gave Christians his name, then she, Mrs. Schopenhauer, would treat her to a cup of tea.

The doors of many houses opened to the newly minted Privy Councilor. However, the triumphal procession through the magnificent salons did not work out.

After her "exaltation" Christiana did not live long. Terribly plump, fell in love with solitude. In Weimar there was disrespectful talk of the "fat half of Goethe."

Her end was hard. She suffered from uremia, went for treatment, but from the water of the Egerland spring she only swelled exorbitantly. Goethe did not show much interest in her. Always afraid of illness and death, so that in his presence it was impossible even to talk about these sad things, he turned away from her suffering. Like many hypochondriacs, he closed himself in his own ailments. She died alone, he did not hold her hand in the last moments.

In his diary, he wrote very briefly: "My wife died. The last, terrible struggle of her body. She died at lunchtime. There is emptiness and terrible silence in me and around." But immediately after these words, he continued: "The solemn entry of Princess Ida and Prince Bernhard. Court adviser Meyer-Reimer. In the evening, a fabulous illumination in the city. My wife is taken to the morgue at night. I am in bed all day."

In the fate of Goethe there were women before Christiana Vulpius and after her. Women who inspired him, influenced the development of his poetic gift. But relationships with most of them flashed by short episodes in his life. He hurried on all the time.

The only woman he lingered next to was Christiana, although he left her for a long time. No one else had given him such simple, unassuming love. Through this love he may have known peace, for it was permanence itself, while he is all movement.

However, marriage did not save Goethe from the arrows of Cupid. He continued to love and be loved.

Bettina. A strange person, later the wife of the science fiction writer Arnim, according to Lewis, was more a demon than a woman. Young, passionate, eccentric, whimsical, fell in love with the poet in absentia, and began to fill him with letters full of delight. Then she suddenly came to Weimar, threw herself into the arms of the poet and, as she herself tells, at the first meeting she fell asleep on his chest. After that, she pursues him with love, vows, jealousy, despite the fact that the object of her passion was already fifty-eight. And Goethe came to life again, involuntarily succumbing to her charm. But soon Bettina's extravagant antics, her violent passion began to tire Goethe. The break was inevitable.

Then, on the life path of the 60-year-old poet, there appeared a young, passionately loving Minna Herzlieb, the adopted daughter of the bookseller Froman, a girl who fell in love with the old poet with all her heart and inspired him to a number of sonnets and the novel "Affinity of Souls", which describes his feelings for his beloved . The passion of Minna and Goethe instilled great fear in their friends, and they tried to avoid serious consequences by sending the girl to a boarding school, which really turned out to be a lifesaver.

Five years later, that is, when the poet was sixty-five, he met the charming wife of the banker Willemer, Marianne, and both immediately fell in love with each other with such passion that, now, after many years, reading Goethe's outpourings and the same answers of his girlfriend , you completely forget the difference in the years of lovers. It seems that before us are two completely young creatures, only knowing an all-consuming passion and hurrying to enjoy a hitherto unknown feeling.

The lovers parted, but until the death of the poet - for 17 years - they corresponded. A month before his death, Goethe returned her letters to Marianne and her poem "To the West Wind".

And, finally, the last love of Goethe. At seventy-five, he, as a young man, fell in love with 18-year-old Ulrika Levetsov. Ulrika fell in love with the poet with a sincere, ardent love that did not dry up in her soul until her death.

Ulrika died in 1898, leaving behind the memory of a brilliant man who almost became her husband. She never married, because she did not meet a man who could take the place in her heart that belonged to Goethe. He was old, but still slender and fit, there was not a single wrinkle on his forehead, and his eyes sparkled with a dazzling brilliance of beauty and strength ...

So why did women love him so much? Undoubtedly, he was smart, but intelligence is not always an argument for a woman's heart; he was handsome, but beauty is not always attractive either. Perhaps the best explanation was given by Heinrich Heine: "In Goethe we find in its entirety that harmony of appearance and spirit, which is seen in all extraordinary people. His appearance was as significant as the words of his creations; his image was full of harmony, clear , noble, and it was possible to study Greek art on it, as on ancient sculpture.This proud camp never bent in the Christian humility of a worm: these eyes did not look sinfully fearfully, piously or with unctuous tenderness: they were calm, like those of some "These are deities. A firm and bold look in general is a sign of the gods. Napoleon's eyes also had this property; therefore I am sure that he was a god. Goethe's look remained the same divine in old age as it was in youth. Time covered his head with snow, but he could not bend it. He still carried it proudly and high, and when he spoke, he seemed to grow, and when he stretched out his arms, it seemed as if he could show the stars their path in the sky. his expressed selfish inclinations; but this feature is inherent in the eternal gods, and it is precisely the father of the gods - the great Jupiter, with whom I have already compared Goethe. In fact, when I was with him in Weimar, then, standing in front of him, I involuntarily looked to the side, whether there was an eagle with lightning near him. I almost spoke to him in Greek, but noticing that he understood German, I told him in German that the plums on the road from Jena to Weimar were delicious. During the long winter nights I thought so often how much sublime and profound I would convey to Goethe when I saw him. And when, finally, I saw him, I told him that Saxon plums are very tasty. And Goethe smiled. He smiled with the same lips with which he had once kissed Leda, Europe, Danae, Semele ... Fryderyka, Lily, Lotta, Ulrika - weren't these the same Semele, Europe, Leda, Danae?

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Goethe Johann Wolfgang is a great German writer. Born in the old trading city, Frankfurt am Main, in the family of a wealthy burgher. His father, an imperial adviser, a former lawyer, his mother is the daughter of a city foreman. Goethe received a good education at home.

In 1765 he went to the University of Leipzig, completed his higher education in Strasbourg, where he defended his dissertation for the title of Doctor of Laws. Engagement in jurisprudence attracted little G., who was much more interested in medicine (this interest led him later to study anatomy and osteology) and literature. Goethe began to write early. The poem "Höllenfahrt Christi" is adjacent to Kramer's spiritual poems (Klopstock's circle). The comedy "Die Mitschuldigen" (The Confederates), especially the pastoral "Die Laune des Verliebten" (A Lover's Caprice), the poems "To the Moon", "Innocence" and others are included in the circle of Rococo literature. Like the poets of Rococo, his love is a sensual fun, personified in a frisky cupid, nature is a masterfully executed scenery; he talentedly plays with the poetic formulas inherent in Rococo poetry, is fluent in Alexandrian verse, etc.

In Strasbourg, Goethe meets Herder, who introduces him to his views on poetry and culture. Here Goethe finds himself as a poet. He establishes relationships with a number of young writers, later prominent figures in the era of "storm and stress" (Lenz, Wagner). He is interested in folk poetry, in imitation of which he writes the poem “Heidenröslein” (Steppe rose) and others, Ossian, Homer, Shakespeare (talking about Shakespeare - 1772), finds enthusiastic words for evaluating Gothic monuments - “Von deutscher Baukunst D. M. Erwini a Steinbach” (On the German architecture of Erwin of Steinbach, 1771). Out of respect for his father, Goethe is forced to practice law at this time.

Goethe's first significant work of this new era is Goetz von Berlichingen- originally "Gottfried von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand" - a drama that made a huge impression on contemporaries. She puts Goethe in the forefront of German literature, puts him at the head of the writers of the Sturm und Drang period. Goetz is written in prose in the manner of Shakespeare's historical chronicles. The image of a fighter for social justice - the most typical image of the literature of the Enlightenment - receives an unusual interpretation from Goethe. The knight Goetz von Berlichingen, grieving about the state of affairs in the country, leads a peasant uprising, but when the latter takes sharp forms, he moves away from him, cursing the movement that has outgrown it. The established legal order triumphs: the revolutionary movement of the masses, interpreted in the drama as unleashed chaos, and the individual who tries to oppose it with "willfulness" are equally powerless. Goetz finds freedom not in the world of people, but in death, in merging "with mother nature." The meaning of the symbol is the final scene of the play: Goetz comes out of the dungeon into the garden, sees the boundless sky, he is surrounded by reviving nature: “God Almighty, how good it is under your sky, how good freedom is! The trees are budding, the whole world is full of hope. Farewell dear! My roots are cut, my strength leaves me. Goetz's last words are “Oh, what heavenly air! Freedom, freedom! (dies)".

In the mind of Goethe, the struggle of the bourgeois personality with social reality hostile to it often takes the form of a struggle of a person with limiting forces that seek to devour his "I". Conflict: bourgeois - feudal system develops into a conflict man - society, man - space, "I" - "not-I". On the one hand, his heroes of the “storm and onslaught” period are inspired by the pathos of struggle, on the other hand, they are familiar with the feeling of powerlessness: Goethe often combines a giant and a pygmy in one image. In the passage “Prometheus” (Prometheus, 1773–1774), the titan, seeking to find himself in the creation of new free creatures, encounters Zeus, who knows that Prometheus is doomed to act in the finite world, that the people he created are the slaves of Olympus (“I am the landlord. The genus of worms will increase the number of my slaves. It will be good for them if they follow my paternal word, but woe if they contradict my royal right hand.")

A person always stands at the line beyond which he is not allowed to cross. He can pour himself out in a beautiful impulse, but this impulse will incinerate him. Goethe. lovingly draws the figures of rebels encroaching on the established legal order. Their passion is magnificent (for example, the monologue of Prometheus in Act III: “Close, O Zeus, you are your heavens ...”), their speeches are bright and bold, Goethe's burgher consciousness is impressed by their fighting temperament.

But with no less love he reproduces the images of people who are weak, fragile, indecisive, incapable of a great struggle. "The Sorrows of Young Werther"(Die Leiden des jungen Werther, 1774) - a novel in letters, the most perfect creation of G. of the Sturm und Drang period - and depict such a fragile person. "Werther" gave the author worldwide fame. The novel depicts the conflict between man and the world, taking the form of a love story. Werther is a weak person, unable to defend his "I" in the face of hostile reality. He is a passive nature, not so much acting as experiencing. He is the antipode of Prometheus, and yet Werther - Prometheus are the final links of one chain of Goethe's images of the "storm and onslaught" period. Their existence equally unfolds under the sign of doom. Werther devastates himself in an attempt to defend the reality of the world he imagines, Prometheus seeks to perpetuate himself in the creation of “free” beings independent of the power of Olympus, creates slaves of Zeus, people subordinate to their standing, transcendent forces.

The conflict "I" - "not-I" cannot be resolved by subordinating the second member of the dilemma to the first. Man is only a drop in the great universal stream. He will overcome his limitations, his doom, by dissolving in the “universality” that gave birth to him (Allheit is the favorite word of the young Goethe), but the act of dissolution is at the same time the moment of the highest manifestation of all the originality of the creative forces of the “I”: dissolving himself in space, personality in at the same time expands itself to the limits of the latter. The conflict “I” - “not-I” is eliminated [Prometheus: “That moment that fulfills everything ... and everything in you sounds, and everything trembles, and feelings are dark, and it seems to you that you come out and sink, and everything around you are spinning in the night, and you embrace the whole world in a feeling more and more inherent to you: then a person dies. Wed the poem “Heilige Sehnsucht” (Holy anguish) from the “West-Eastern Divan”: “... I want to praise the living that yearns for a fiery death ... And while you do not have this call: die and become different, until then you are only a sad guest on a dark earth”, which, as it were, returns the old G. to the motives of the era of “storm and stress”]. Goetz finds freedom in death. Werther voluntarily destroys his bodily shell.

The delight of a person who joyfully betrays himself to the cosmos is the theme of the poem "Ganymede", in the poem "The Song of Mohammed" the triumph of a mountain stream is drawn, finding eternal life in the waves of the ocean. The stream is not an image that appears by chance in Goethe's lyrics. The motive of nature plays a very significant role in the works of the young Goethe, but nature for him is no longer an elegant decoration (Rococo), not a point of application of human creative abilities (Enlightenment), but a symbol of earthly life, overcoming its doom through dissolution in space. Goethe, like a pagan, falls on his knees before nature, sings hymns to her, showing the way to "true freedom". Separated from nature, having despised "mother nature" ("Die Mutter Erde"), man became helpless and alone. However, the path of reunification with nature, and consequently with the cosmos, leads to the destruction of man as a member of society, as a social unit. Only at this price can Werther, Goetz, Ganymede buy freedom.

Going into death is tantamount to refusing to transform imperfect social relations. This was perfectly understood by the enlighteners, the ideologists of the most active sections of the bourgeoisie, who attacked the denouement of Werther and demanded a different, more optimistic end. Their anger had good reason - the burgher audience perceived "Werther" as the apotheosis of suicide, so when Goethe, having outlived the sturmer mood, in the late 70s. decided to republish his novel, he considered it necessary to preface him with a poetic appeal to the reader, ending with the words: "be a man and do not follow my example." In 1774, Goethe wrote the dramas Clavigo (Clavigo) and Stella, ein Schauspiel für Liebende (Stella, a play for lovers), in which again indecisive, somewhat reminiscent of Werther, people (Clavigo, Ferdinand) appear.

The last play, in its original form, made a lot of noise, as it posed with the sharpness characteristic of "storm and onslaught" the problem of marriage; contemporaries saw in it an apology for polygamy.

In Goethe's lyrics, Gleima prefers the "artificial" anacreontics of Klopstock's ecstatic poetry and folk song, which enchants him with its immediacy. He does not strive for a balance of parts; unexpected moods determine the further course of the work. His lyrical poems are not a carefully written miniature (Rococo), not a detailed aphorism (Enlightenment), suggesting a sharp-minded author, but an impulse of an agitated soul that has found a verbal form lyrics, "Jägers Abendlied" (Hunter's Evening Song), "Wandrers Nachtlied" (Wanderer's Night Song), etc.].

Making extensive use of "free rhythms" (Freie Rhythmen) and blank verse, which the Rococo poets neglected, Goethe strives to create a poem absolutely freed from the rules of classical poetics, a poem that would approach rhythmic prose (an example of the latter is the prose of "Werther", revealing extraordinary flexibility and melodiousness), would mark the overcoming of the separateness (isolation) of the types of literary speech. Challenging the rationalist poetics of the enlighteners and Rococo writers, the young Goethe mixes not only types of speech, but also various literary genres that were hitherto strictly delimited from one another.

A number of Goethe's satirical works occupy a somewhat isolated place in his work of the 70s, for the most part they were written by his favorite in the 16th century. size: - Knittelvers, in the form of oil-farces (Fastnachtspiele) by Hans Sachs. These are: "Prolog zu den neuesten Offenbarungen Gottes" (Prologue to the latest revelations of God, 1774), "Neu eröffnetes moralisch-politisches Puppenspiel" (Newly found moral-political puppet comedy, 1774), concluding "Des Künstlers Erdewallen" (The artist's earthly path) , "Jahrmarktsfest zu Plundersweilen" (Fair in Plundersweilen), "Pater Brey" (Pater Brey). The "Fair" is also devoted to the phenomena of the current literary life: in the motley figures of the regulars of the fair, critics recognize the writers and poets of that time (the toy seller - Wieland, etc.). However, under the mask of carefree gaiety, there is also another deeper meaning, which acquires exceptional sharpness from a collision with a playful manner of presentation. In the prologue to The Puppet Comedy, the image of a doomed titan, a titan encroaching on the power of Olympus, but being cast down to dust by Zeus, typical of the era of "storm and onslaught", appears. Bitterly ironic are the words of the prologue, reminiscent of the Vanitas mundi of the Baroque era: “So it is with the ambition of the world. No kingdom is too strong, no earthly power is too powerful, everything has a premonition of its final lot. Everything passes, everything is just a play of shadows (the performance of the theater of Chinese shadows in the "Fair"). Life here is a tragic farce. Characteristic is the subtitle to the cynical "Ganswurst's Wedding": "The affairs of the world, a microcosmic drama."

1775 - the beginning of a new era in the life of Goethe. Taking advantage of the invitation of the Weimar prince, later Duke Karl August, he moves to Weimar, where he spends the rest of his life, becomes a confidant of the duke, receives the title of Privy Councilor and the right to vote in the Privy Council; the affairs of the commissions of means of communication and the military, construction department, management of mining and forests are gradually transferred to his jurisdiction. In 1782 he was appointed chairman of the court and elevated to the rank of nobility. From 1790 Goethe was the Minister of Public Education, from 1791 he was the director of the Weimar theater.

A young lawyer becomes an all-powerful dignitary. The ardent young man, who during his stay in Frankfurt proclaimed a toast to the death of tyrants (in the company of the Stolberg poets), begins to play the role of the first minister at the court of an unlimited monarch. In Weimar, Goethe becomes close to Mrs. von Stein, who played a significant role in the poet's spiritual life (correspondence with her is a valuable document for the history of Goethe as a poet, politician and person). Goethe's sturmer moods gradually begin to dissipate. His literary work is painted in new tones, sometimes opposite to those that were typical of the era of Goetz, Prometheus and Werther.

The first years of Goethe's stay. in Weimar, there was little favor for serious studies of fiction. The service, which Goethe devoted himself to with all his inherent passion, took up a lot of time. In addition, the ever-increasing interest in the natural sciences pushed him to thorough studies in mineralogy, geology, botany, anatomy, osteology, the theory of colors, optics (works: “Metamorphosis of Plants”, “Teaching about Flowers”, zoological articles, etc.). In 1784, Goethe discovers the premaxilla, substantiating the theory of the unity of the animal type, which makes him the forerunner of the evolutionists. Significantly connected with his studies in geology are his travels of this time (Harz, Switzerland). As a courtier, he writes various things for the occasion, musical comedies, texts for carnival processions, poems ("Lila", "Jery und Bäteley", "Die Fischerin", "Scherz, List und Rache", etc.), mostly standing away from his main creative path. One such comedy is Der Triumph der Empfindsamkeit. (The Triumph of Sensibility, 1778), is interesting because in it the Werther complex unexpectedly receives ironic coverage.

In 1786 Goethe goes to Italy. The years spent in this country are characterized by the final elimination of the sturmer moods. From the leader of "storm and onslaught" Goethe turns into the leader of German classicism. Gothic, which once delighted Goethe, now begins to seem monstrous to him. He flees from the Milan Cathedral and is filled with great joy at the sight of Palladio's buildings. He admires antiquity, which he interprets in the spirit of Winckelmann ("noble simplicity and peaceful grandeur"). Raphael is closer to him than baroque Michelangelo. In Italy, he creates a plan for the tragedy "Navzikaya" and gives the final edition of "Iphigenie" (Iphigenie, 1786) - the first great work Goethe's classical period, a beginner, a new phase in the development of German bourgeois literature.

Now Goethe is looking for a different, more favorable for the individual as a social unit, resolution of the conflict. In the works of Goethe, the classic, the rebel calms down, recognizes the inviolability of the established order, he no longer strives for an unattainable victory, does not outlive himself in a doomed, albeit bright, rebellion. This new complex is based on the forced refusal of the German bourgeoisie to fight against feudalism. While in France the bourgeoisie was advancing towards the Great Revolution, in Germany, because of its weakness, it was compelled step by step to renounce its radicalism, to seek a place for itself within the "old order". The classic Goethe expresses these sentiments of his class with rare artistic force.

The impudent Prometheus is replaced by the quietest brother Mark (“Secrets”), who is destined to achieve a high position, before which many secrets will be revealed, since he deserved all this with his humility and the fact that he “never aspired to the unattainable” (from the comments of G. to "Secrets", 1816). Goethe's famous verse "Erkenne dich, leb mit der Welt in Frieden" (Know thyself, live in peace with the world) belongs to the classical period. Iphigenia- the heroine of the drama of the same name - saves her brother Orestes and his friend Pylades, who, as strangers, are waiting for death on the shores of Taurida, by betraying her and their fate into the hands of Toant - the king of Taurida, refusing other ways of salvation proposed by Pylades. By this act, she removes the curse gravitating over him from the Tantalus family. The self-will of Tantalus is redeemed by Iphigenia, who renounces self-will.

Along with Iphigenia, Orestes is a deeply significant figure. At the beginning of the drama, he, driven by the furies, is seized with ominous anxiety. His whole being is seized with confusion, fury, the end of the drama brings him healing. In his soul, renewed by Iphigenia, peace reigns. Orestes is a sturmer recovering from sturmerism. Like Goetz and Werther, and he hoped to find liberation in death, like Prometheus, and he saw creatures hostile to man in the Olympians, like many characters of the era of "storm and stress", and he was unable to find anywhere "rest and peace" [ cf. poem "Jägers Nachtlied" - "Night song of the hunter" ("never, neither at home nor in the field, finds neither rest nor peace ...")]. Iphigenia heals him. At the end of the play, he acts like her kind. Orestes is Goethe's double, overcoming "storm and onslaught".

"Forsaking" Goethe's sturmer moods, "storm and onslaught" begins to seem like a realm of chaos, "fog" (poem "Ilmenau", 1783), a realm of Gothic, self-will. He is looking for new - "calm", balanced - forms and finds them in the forms of ancient, classical art. "Iphigenia" unfolds on the basis of the Aristotelian unities that were expelled in their time. All parts of the drama are brought into a state of perfect balance. The author avoids everything superfluous, obscure, flashy. He consciously sets limits for himself everywhere, closes the action in strictly defined boundaries. The Goethe-classic is full of love for everything closed, sharply defined. Hence his penchant for the strophic principle, for solid poetic forms [sonnet (sonnets, 1799-1808), elegy, ghazal, etc.], interest in the theory of literary genres and types [1797 article: “Ueber epische und dramatische Dichtkunst” (On the epic and dramatic poetry), in which he tries to establish the exact boundaries of the genres under consideration]. Picturesque, fluid in the work of Goethe (the period of "storm and onslaught") is replaced by graphic, sculptural. The artist-creator, who was always depicted by him in the era of "storm and stress" in the form of either a painter ("Kenner und Künstler", 1774) or a singer, now appears in his works in the form of a sculptor ("Roman Elegies", XI).

Goethe begins to evaluate the antique (ch. arr. Hellenic) as the only perfect one, in approaching which a modern artist should see the goal of his creative endeavors. Goethe plans to write an epic on the model of Homer's Iliad (fragment "Achilleis" - "Achilleis", 1799), creates a cycle of poems under the characteristic title "Antiker Form sich näherend" (Approximation to the ancient form, 80–90s), refers to hexameter, elegiac distich (“Vier Jahreszeiten” and others), iambic trimeter (“Pandora”), in “Elena” he revives the choirs of Greek tragedy, pays special attention to ancient plots and characters (Navzikaya, Elena, Achilles, Iphigenia, Pandora etc.), etc.

Backdrop for tragedy "Egmont"("Egmont", 1787) is the struggle of the Netherlands with Spanish domination. However, Egmont, placed in the position of a fighter for national independence, is not characterized as a fighter, the lover in him is overshadowed by politics. Living in the moment, he renounces encroachment on the will of fate, on the will of history. Such is the evolution of the image of a fighter for a better reality in Goethe's work. Götsu, who knows how to fight and hate, is replaced by Egmont, who allows life to go its own way and dies as a result of its carelessness. The evolution of the image of a wrestler reflects with particular clarity the changes that have taken place in the minds of the German bourgeoisie, which Goethe managed to catch - the transition from the militant moods of the Enlightenment to "pacified" classicism.

In 1789, the Great French Revolution breaks out, capturing Goethe's attention for a long time. As a person close to Duke Charles August, he takes part in a campaign in France, which ends with an artillery battle at Valmy and the retreat of German troops. In 1793 Goethe was present at the siege of Mainz. The poet responded to the revolutionary events that shook Europe with a number of works: "Venetianische Epigramme" (Venetian epigrams, 1790), the comedy "Der Gross-Cophta" (The Great Kofta, 1791), etc. Goethe did not accept the revolution, although he was in Germany, one of the first to understand the enormous historical and world significance of this event. “It is not fitting for the Germans,” says Herman (“Herman and Dorothea”), “to contribute to the development of a terrible movement” (revolution), their virtue is fidelity to the existing order of things. We also encounter similar thoughts in "Reineke Fox", a story of the end of the 15th century, which Goethe retells in hexameters in New German. Goethe uses the masks of the animal epic in order to ridicule the leaders of the revolutionary movement, to show how "false prophets and rogues cruelly deceive people." The poem is fraught with morality: let everyone take care of himself, his family, his household, learn to be moderate and patient, and not strive to transform the world, to forcibly plant a system that seems reasonable to him.

At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries G. creates a number of outstanding works of art. These are the novel "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre" (Years of Wilhelm Meister's teachings, I-II vols., 1795, III and IV, 1796), poems: "Der Zauberlehrling" (The Wizard's Apprentice), "Die Braut von Korinth" (The Corinthian Bride), "Der Gott und die Bajadere" (God and Bayadere), "Der Schatzgräber" (Treasure hunter, 1797), "Euphrosine" and others, the dramatic performance "Pandora" (Pandora, 1807), the novel "Die Wahlverwandschaften" (Selective affinity, published in 1809), a collection of poems "West-östlicher Divan" (West-Eastern Divan, 1814-1819), a novel - "Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre" (Wilhelm Meister's Wandering Years, 1821-1829), "Elegie von Marienbad" (Marienbad elegy, 1823). In the center of a significant part of these works is the image of a man who has renounced the struggle with the world, with the existing system. The son of wealthy burghers, Wilhelm Meister ("Years of study") refuses the acting career, which he had chosen, as the only one allowing the burgher to develop all his physical and spiritual talents, become independent in a feudal environment, even play a prominent role in the life of the country [“On the stage, an educated person (burgher) is the same brilliant personality, as well as a representative of the upper class "(nobility)]. He gives up his dream and ends up by overcoming his burgher pride, giving himself entirely at the disposal of some secret noble union, which seeks to rally around itself people who have reason to fear a revolutionary upheaval (Jarno: “Our old tower will give rise to a society that can spread to all parts of the world ... We mutually guarantee each other the existence of the only case if a coup d'etat finally deprives one of us of his possessions”). Wilhelm Meister not only does not encroach on feudal reality, but is even ready to consider his stage path as a kind of “willfulness” in relation to it, since he came to the theater inspired by the desire to rise above this reality, to develop in himself a burgher who desires domination.

The motive of renunciation becomes the main motive in the works of the mature and old Goethe. Goethe and his characters look at renunciation, the ability to limit one's aspirations, as the highest virtue, almost like a law of nature. Characteristic is the subtitle of the novel “Wilhelm Meister’s Years of Wanderings” – “Repudiators”, hinting at the “union of renouncers”, to which the bulk of the characters in the novel belong (Meister, Lenardo, Jarno-Montan and others.). In his works of the Weimar period, Goethe definitely seeks to exhaust all possible types of human renunciation: he shows religious renunciation (“Confessions of a Beautiful Soul”, Chapter VI of “Years of Teaching”), love renunciation (“Elective Affinity” - a novel in which the atmosphere sacrificial renunciation reaches a high intensity, "Marienbad Elegy"), etc.

The heroes of the Goethe-classic, who renounced the opposition of his "I" to the world, society, not only fruitfully act in the social environment, but also act in relation to it as students. Wilhelm Meister (so opposed to the egocentric Werther), before finding himself as a member of the old tower's noble union, spends his "years of study" in interaction with various circles of society [burghers, declassed bohemian (actors), nobles, high nobility: duke's court] . Characteristic is the figure of Wilhelm Meister from the "Years of Wanderings", armed with a notebook, in which he brings all the instructive, enriching his knowledge that he meets on the path of his wanderings. The environment that educates the personality becomes a permanent object of depiction in the era of Weimar. Goethe's characters carefully study the world around them, approaching the latter as an objectively existing given (cf. Werther, for whom reality was only a projection of his subjective feelings and moods), they study the social environment not in order to blow it up, but in order to to discover the best ways to serve her. The words of Lenardo (“Years of Wanderings”, book III) are significant: “Let everyone everywhere strive to benefit themselves and others”, which are programmatic for the union of renouncers. Wilhelm Meister becomes a doctor, Jarno a mining worker, the frivolous Filina develops the ability of a cutter, etc. In the old Goethe, reconciliation with feudal reality takes the form of an active growing into it. The speech and thinking of the heroes become methodical, clear, their actions are deliberate, they now more and more often subordinate their “heart” to reason. We find the thesis about reason, reason, clearly formulated in Goethe's poem "Vermächtnis" (Testament reported in 1829 to G. Eckermann): "Let there be reason always where the living rejoices in the living."

Constant studies in art, especially classical art, lead Goethe to the publication of magazines devoted primarily to the visual arts: Propylaea and Art and Antiquity, as well as the creation of monographs and articles.

Goethe's famous autobiography Dichtung und Wahrheit began to appear in 1811. Aus meinem Leben ”(Poetry and Truth. From My Life, 1811-1831), covering the poet’s childhood and youth (brought to the autumn of 1775). Together with the "Italian Journey 1786-1788", "Journey through Switzerland", "Campaign in France", "Siege of Mainz", "Annals" she forms a huge autobiographical cycle, which should also include G.'s grandiose correspondence (50 vols. Weimar edition).

Goethe's greatest work is his tragedy Faust. Faust ), which he worked on throughout his life. The main dates of the creative history of "Faust": 1774–1775 - "Urfaust" (Prafaust), 1790 - the publication of "Faust" in the form of an "excerpt", 1806 - the end of the first part, 1808 - the publication of the first part, 1825 - the beginning of work on the second part, 1826 - the end of "Helen" (the first draft - 1799), 1830 - "The Classical Walpurgis Night", 1831 - "Philemon and Baucis", the end of "Faust". In Prafaust, Faust is a doomed rebel, striving in vain to penetrate the secrets of nature, to assert the power of his "I" over the world around him. Only with the appearance of the prologue in heaven does tragedy acquire the outlines in which the modern reader is accustomed to seeing it. Faust's darings receive a new (borrowed from the Bible - the Book of Job) motivation. Because of him, God and Satan (Mephistopheles) argue, and God predicts Faust, who, like any seeking person, is destined to make mistakes, salvation, for "an honest man in a blind search still firmly knows where the right path is": this path - a path of relentless striving to discover the truly significant meaning of life. Like Wilhelm Meister, Faust goes through a series of "educational steps" before discovering the ultimate goal of his existence. The first step is his love for the naive bourgeois Gretchen, which ends tragically. Faust leaves Gretchen, and she, in desperation, having killed the born child, dies. But Faust cannot do otherwise, he cannot lock himself into the narrow framework of family, indoor happiness, he cannot wish for the fate of Herman (Herman and Dorothea). He unconsciously strives for grander horizons. The second step is his union with the ancient Helena, which should symbolize a life dedicated to art. Faust, surrounded by Arcadian groves, finds peace for a while in union with a beautiful Greek woman. But it is not given to him to stop even at this step; he ascends to the third and last step. Finally renouncing all impulses to the other world, he, like the “renouncers” from the Years of Wanderings, decides to devote his energies to serving society. Having decided to create a state of happy, free people, he begins a gigantic construction project on the land reclaimed from the sea. However, the forces he has called into being show a tendency towards emancipation from his leadership. Mephistopheles, as the commander of the merchant fleet and the head of construction work, contrary to the orders of Faust, destroys two old farmers - Philemon and Baucis, who live in their estate near the ancient chapel. Faust is shocked, but he, nevertheless continuing to believe in the triumph of his ideals, directs the work until his death. At the end of the tragedy, the angels lift the soul of the deceased Faust to heaven. The final scenes of the tragedy, to a much greater extent than other works of Goethe, are saturated with the pathos of the growing bourgeois culture, the pathos of creativity, creation, so characteristic of the era of Saint-Simon (although in this work Goethe, with a certain prejudice, as in the Years of Wanderings, refers to bourgeois culture, which he depicts growing on the bones of Philemon and Baucis).

The tragedy, which was written for almost 60 years (with interruptions), was begun during the period of "storm and stress", but ended in an era when the romantic school dominated German literature. Naturally, "Faust" reflects all the stages that the poet's work followed.

The first part is in the closest connection with the Sturmer period of Goethe's work. The theme of a girl abandoned by her lover, who in a fit of despair becomes a child killer (Gretchen), was very common in the literature of "storm and stress" (cf. Wagner's "Baby Killer", Burger's "The Priest's Daughter from Taubenheim", etc.). Appeal to the age of fiery Gothic, Knittelvers, language saturated with vulgarisms, craving for monodrama - all this speaks of proximity to "storm and onslaught". The second part, reaching a special artistic expressiveness in "Elena", is included in the circle of literature of the classical period. Gothic contours give way to ancient Greek ones. The place of action is Hellas. The vocabulary is cleared. Knittelvers is replaced by verses of an antique warehouse. The images acquire some kind of special sculptural density (old Goethe's predilection for the decorative interpretation of mythological motifs, for purely spectacular effects: a masquerade - scene 3 of Act I, the classic Walpurgis Night, and the like). In the final scene of Faust, Goethe already pays tribute to romanticism, introducing a mystical choir, opening Catholic heaven to Faust.

Like Wilhelm Meister's Years of Wanderings, the second part of Faust is largely Goethe's body of thought on the natural sciences, politics, aesthetics, and philosophy. Separate episodes find their justification solely in the author's desire to give artistic expression to some scientific or philosophical problem (cf. the poetic texts of "Metamorphoses of Plants"). All this makes the second part of Faust cumbersome, and since Goethe willingly resorts to allegorical disguise of his thoughts, it is very difficult to understand.

The attitude of contemporaries to Goethe was uneven. The greatest success fell to the lot of "Werther", although the educators, in the person of Lessing, paying tribute to the author's talent, accepted the novel with noticeable restraint as a work preaching lack of will and pessimism. "Iphigenia" did not reach the sturmers, who proclaimed in the 70s. Goethe as your leader. A. V. Schlegel wrote about Goethe's fairy tales as "the most attractive of all that fantasy has ever descended from heaven to our wretched land." In "Wilhelm Meister" the romantics saw the prototype of the romantic novel. The mystery technique, the mysterious images of the Mignon and the harpist, Wilhelm Meister, living in the atmosphere of theatrical art, the experience of introducing poems into the prose fabric of the novel, the novel as a collection of the author's statements on various issues - all this found enthusiastic connoisseurs in their faces. "Wilhelm Meister" served as the initial point for "Sternbald" Tieck, "Lucinda" Friedrich Schlegel, "Heinrich von Ofterdingen" Novalis. Romantics were impressed by Goethe's refusal to fight against feudal reality. Goethe's centenary in 1849 was very pale compared to Schiller's. Interest in Goethe revived only at the end of the 19th century. The neo-romanticists renew their cult, lay the foundation for a new study of Goethe (Simmel, Burdach, Gundolf, and others), "discover" the late Goethe, in whom the literary critics of the past century were hardly interested.

In Russia, interest in Goethe appeared already at the end of the 18th century. People started talking about him as the author of Werther (translated into Russian in 1781), which also found enthusiastic readers in Russia. Radishchev, in his Journey, admits that reading Werther brought joyful tears from him. Novikov, speaking in the Dramatic Dictionary about the greatest playwrights of the West, includes Goethe among them, whom he characterizes among other things as “a glorious German author who wrote an excellent book, praised everywhere – The Sufferings of Young Werther”. In 1802, an imitation of Goethe's novel appeared - "Russian Werther". Russian sentimentalists (Karamzin and others) experienced a noticeable influence of the young G. in their work. In the era of Pushkin, interest in G. deepens, they also begin to appreciate the work of the mature G. (“Faust”, “Wilhelm Meister”, etc.).

Romantics (Venevitinov and others), grouped around the Moskovsky Vestnik, put their publication under the patronage of the great German poet (who even sent them a sympathetic letter), see Goethe as a teacher, the creator of romantic poetics. Pushkin converged with the Venevitinov circle in worship of Goethe, who reverently spoke of the author of Faust (see the book by V. Rozov, Goethe and Pushkin, Kyiv, 1908).

The disputes raised by the Young Germans around the name of Goethe did not go unnoticed in Russia. At the end of the 30s. appears in Russian. Menzel's book "German Literature", giving a negative assessment of Goethe's literary activity. In 1840, Belinsky, who at that time, during the period of his Hegelianism, was under the influence of theses about reconciliation with reality, published the article "Mentzel, critic of Goethe", in which he characterized Menzel's attacks on Goethe as "impudent and impudent". He declares absurd the starting point of Menzel's criticism - the demand that the poet be a fighter for a better reality, a propagandist of emancipatory ideas. Later, when his passion for Hegelianism passed, he already admits that “in Goethe, not without reason, they condemn the absence of historical and social elements, calm contentment with reality as it is” (“Poems of M. Lermontov”, 1841), although he continues to consider Goethe “ great poet”, “genius personality”, “Roman Elegies” – “the great creation of the great poet of Germany” (“Goethe’s Roman Elegies, translated by Strugovshchikov”, 1841), “Faust” – “great poem”, etc. Bourgeois intelligentsia 60 1990s, who came out to fight against noble Russia, did not feel much sympathy for Goethe. The Sixties understood the dislike of the Young Germans for Goethe, who had renounced the fight against feudalism. Chernyshevsky's statement is characteristic: "Lessing is closer to our age than Goethe" ("Lessing", 1856). For bourgeois writers of the XIX century. Goethe is not an actual figure. But, in addition to the already mentioned noble poets of Pushkin's time, Goethe was fond of: Fet (translated "Faust", "German and Dorothea", "Roman Elegies", etc.), Alexei Tolstoy (translated "The Corinthian Bride", "God and Bayadere" ) and especially Tyutchev (translation of a poem from "Wilhelm Meister", the ballad "The Singer", etc.), who experienced a very noticeable influence of Goethe on his work. The Symbolists revive the cult of Goethe, proclaiming him one of their predecessor teachers. At the same time, Goethe the thinker enjoys no less attention than Goethe the artist. V. Ivanov declares: “In the field of poetry, the principle of symbolism, once affirmed by Goethe, after long deviations and wanderings, is again understood by us in the meaning that Goethe gave it, and its poetics turns out to be, in general, our poetics of recent years” (Vyach. Ivanov, Goethe at the turn of the century). In the first years of the revolution, interest in Goethe falls.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe - philosopher, thinker, naturalist, educator and, most importantly, the great and brilliant German poet was born in Frankfurt am Main on August 28, 1749. His parents were wealthy and respectable people: his father was an imperial adviser, a lawyer, his mother was a noblewoman, the daughter of a Frankfurt elder.

In 1765, Goethe became a student at the University of Leipzig, where he was supposed to study law. Being free from parental guardianship and moralizing, Goethe boldly bursts into the literary life of the city, and in 1767 he wrote a collection of poems - "Annette", whose works are full of lyrics and convey his experiences of first love.

Studying at the university was interrupted by a serious illness, due to which Goethe leaves home for a year and a half. The father was against the literary activities of his son and insisted on continuing his studies at the university, as a result of which, in 1770, John moved to Strasbourg. In addition to jurisprudence, Goethe studies chemistry, medicine, philology, while continuing to be fond of literature.

After meeting and getting to know the critic and thinker Gottfried Herder, Goethe radically changes his worldview, and he becomes an active member of the Storm and Onslaught literary group, whose members opposed conventions and feudal orders.

The period of graduation from the university accounts for the creation of the first historical drama - "Getz von Berlichingen", the main character of which enters the fight against feudal orders.

In 1772, Goethe moved to the city of Wetzlar to practice law. It is in this city that the poet experiences the pangs of unrequited love for his friend's fiancee Charlotte Buff. Goethe depicted his deep feelings and torments in his work “The Sufferings of Young Werther” - this novel made the poet famous.

In 1775, Goethe, at the invitation of Duke Karl August, moved to the city of Weimar, where he became a manager. Occupying the position of privy councilor and performing a wide variety of duties, Goethe soon becomes a minister in the government. Successful public service did not interfere with his literary activities. During this period, he works on the dramas "Egmont" and "Iphigenia in Tauris", begins to work on "Faust", writes poetry and ballads. He also does not neglect the study of physics, botany and the natural sciences. In 1784, Goethe discovered the human premaxillary bone, and in 1790, the treatise "Experience in the Metamorphosis of Plants" was published.

When Goethe was almost sixty years old, he married Christiane Vulpius, his lover and mother of his children, despite the fact that she was a commoner, and this provoked public outcry.

Goethe's work is also influenced by his collaboration with Friedrich Schiller. Following his advice, the writer resumes work on Faust, and in 1808 the first part of this tragedy is published. The end of work on Faust falls on 1831.

The brilliant writer passed away on March 22, 1832, leaving his brilliant legacy in the form of many poems, ballads, plays, novels, scientific works in the field of anatomy, geology, mineralogy, and physics.