An Age of Expectation

Herman Grimm had kind words to say after receiving this letter; for a mind like Herman Grimm's enjoyed the relationship between the intellectual and the secular life. And in this light he also saw Goethe and his time, seeking to climb up to what escapes many people. And so it came about that Herman Grimm, following this letter, gave a beautiful and remarkable description of the confluence of spiritual life with the life of the outer world in the 19th century. He says: “From Weimar” – for Weimar was for Herman Grimm the first capital of German intellectual life; I know this and have often rejoiced in it – “From Weimar the basic lines of Germany's intellectual development had been so firmly drawn that Goethe's views remained the natural standard. And when, in the rush of national political needs, Shakespeare rose beside him, he was like a mere appendage to the Goethean empire. For Schlegel had translated Shakespeare into Goethe's German on Goethe's behalf, as it were, and Goethe and Shakespeare united as if to form a single effective power.” Etc., etc.