Do you recognize the works «Faust», «Wilhelm Tell», «Egmont» or «Maria Stuart»? All these texts come from a certain one literary epoch: the so-called Weimar Classic. But what exactly is it all about and how did Weimar Classicism come about?
The Weimar Classic is one literary epoch, which lasted from the late 18th to the early 19th centuries. She was strongly oriented towards classics antique Poets and was by Goethe, Schiller, Herder and Wieland, the so-called quad, represented and shaped. The town Weimar was the central place of creation and the birthplace of many famous works.
The term «classic» goes back to the Latin word «classicus», a Roman term for the highest tax class. This expression already points to the high demands that the literature of this era had for the poets, but also for the readers. Today the term «classic» also denotes a timeless Work that is still relevant centuries later.
To find out more about the works of Weimar Classicism, take a look at the synopses for «Faust», «Wilhelm Tell», «Egmont» and «Marie Stuart»!
Weimar Classic – Epoch
Before the Weimar Classic, the Sturm und Drang and the Age of Enlightenment were important. Of the emotional Sturm und Drang provides one countermovement to rather rational Enlightenment. Goethe and Schiller already shaped the Sturm und Drang before they turned to Weimar Classicism.
To find out more about these literary epochs, please take a look at the explanations for «Storm and Stress» and «Enlightenment»!
The Weimar Classic began 1786. Impressed by the descriptions of the art writer Johann Joachim Winckelmann, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe followed Italy and felt there by the clear forms inspired by antique buildings and works of art. He wrote the «Roman Elegies», an anthology with 24 poems in which he dealt with both formal and substantive issues perfection tried.
Because of the narrow Friendship in between Goethe and Schiller the beginning of Weimar Classicism is also happily marked on the year 1794 dated. This year marks the beginning of the joint work of Goethe and Schiller.
The end point of Weimar Classicism is usually Goethe’s death 1832 used, other sources refer to Schiller’s death 1805, as this year also marks the end of the joint collaboration between Goethe and Schiller. However, the period from 1786 to 1832 covers the epoch.
The friendship between Goethe and Schiller
Goethe and Schiller shared a special bond. Both knew each other’s works and had initially perceived each other as competitors during the previous epoch of Sturm und Drang. But after the first personal encounters, an employment relationship developed between the two poets and later a close friendship.
This friendship produced some of the most famous works of the Weimar Classics, such as Schiller’s Wallenstein, which was heavily influenced by Goethe, and Goethe’s Faust, which might never have been finished without Schiller’s encouragement.
Goethe felt Schiller’s death in 1805 not only as a great literary but also as a personal loss. Portraits and monuments of the two poet friends can still be seen in Weimar today.
Weimar and Jena were the cultural centers at that time. Since both Goethe, Herder and Wieland lived and worked in Weimar, the city quickly became the geographical center of the era and also gave it its name.
Weimar Classic – Historical Background
At the beginning of the Weimar Classicism, France was dominated by the French Revolution 1789. This consisted of three distinct phases that lasted a full decade. That simple folkwhich had hardly any rights, sat down against the Noble to fight back and demanded the end of the absolutist monarchywhich had previously dominated France’s population.
Absolutism is a form of government in which a sole ruler can decide over his people and their lives without legal restrictions. The people themselves have no rights and cannot oppose the ruler’s orders. Anyone who disregards the will of the king must reckon with severe penalties or even death.
The revolutionaries fought for values such as freedom, equality and Fraternity, those during the so-called Ballhaus Oath were fixed. Humanism and tolerance were other essential components of the enlightenment from 1720 to 1790.
At the so-called Ballhaus Oath on June 20, 1789, members of the National Assembly and members of the clergy came in Versailles together. They met in one Gym, where ball games were usually held. There they vowed not to separate before France had one Constitution dispose
Seven days later the French gave up King Louis XVI after the urge. Now MPs from the working class as well as the clergy and the nobility formed the first constituent national assembly of France. Votes were now equal and no longer dependent on their rank.
The French Revolution and its consequences were not limited to the thinking and poetry of French writers. Political instability prevailed across Europe. The uprising against the Habsburg dynasty and the peasant uprisings in Spain shaped the epoch decisively. Of the Congress of Vienna 1814/1815 also caused far-reaching changes in European national borders. These developments led to an increased need for harmony and balance.
Weimar Classics – Literary Themes
the antiquity was considered a perfect time harmony and humanity. With the return to this time, the Weimar Classic tried to combine elements of the rational Enlightenment and the emotional storm and urge. Goethe and Schiller had both been well-known Sturm und Drang before they devoted themselves to classical music. The aim was to find a perfect balance between reason and emotion. Art and science should be in this ideology coexist and are not mutually exclusive.
Let man be noble, helpful and good
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (The Divine, 1783)
The literature of the Weimar Classics had one educational Character and dealt with the question of how ideal person should look like. Aimed at and taught beautywhich primarily refers to inner related to perfection. But many works included not only one idealistic image of man, but also the desire for an aesthetic and moral world. Other important themes of the era were self-determination and tolerance.
as countermovement the Weimar Classic was created in 1795 romance, which strongly criticized the ideology of antiquity. This epoch ended with the March Revolution of 1848.
Weimar Classics – Literature and Characteristics
A particularly popular instrument of classical literature was the drama. In addition to her, writings and works of poetry and epic, also called prose, were created. Essential features of the literature of the Weimar Classics were a unified, clear language and symmetrythe content as well as formal harmony and Order radiated.
Drama in the Weimar Classic
The drama was the most popular literary genre of the Weimar Classic and was also characterized by five typical features out. This includes:
- sentence
- stichomythia
- blank verse
- causality
- catharsis
Sentence and stichomythia
Used particularly often stichomythia and sentence.
By stichomythia is meant the common one change of speakers in a dialogue. Many short sentences from both sides follow one another in quick succession in order to be as forceful and dynamic as possible.
The sentence was often used by writers of the Weimar Classic used, but has its origins in antiquity rhetoric. This means one memorablegeneral statement or wisdom. Aphorisms and idioms are mostly sentences.
«Life is serious, art is cheerful.» (Schiller, Wallenstein)
«Man is wrong as long as he strives.» (Goethe, Faust I)
«Fine people come late.» (Thomas Mann, Buddenbrooks)
verse of Shakespeare
Another element of classical literature is the so-called blank verse. It corresponds to the usual meter in English dramas as well as Shakespeare’s works, which is why it is also referred to as Shakespeare’s verse.
Meter is also called meter in poetry and indicates which syllables in a verse are stressed. To learn more about it, please read the explanation «Meter»!
The blank verse is a five-heavy one iambus without rhyme. In an iambus follows one unstressed Syllable (x) always one stressed (X). Five accents correspond to five accents. The verse ends either emphasized (male cadence) or unstressed (female cadence).
Iambic verse with five accents and 10 syllables (masculine cadence) : xX xX xX xX xX
Iambic verse with five accents and 11 syllables (female cadence): xX xX xX xX xXx
causality and catharsis
The design and presentation of the classical drama is based on the antique drama concept from Aristotle. This concept consists of three basic conditions that should always be observed:
- causality
- Unity of space, time and action
- catharsis
The principle of causality states that all scenes and actions strictly build on each other and not from coincidences should arise. One Unit of space, time and action means that no leaps in time or changes of location can take place. In addition, there should be little to no subplots that could confuse viewers and distract them from the main storyline.
Viewers should be relieved of their own negative feelings as they witness the drama characters’ fear, pain, and relief. So the end should be a mental one purifying have effect. This theory that Aristotle catharsis called, was the key point of his drama concept.
Historicism in the Weimar Classic
the historical upheavals at the time of the Weimar Classic, not only form and language characterized. Also content poets used the events of story. However, they referred not only to their own epoch, but also to the preceding centuries. Some of Schiller’s works, for example, are based on historical works of the same name personalitiesincluding:
Poetry in the Weimar Classic
the lyric was also strongly oriented towards the style and design of the antiquity and followed very strict formal criteria. It was less frequently represented in Weimar Classicism than drama.
One upscale, partly exaggerated solemn language is characteristic of classical poetry. were particularly popular ode and ballad, but also hymns and sonnets were expressed. Famous lyrical works of the Weimar Classic are:
- «The Glove» (Schiller, 1797)
- «The Diver» (Schiller, 1797)
- «The Guarantee» (Schiller, 1798)
- «The Sorcerer’s Apprentice» (Goethe, 1797)
- «The Bride of Corinth» (Goethe, 1797)
- «Roman Elegies» (Goethe, 1788 to 1790)