Neither Opitz nor his more gifted immediate followers produced poetry of more than ordi nary value. In their endeavor to surpass the former and by their imitation of contemporary Italian and Spanish models the writers of the next generation, known as the Second Silesian School, ended in bombast and filthy sensuality. Much of the pitiable condition into which Ger man literature fell during the 17th century was, of course, due also to the degenerating effects upon the intellectual, political, and social life of Germany produced by the Thirty Years' War.
It was due to the efforts of numerous noble and patriotic men during the 18th century that German literature as well as German life under went a great regeneration. • The rejuvenation of the German nation and of mankind in general was, in fact, the ultimate aim in the efforts of all the great thinkers and poets of this period, and nowhere can we follow this process better than in their writings.
Long before Rousseau's panacea, (back to nature," became the watchword in literature, we notice in these writings the endeavor to find, independently of the ancients, nature, truth and reality. Poets like A. von Haller (1708-77) and F. von Hagedorn (1708-54) discover the rich inner world of man as the only great object of poetry. And in C. F. Gellert (1715-69) the preclassic period produced a writer of extraor dinary popularity. A harmonious personality who discarded traditional learning, he exerted a liberating influence on his time by pointing to the human heart as the source of true life.
Hand in hand with these attempts of the poets proceeds the work of criticism in ascer taining the nature of the beautiful and thereby the nature of what constitutes true humanity. It is characteristic of German poetry since Opitz that the creative activity of the poets is accom panied by a conscious reflection concerning the nature of poetry: thus it came about that Les sing, Herder, Schiller, and Goethe were also great critics.
The discovery by the Swiss critics, Bodmer and Breitinger, of the imagination as the true source of poetry prepared the way for the first great poet of this period, F. G: Klopstock (1724-1803). The influence which the latter, through his (Messias' and his exerted upon the intellectual, the moral, and the political life of his people was extraordinary. In him the old Germanic conception of the poet seemed revived; he regarded his calling as that of a priest and a prophet and his highest ideal was that of true humanity.
Yet Klopstock's principal work, the (Mes sias,) was, with regard to the subject matter and its treatment, a mistake. It was the task of Lessing (1729-81) to establish the laws of poetry, particularly those of the epic and of the drama. This he did in the (Laokoon) and in
the (Hamburgische Dramaturgic' A fearless critic and searcher for truth, he was also the first great German dramatist of this period. The characters of his famous plays, Minna von Barnhelm and Emilia Galotts, breathe real life, embodying at the same time the poet's new and manly conception of human life. And through his theological writings, his 'Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts,) and his drama, (Nathan der Weise,) he exerted a reformatory influence not only upon theology, but also upon the reli gious life and conduct of his country.
In Lessing's path as a critic followed J. G. Herder (1744-1803), one of the most remark able geniuses of this period. Correcting and supplementing Lessing's discoveries in his early writings, Herder soon became a critical path finder who pointed out with prophetic instinct the course which the intellectual development of Germany was to take. To him is due above all the momentous discovery of the true nature of popular poetry and, moreover, a conception of history such as no previous historian had thought of.
With Herder began the so-called "Storm and Stress" period, the revolution in German intellectual life, whose ultimate aim it was to break with previous traditions and to attempt the regeneration of human nature, the begin ning of a new life from the innate eternal sources of the soul. The result of this remark able movement was the classical German litera ture of the 18th century, the chief represen tatives of which are Goethe (1749-1832) and Schiller (1759-1805). Goethe's earliest works ('Gott von Berlichingen,> (Werther,) his early lyric poetry and the oldest scenes of as well as Schiller's first dramas ('Die Rauber,' 'Kabale and Liebe>) show us the spirit of the literary revolution in its whole force and depth. In the works of the mature period of both poets, with Goethe's (Iphigenie,) (Tasso,) (Hermann and Dorothea,' (Wilhelm Meister,' etc., and with Schiller's (Don Carlos,' (Wallenstein,' (Wilhelm Tell,' and his esthetic essays, German literature reaches its highest perfection both as to form and contents. It is the ideal of humanity which lives in the best works of these poets and lends them an im perishable charm. Poetry is no longer an imi tation of the ancients, but the highest human creative power which, independent of science and religion, strives to solve the riddle of the world and of man. In the creation of this new ideal of humanity the example of the ancients was, no doubt, most helpful, but it was, after all, essentially a product of the German mind, to which the great thinkers, Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel contributed their share also.