Aesthetical and Philosophical Essays

by Frederick Schiller

Overview

Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805) was a leading German poet, and a philosopher of freedom. Schiller's work exemplifies the highest standards of ethics and the ideal of the truly educated, multilingual citizen of the world.

Schiller devoted himself not only to self-determination and freedom but also to the brotherhood of all people. The French Revolution borrowed many of Schiller's ideas for its declarations of freedom. Schiller was then made an honorary citizen of France.

His first drama, Die Rauber, was published in 1781. It was performed the next year and its revolutionary appeal gained immediate success. Among Schiller's best-known works is An Die Freude, (Ode to Joy), later set to music by Ludwig van Beethoven in his Choral Symphony. The dramatic trilogy Wallenstein (1796-99) was set in the tumultuous period of the Thirty Years War. The historical drama Maria Stuart (1800) was about Queen Elizabeth I of England and the last days of Mary Queen of Scots, when she was held captive in the Castle of Fothernghay. In Wilhelm Tell (1803), about the Swiss hero of that name, Schiller paid tribute the dignity of men living close to nature. - "The mountain cannot frighten one who was born on it."

In 1791 he was forced to give up his professional duties because of illness. In the 1790s Schiller wrote philosophical poems and studies about philosophy and aesthetics. He assisted Goethe in Weimar in the direction of the Court Theater by adapting many plays for that stage. Schiller died on May 9, 1805, at the age of 46 in Weimar.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780898751741
Publisher:	University Press of the Pacific
Publication date:	01/01/2001
Series:	Works of Frederick Schiller
Pages:	444
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 8.05(h) x 1.07(d)

About the Author

Frederick Schiller

Table of Contents

	Introduction	5
	Letters on the AEsthetical Education of Man	33
	AEsthetical Essays
	The Moral Utility of AEsthetic Manners	126
	On the Sublime	135
	The Pathetic	149
	On Grace and Dignity	175
	On Dignity	211
	On the necessary Limitations in the Use of Beauty and Form	230
	Reflections on the Use of the Vulgar and Low Elements in Works of Art	254
	Detached Reflections on Different Questions of AEsthetics	261
	On Simple and Sentimental Poetry	269
	The Stage as a Moral Institution	339
	On the Tragic Art	346
	Of the Cause of the Pleasure we derive from Tragic Objects	367
	Schiller's Philosophical Letters
	Prefatory Remarks	379
	Theosophy of Julius	387
	On the Connection between the Animal and the Spiritual Nature in Man	406
	Physical Connection	408
	Philosophical Connection	415