"
Mr. Arnold appeals to Goethe as an authority in his favour. In order,
therefore, that English people may know what Goethe thought about Byron
I have collected some of the principal criticisms upon him which I can
find in Goethe's works. The text upon which Mr. Arnold enlarges is the
remark just quoted which Goethe made about Byron to Eckermann: "so bald
er reflectirt ist er ein Kind"--AS SOON AS HE REFLECTS HE IS A CHILD.
Goethe, it is true, did say this; but the interpretation of the saying
depends upon the context, which Mr. Arnold omits. I give the whole
passage, quoting from Oxenford's translation of the Eckermann
Conversations, vol. i. p. 198 (edition 1850):-
"'Lord Byron,' said Eckermann, 'is no wiser when he takes 'Faust' to
pieces and thinks you found one thing here, the other there.' 'The
greater part of those fine things cited by Lord Byron,' Goethe replied,
'I have never even read; much less did I think of them when I was
writing "Faust." But Lord Byron is only great as a poet; as soon as he
reflects he is a child.
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