ABSTRACT
Goethe’s poetry of the classical decade is like a serene high plateau. Beyond it rise the higher peaks of his late lyrical and philosophical poems, but it is itself already a mature achievement. We have seen what made it possible. Italy gave him certainties, Christiane emotional security in physical love, Schiller added a sense of community, clarity and firmness of purpose; he offset the moods of discouragement and carried Goethe with him in the execution of a literary programme. Of this Goethe’s poetry forms a part, just as much as do the collaborative projects, the Horen and Xenien.
