Shorter Poems of Goethe and Schiller

IT is no longer necessary to excuse or defend the chronological arrangement of poetical selections, which lends an additional interest both to the individual poems and to the collection as a whole. It is believed that the present little book is the first attempt not only to treat the two greatest of German poets conjointly in this way, but to weave together the biographical sketch and the poems in chronological order. While, however, the advantages and charms of such a plan are self-evident, it must not be forgotten that each poem is to-be regarded and enjoyed also for its own sake as a work of art, without reference to the temporary and accidental circumstances to which it owes its origin and existence.