ART. III.-1. Klopstocks Oden und Elegien mit erklärenden Anmerkungen und einer Einleitung von dem Leben und den Schriften des Dichters. Von C. F. R. Vetterlein. 1827-8. 2. Klopstocks sämmtliche Werke. 12 vols. Leipzig. 3. Klopstock und seine Freunde. Briefwechsel der Familie Klopstock. Herausgegeben von Klamer Schmidt, 2 vols. Halberst. 4. Klopstock. Er und über ihn. Herausgegeben von Carl Friedrich Cramer. 5 vols. Leipzig. GLEIM, the enthusiastic admirer of Klopstock, who adored the genius of the poet with all the affection of a lover, and loved the man with a jealousy as strong as death, said, that the author of the Messiah' required another Addison to point out his beauties to his countrymen. Without, for the present, disputing the equality of the German and English epic poets, or the critical qualifications of Addison, we may, with reason, question whether the literary merits of Klopstock are sufficiently appreciated by our countrymen. Klopstock is especially entitled to our regard, as being one among the few who have taught the Muses to 'contemn low earth, Decently proud, and mindful of their birth.' Like Milton, he addressed himself to a work, obtained not by the invocation of Dame Memory and her siren daughters, but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit, who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his Seraphim with the hallowed fire of his altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases.' The connexion between Poetry and Religion is of the highest antiquity, and nearest relationship. What is the sublimest poetry but religion, the truths of which, in all ages and countries, it has been its office to represent and embody in expressive symbols? And religion itself, though infinitely higher than poetry, by reason of its purity, and still more differenced from philosophy, as being itself the very principle of life, can only be suitably exhibited in those magnificent forms by which it is the business of Imagination to express, however mythically, the otherwise incommunicable ideas indelibly impressed on the human mind by the hand of its omnipotent Creator. "Twas God himself that first tuned every tongue, The poetical eminence, both of this country and of Germany, is principally owing to the religious advantages possessed by each. In both much-nay, perhaps, all-is owing to the spirit of Christianity by which the national mind is pervaded, and to the Reformation, through which the treasures of inspired wis dom, dom, which to the people at large had been for so long a period as a book sealed, and a fountain closed,' were made as universal as light, and common as air. This gave to the productions of genius a gravity and a pathos, an elevation and an importance, which in other lands, where the like influences have not operated, may be sought in vain. But in Germany the effects of these influences strike most upon the attention. Religion there is no coy and retiring maiden, but-unashamed to show herself in the guilds of the learned, and the places of public concourseshe presides in the lecture-room, and sits umpire among the arbiters of taste. Like philosophy, she is æsthetic as well as moral, and, other and better than philosophy, she is also divine. The literary men of Germany esteem themselves members of a perpetual priesthood intended to interpret the great mythos of the universe, and successively to assist in the revelation of that Divine Idea' by which it is supported, and of which it is only the manifestation, an imperfect one indeed, but in every age becoming more and more complete, ever progressing towards an ultimate and glorious development. Thus it is that religion is identified with all genius, and knowledge, and art, and reunited to that learning, from which some misinterpreters of scripture have injudiciously endeavoured to separate her consolations; forgetting that theology is the complement of all science, and the supplement to every acquisition of the human mind; religion being in its very essence of universal application, and eternally the same in all time and space, whatever be its assumed form, and however incumbered with superstitious inventions; and is, indeed, the product of that Divine Wisdom, which 'in all ages entering into holy souls, maketh them friends of God and prophets.' It must be confessed, that in this country we are not prepared to rate thus highly the labours of literary men, and there are not a few who will regard these pretensions as rather extravagant, if not greatly presumptuous. Still it must be acknowledged, on all hands, that there is something elevated in the idea, and laudable in the attempt, to realize it in the character and conduct of men of genius. In Germany, it has had the effect of restraining many such from those improprieties of behaviour, which have been too generally thought to coexist necessarily with superior intellectual endowment as a kind of set-off, whereby our nobler fellows may be reduced to the ordinary standard of humanity, and brought within limit of the poor conceptions, wherewith some persons would confine the almost infinite capabilities of the human mind; . . those improprieties, indeed, which have been too often justified, as 'faults that daring genius owes Half to the ardour which its birth bestows,' and and which, sometimes, it is the fashion to vindicate by such poor apologies as this 'Breasts to whom all the strength of feeling given By clouds surrounded, and on whirlwinds borne, Thoughts which have turned to thunder-scorch—and burst.' This extraordinary admiration may also be defended as the act of a gratitude in which Englishmen, if weighed in the balance, would, perhaps, be found to have been wanting, as having equal reason to be grateful, yet suffering others to excel them, (in appearance, though surely not in reality,) in the expression of a feeling which is of the very essence of religion. The German translation of the Bible not only opposed the influx of barbarism, but became the standard of classical expression, according to which Klopstock, and many other writers of the first rank, selected their phrases, and modelled their style. It also awakened the mind of the country, and gave birth to some meritorious attempts, religious, philosophical, and poetical,—not to be remembered without reverence and we are persuaded, that it would be well for many men of talent, as also for some dabblers in thought, if they were more seriously and frequently to study the sacred scriptures. Let the young man of genius, struggling with adverse circumstances, look upon himself as one of the noble brotherhood who had no honour in their own country, and yet were prophets, and willingly suffered for the ultimate advantage of the human race. This would be the way, indeed, to make all men of genius of one family, and to direct their attention to an exemplar, which would leave them no excuse or apology for a neglect of those more common duties, from which some have been encouraged in thinking that they were entitled to an immunity, through the possession of extraordinary talents. To Klopstock is justly due some of the praise, for having given this direction to the mind of his country. For this task he was peculiarly fitted, and not a little prepared, by the quality of the paternal influence, and other circumstances connected with the spring and morning of his life. It is supposed, indeed, that his father, who was a zealous Lutheran, secretly influenced the poet during the composition of his great work. He appears, for a while, to have resisted his own impulses to restore Abba Frederick Gottlieb Klopstock was born in the Abbey at Quedlinburg, July 2, 1724. He was the eldest of eleven children, six sons and five daughters. His father was the land steward of the domain, and occupied a part of it as farmer, dona dona to the regions of light, in amiable submission to his father's opinions. In a letter to Gleim, the old man speaks of a theological work in which he proposed to engage, and had been promised assistance by the former, whom he invites to a day's debate on the subject, to the exclusion of every other topic. A self-formed character, and like many such, somewhat singular in his opinions, and eccentric in his manners, and unfitted by habits of abstraction for the business of the world, he was during the latter part of his life reduced to a state of comparative indigence. In his father's library, we are informed by the venerable Bodmer, who published, in his Letters on Criticism, an interesting account of our author's boyhood, were many Sermons and ten Bibles, but no poetical work. Our poet soon distinguished the Bible with his preference, and made it his constant pocket-companion. While yet in his childhood, he was so well acquainted with the phraseology of Hebrew literature, and the figurative manner of representing ideas in the scriptures, that he used it unconsciously, whenever he would express himself with vigour. We can readily believe that the impressive representations of inanimate nature with which the poetical books of Job, the psalmists, and the prophets, are replete, were not without their effect on a mind so sensitive as Klopstock's. He was often heard, when he awoke in the morning, repeating whole chapters with an emphatic accent, like a poet reciting his own work. So deeply had those sacred descriptions impressed him, that he would frequently say the things themselves were not new to him, he had already seen them in the Psalms and the prophets. When he approached to manhood,' says Bodmer, the pathetic passages took the same strong hold on his heart, as the glittering and magnificent images had before taken on his fancy. A promise that fallen man should find mercy drew tears from his eyes; a trace of the immortality of the soul threw him into a transport of gratitude. Religion did not remain a mere speculation of the brain; it was a clear view of the greatness and glory of the Messiah; it was the pure feeling of love and grateful adoration. From this turn of mind sprung a style of writing full of poetry, before he had ever seen a verse, or knew any thing of prosody. He was a poet, while neither he nor his father suspected it. I have seen a letter which he wrote before he had attained his seventeenth year, to a youth of his own age, who seems to have been his only intimate acquaintance: it contained the following expressions. "My friend! Image of my mind! whom an invisible Son of Heaven raises up with me to higher hopes than those of the human herd; dost thou look on the tender youth VOL. III.-NO. VI. 2 A of of our friendship with that cheerful eye, which makes the innocence of youthful days cloudless, like the days of eternity? What dost thou feel in the expressions wherewith thy noble heart consecrates to thy friend more than merely a verbal friendship? Let us so ennoble it, by the rectitude of our minds, that He who pours down his blessings from heaven, may look down with pleasure on it."' It is not our design to write a life of Klopstock, with which the English reader may make himself sufficiently acquainted without our aid; but to produce a critical examination of his character and genius, with such illustrations from his life and writings, as may help to body him forth palpably and fully before the reader's vision. It has been said, that every poet is a religious man. The converse is equally true, if not more so, and of the remark no better illustration can be found than Klopstock. Him his countrymen are fond of comparing with Milton -but the two poets are rather to be contrasted, and this not so much in their defects as in their excellencies. Equally religious -nay, enthusiastic-the feeling was in one the ground, and in the other the growth, of their poetic power. Love has made many a poet; disappointed love, it is said, made one of Petrarch; but religion, which is the highest form of love, made Klopstock what he became. Hence it is that in all his works we perceive the enthusiast predominating over the poet. This remark will prove a key to most of his peculiar beauties and defects, and explain his occasional inferiority; and even, in some instances, his superiority to Milton. Not that Milton was less of an enthusiast, but his enthusiasm originated from another fountain, and flowed on within other banks. Religious enthusiasm is in practice generally exclusive, and shuts out many sublimities and harmonies, both of nature and art; but this would not be its effect, if religion were studied in its own spirit. Its obvious tendency is to enlarge the mind to lofty conceptions of nature and of man, and to impel us to acquire accurate and accumulated knowledge of both. But overpowered by the sublimity of the One object of its contemplation, and the habit of abstraction thereby engendered, the mind becomes frequently absorbed in devotion, and retires into another sphere of existWho shall lay any thing to the charge of such? Not we. We discourage not this high tone of feeling, this divine source of genuine inspiration. But this is not all which religion itself demands. Is it not social? Is it not, in its essence, charity? Religion consists in a spirit of self-sacrifice, and forbids any man to live for himself, forbids him even to enjoy these excesses of inspiration alone. The talents thus acquired lose half their value, unless put out to use, by being intelligibly communicated ence. 'to |