Hermann and Dorothea

By Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Translated by Ellen Frothingham




INTRODUCTORY NOTE

There are few modern poems of any country so perfect in their
kind as the "Hermann and Dorothea" of Goethe. In clearness
of characterization, in unity of tone, in the adjustment of
background and foreground, in the conduct of the narrative,
it conforms admirably to the strict canons of art; yet it
preserves a freshness and spontaneity in its emotional appeal
that are rare in works of so classical a perfection in form.

The basis of the poem is a historical incident. In the year 1731
the Archbishop of Salzburg drove out of his diocese a thousand
Protestants, who took refuge in South Germany, and among whom
was a girl who became the bride of the son of a rich burgher.
The occasion of the girl's exile was changed by Goethe to more
recent times, and in the poem she is represented as a German from
the west bank of the Rhine fleeing from the turmoil caused by the
French Revolution. The political element is not a mere background,
but is woven into the plot with consummate skill, being used,
at one point, for example, in the characterization of Dorothea,
who before the time of her appearance in the poem has been