Goethe’s Venetian Epigrams

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749–1832), translated by Kline, A. S. (contact-email)

Goethe (1749-1832) was in Italy, and Sicily, from 1786 to 1788, his visit having a profound influence on his poetic and philosophical development. Closer contact with the remains, in Rome, of the Roman Classical world, and, in Sicily, with Classical Greek architecture, deepened his knowledge and understanding of ancient Greek and Roman culture, influenced as he had been by the writings of Winckelmann. Classicism tempered his initial leanings towards Romanticism throughout his later career. Iphigenia in Tauris (1787), the Roman Elegies (1795) the prose journal Italian Journey (1817), and the second part of Faust (1832), bear particular witness to this. Goethe revisited Venice in 1790, on a quasi-official mission, and the Epigrams which resulted from his visit give a more cynical and disillusioned, some might say realistic, view of Italy, and the city, prompted to a great extent by his personal life and circumstances at the time. His frankness regarding the erotic life, and his expressions of intense dislike with regard to fundamental aspects of Christianity, and contemporary religion, led to much criticism and disapproval of these Venetian Epigrams in his day, and some may still find them offensive.

Author Details

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, born on 28 August 1749 in Frankfurt, was a multifaceted German literary and scientific figure. His vast body of work spans poetry, drama, literature, theology, humanism, and science. Regarded as one of the preeminent figures in German literature, Goethe’s influence extended to Western philosophical and political thought.

Goethe’s early life in Frankfurt was marked by a comprehensive education, fostering a profound interest in literature and the arts. His novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” (1774) epitomised the Sturm und Drang literary movement and brought him instant fame.

In 1775, Goethe moved to Weimar, where he became a central figure in the Duke of Weimar’s court and engaged in diverse administrative, scientific, and literary activities. His Weimar period was marked by a prolific output, including major works like “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship”, and his involvement in the Weimar Classicism movement alongside Schiller and others.

Goethe’s scientific pursuits were as notable as his literary contributions, particularly in the fields of botany, morphology, and colour theory. His approach to science was phenomenological, focusing on direct observation and experience. His later literary works evidence his embrace of Classicism, and a turning away from Romanticism.

Goethe’s works, especially “Faust,” his most famous drama, have inspired countless adaptations in various artistic forms. His philosophical and aesthetic ideas continued to influence thinkers and artists long after his death on 22 March 1832, in Weimar. His legacy endures as a major figure in the transition from Enlightenment rationalism to Romantic subjectivism and beyond.

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Kline, A. S.

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