he
reposes upon himself, and is elevated far above both praise and blame. I
was extremely happy near him; I felt becalmed like one who, after many
toils and tedious expectations, finally sees his dearest wishes
gratified.

_Thursday, September_ 18.--"The world is so great and rich, and life so
full of variety, that you can never want occasions for poems. But they
must all be occasional[9] poems; that is to say, reality must give both
impulse and material for their production. A particular case becomes
universal and poetic by the very circumstance that it is treated by a
poet. All my poems are occasional poems, suggested by real life, and
having therein a firm foundation. I attach no value to poems snatched
out of the air.

"Let no one say that reality wants poetical interest; for in this the
poet proves his vocation, that he has the art to win from a common
subject an interesting side. Reality must give the motive, the points to
be expressed, the kernel, as I may say; but to work out of it a
beautiful, animated whole, belongs to the poet. You know Fuernstein,
called the Poet of Nature; he has written the prettiest poem possible,
on the cultivation of hops.

"I have now proposed to him to make songs for the different crafts of
working-men, particularly a weaver's song, and I am sure he will do it
well, for he has lived among such people from his youth; he understands
the subject thoroughly, and is therefore master of his material. That is
exactly the advantage of small works; you need only choose those
subjects of which you are master. With a great poem, this cannot be: no
part can be evaded; all which belongs to the animation of the whole, and
is interwoven into the plan, must be represented with precision. In
youth, however, the knowledge of things is only one-sided. A great work
requires many-sidedness, and on that rock the young author splits."

[Illustration: THE GARDEN AT GOETHE'S CITY HOUSE WEIMAR After a Water
Color by PETER WOLTZE]

I told Goethe that I had contemplated writing a great poem upon the
seasons, in which I might interweave the employments and amusements of
all classes. "Here is the very case in point," replied Goethe; "you may
succeed in many parts, but fail in others which refer to what you have
not duly investigated. Perhaps you would do the fisherman well, and the
huntsman ill; and if you fail anywhere, the whole is a failure, however
good single parts may be, and you have not produced a p