This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1872 Excerpt: ...brought back the author to the drama. "Wallenstein" is an epitome in the highest form of poetry of " The Thirty Years' War," out of the composition of which it directly grew. The hero is one of the grandest' figures in military history. A noble by family and nature, by birth a Bohemian, educated in Italy, imbued with ...
Read More
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1872 Excerpt: ...brought back the author to the drama. "Wallenstein" is an epitome in the highest form of poetry of " The Thirty Years' War," out of the composition of which it directly grew. The hero is one of the grandest' figures in military history. A noble by family and nature, by birth a Bohemian, educated in Italy, imbued with the astrologic learning and belief of his age, of immense power and wealth, the reward of his suc cess as a combatant at the head of large imperial armies on the great battle fields of his century, falling at last in the maturity of his powers, not by the hand of the enemy, but, unarmed, by the sword of a conspirator, there is something colossal in the man, as in the theatre of his achievements. Schiller has plucked this wonderful apparition from the page of history, an impersonation of ambition, and, adorning the character with the refinements of poetry and philosophy, has given it a thoroughly human interest, while the setting, with the profoundly pathetic loves of Max Piccolomini and Thekla, the daughter of Wallenstein, is as remarkable as the main figure. The work, for it assumes greater proportions than an ordinary tragedy, is in three parts; the first, "Wallenstein's Camp," a prelude as it were, in one act, introduces us to the picturesque scenery of these great wars; the second, "The Piccolomini," exhibits the plots and counterplots which are to end in the ruin of the great commander; the third completes the action in "The Death of Wallenstein." As the two latter parts have been admirably translated by Coleridge, the English reader has an opportunity of appreciating the merits of the piece, which De Quincey has pronounced "an immortal drama and beyond all competition the nearest in p...
Read Less
