Schillers Gott Bemerkungen zu den “Göttern Griechenlands”

Abstract

In his poem “Die Götter Griechenlands”, Schiller highlights the difference between an idealised classical Greek society conceived as an organic whole in harmony with itself, on one hand, and modern eighteenthcentury Europe, on the other, with its fragmentation and challenging materialism. It is argued that the author is more interested in emphasizing the task of art than condemning Christianity. In the last stanza, the beautiful in art is offered as the only possible means to preserve Sinn and humanity. The almost religious status which is given to art by Schiller is crucial for the German literary and cultural thought throughout the nineteenth century.