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Editionsbericht
Literatur
Nor is it strange; for what, for the most part, mean we by Genius, but the Power of accomplishing great things without the means generally reputed necessary to that end? A Genius differs from a good Understanding, as a Magician from a good Architect; That raises his structure by means invisible; This by the skilful use of common tools. [27] Hence Genius has ever been supposed to partake of something Divine. Nemo unquam vir magnus fuit, sine aliquo afflatu Divino.
Learning, destitute of this superior Aid, is fond, and proud, of what has cost it much pains; is a great Lover of Rules, and Boaster of famed Examples: As Beauties less perfect, who owe half their Charms to cautious Art, she inveighs against natural unstudied Graces, and small harmless Indecorums, and sets rigid Bounds to that Liberty, to which Genius often owes its supreme Glory; but the No-Genius its frequent Ruin. For unprescribed Beauties, and unexampled Excellence, which are Characteristics of Genius, lie without the Pale of Learning's Authorities, and [28] Laws; which Pale, Genius must leap to come at them: But by that Leap, if Genius is wanting, we break our Necks; we lose that little credit, which possibly we might have enjoyed before. For Rules, like Crutches, are a needful Aid to the Lame, tho' an Impediment to the Strong. A Homer casts them away; and, like his Achilles,
Jura negat sibi nata, nihil non arrogat,
by native force of mind. There is something in Poetry beyond Prose-reason; there are Mysteries in it not to be explained, but admired; which render mere Prose-men Infidels to their Divinity. And here pardon a second Paradox; viz. "Genius often then deserves most to be praised, when it is most sure to be condemned; that is, when its Excel[29]lence, from mounting high, to weak eyes is quite out of sight."
If I might speak farther of Learning, and Genius, I would compare Genius to Virtue, and Learning to Riches. As Riches are most wanted where there is least Virtue; so Learning where there is least Genius. As Virtue without much Riches can give Happiness, so Genius without much Learning can give Renown. As it is said in Terence, Pecuniam negligere interdum maximum est Lucrum; so to neglect of Learning, Genius sometimes owes its greater glory. Genius, therefore, leaves but the second place, among men of letters, to the Learned. It is their Merit, and Ambition, to fling light on the works of Genius, and point out its Charms. We most justly [30] reverence their informing Radius for that favour; but we must much more admire the radiant Stars pointed out by them.
A Star of the first magnitude among the Moderns was Shakespeare; among the Antients, Pindar; who (as Vossius tells us) boasted of his No-learning, calling himself the Eagle, for his Flight above it. And such Genii as these may, indeed, have much reliance on their own native powers. For Genius may be compared to the Body's natural Strength; Learning to the superinduced Accoutrements of Arms: if the First is equal to the proposed exploit, the Latter rather encumbers, than assists; rather retards, than promotes, the Victory. Sacer nobis inest Deus, says Seneca. With [31] regard to the Moral world, Conscience, with regard to the Intellectual, Genius, is that God within. Genius can set us right in Composition, without the Rules of the Learned; as Conscience sets us right in Life, without the Laws of the Land: This, singly, can make us Good, as Men; That, singly, as Writers, can, sometimes, make us Great.
Erstdruck und Druckvorlage
Conjectures on Original Composition.
In a Letter to the Author of Sir Charles Grandison.
London: Millar; Dodsley 1759.
Unser Auszug: S. 26-31.
URL: https://books.google.fr/books?id=h1IJAAAAQAAJ
Die Textwiedergabe erfolgt nach dem ersten Druck
(Editionsrichtlinien).
Übersetzungen
Literatur: Young
Brandmeyer, Rudolf: Poetiken der Lyrik: Von der Normpoetik zur Autorenpoetik.
In: Handbuch Lyrik. Theorie, Analyse, Geschichte.
Hrsg. von Dieter Lamping.
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Brown, Marshall: The Poet as Genius.
In: The Oxford Handbook of British Poetry, 1660-1800.
Hrsg. von Jack Lynch.
Oxford 2016, S. 210-226.
Domsch, Sebastian: The Emergence of Literary Criticism in 18th-Century Britain.
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Berlin u. Boston 2014 (= Buchreihe der Anglia / Anglia Book Series, 47).
Duffy, Cian / Howell, Peter (Hrsg.): Cultures of the Sublime.
Selected Readings, 1750–1830.
Basingstoke u.a. 2011.
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Greek Myth, Reception, and Lyric Experience.
London 2022.
Hopkins, David / Martindale, Charles (Hrsg.):
The Oxford History of Classical Reception in English Literature.
Bd. 3: 1660-1790.
Oxford 2012.
Kind, John L.: Edward Young in Germany.
Historical Surveys. Influence upon German Literature. Bibliography.
New York: The Columbia University Press 1906.
URL: https://archive.org/details/edwardyounginge01kindgoog
S. 134-180: Bibliography of German Translations, Editions, Reviews, and Notices.
Krummacher, Hans-Henrik: Principes Lyricorum.
Pindar- und Horazkommentare seit dem Humanismus als Quellen der neuzeitlichen Lyriktheorie.
In: Ders., Lyra. Studien zur Theorie und Geschichte der Lyrik vom 16. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert.
Berlin u.a. 2013, S. 3-76.
Lynch, Jack (Hrsg.): The Oxford Handbook of British Poetry, 1660-1800.
Oxford 2016.
Patey, Douglas L.: "Aesthetics" and the Rise of Lyric in the Eighteenth Century.
In: Studies in English Literature 33 (1993), S. 587-608.
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Stewart, Dustin D.: Futures of Enlightenment Poetry.
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Edition
Lyriktheorie » R. Brandmeyer