Title: Frederick Schlegel 1772–1829
Creators: Walt Whitman, Unknown
Date: After 1854
Whitman Archive ID: duk.00189
Source: Trent Collection of Whitmaniana, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. Transcribed from digital images of the original item. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the marginalia and annotations, see our statement of editorial policy.
Editorial note: Passages noted from Schlegel have been identified as coming from Joseph Gostwick's German Literature, which was published in 1854 (Walt Whitman: Notebooks and Unpublished Manuscripts, ed. Edward F. Grier [New York: New York University Press, 1984], 5:1837).
Notes written on manuscript: On surface 1, in an unknown hand: "1"
Contributors to digital file: Lauren Grewe, Nicole Gray, Ty Alyea, and Matt Cohen
Had a strong predilection toward the wonderful and mysterious—
1803, entered Roman Catholic Church.—
Wrote "Philosophy of History,"—[illegible]most valuable idea tenet of which is,—"the inexpediency of destroying old institutions before new ideas are prepared to develope themselves in consistency with the order of society.—"
—Lectures "(History of Literature" 1811–12) have chiefly extended his fame
—He makes Literature the repre‑
sentative expression of all
that is superior in a nation—
thus elevating it, especially
poetry, far above the views of
trivial and commonplace criticism,
and regarding it as incorporating
and being the highest product
of human life and genius
—He appreciates the great masters of all countries, and sets them off from crowds of temporary persons
Prejudices—But remember in