Atkins Explains Schiller Drama

Stuart Atkins, professor of German here at Harvard, discussed "Friedrich Schiller and Ideal Drama," in the final lecture of the Thursday afternoon series last week. He explained the nature of the German dramatist's idealistic philosophy.

Idealism for Schiller, Atkins emphasized, did not mean the offering of a Utopia, but rather a spirit of freedom which harmoniously combined feeling and reason. Nor was there any "blind romantic idealism" in the poet's system, for Schiller felt that pure freedom existed only in the realm of dreams and that practical freedom was limited by moral law.

Atkins also pointed out that Schiller was a "modern" poet since he knew the abyss between the real and the ideal could not be bridged. Schiller felt all art was merely a representation of idealism and should not be confused with real history. Action alone, not moral sentiment, determined drama.