Selected Poems

This new series brings into modern English a reliable translation of a representative portion of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s vast body of work. This edition, selected from over 140 volumes in German, is the new standard in English, and contains poetry, drama, fiction, memoir, criticism, and scientific writing by the man who is probably the most influential writer in the German language. The executive editors of this collection are Victor Lange of Princeton University, Eric Blackall of Cornell University, and Cyrus Hamlin of Yale University.Princeton University Press is proud to be the distributor of the twelve volumes in hardcover of the originating publisher, Suhrkamp Verlag. In addition, Princeton will issue paperback reprints of these volumes over the next two years, beginning with volumes one through three.

Goethe, the founder of the poetry of experience, created a body of poetry that is unsurpassed in lucidity of speech and imagery and in instinct for melody and rhythm. Nonetheless, many of his poems are relatively unknown to English-speaking audiences, partly because of the difficulties they have posed to translators. This volume contains translations, side by side with the German originals, of Goethe’s major poems–all prepared by eminent American and English writers, and all attesting to his poetic genius.

Goethe’s most complex and profound work, Faust was the effort of the great poet’s entire lifetime. Written over 60 years, it can be read as a document of Goethe’s moral and artistic development. Faust is made available to the English reader in a completely new translation that communicates both its poetic variety and its many levels of tone. The language is present-dayEnglish, and Goethe’s formal and rhythmic variety is reproduced in all its richness.

The reflections on art and literature that Goethe produced throughout his life are the premise and corollary of his work as poet, novelist, and man of science. This volume contains such important essays as “On Gothic Architecture,” “On the “Laocoon Group,” and “Shakespeare: A Tribute.” Several works in this collection appear for the first time unabridged and in fresh translations.