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I have endeavored to bring together in an introduction. all the facts bearing upon Bodmer's first acquaintance with the English language and English literature and to arrange them in a logical order so as to form a consecutive and complete narrative of this event, so important for German literature. Certain phases of the subject have been worked up by Gustav Jenny in a thesis on Milton's poem in the German literature of the eighteenth century, and by Hans Bodmer in an essay on the beginnings of the Zürich Milton, to both of whom I am indebted for most of my material

especially

certain important, unpublished, letters in a private library in Trogen, and in the City-Library of Zürich, as well as for quotations from works that were inaccessible to me. Other writers whose works in particular have helped me are Bächtold, Mörikofer, Vetter, Braitmaier, and Edmond Scherer. I would direct special attention to the appreciative and sympathetic work done by Hans and Hermann Bodmer in conjunction with Theodore Vetter and others in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Jacob Bodmer. A complete bibliography is given at the close of the introduction.1)

1) Pages XXXI-XXXII.

Introduction.

A. Bodmer.

1. His Significance for German Literature.')

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The chief, if not the sole credit for the introduction of Milton to the Germans belongs to J. J. Bodmer - through his translation of Paradise Lost. It is true that two translators preceded him, Haake and Berg; but the one left only a fragment, which was soon forgotten, and the other performed such a clumsy piece of work that it only repelled, and remained unread. Through his study of Milton, his translation of the Englishman's poem, and his critical writings the latter inspired by the English author a consciousness of true poetry developed in Bodmer, and it became his aim to put the productions of this language into the hands of his countrymen. He was the more desirous of accomplishing this purpose because he recognized that English poetry was better adapted to the genius of the native idiom than was the French,— the monopolizing and hampering influence of which he was determined to combat. Prominent English writers were indeed already known by repute in Switzerland through the published letters of Voltaire and Montesquieu, as well as by those of Beat Ludwig von Muralt; nevertheless, it was the translations of Bodmer and his Swiss associates that made possible to

1) Authorities: chiefly, Vetter Zürich als Vermittlerin englischer Litteratur: Jenny - Miltons verlorenes Paradies: Hans Bodmer Die Anfänge des zürcherischen Milton. For full list of authorities and complete titles of works, see pages XXXI-XXXII.

the Germans an intimate acquaintance with the works of the English authors. So, in spite of the rude Swiss idiom of the first edition, and the subsequent translations by Zachariae (1760-3), Böttger (1846), and Eitner (1867), the credit belongs to Bodmer of having directed attention to Milton and to English poetry at a decisive moment, and of having thereby "brought the Germans back to their natural traditions, preparing the way for the revolution in German literature that came toward the end of the century.")

2. Brief Biographical Sketch of Early Life,

Showing Temperament and Training.2)

Johann Jacob Bodmer was born July 19, 1698, in the hamlet of Greifensee, situated in the Glatt valley, some six miles due east of Zürich. His parents were of respectable families; his father's name was Hans Jacob Bodmer, and his mother's, Esther Orell.

Early environment and training are of special significance in the case of Bodmer, for they exercised an important influence upon his literary career. The boy had few playmates; only two, in fact, are mentioned with any certainty. These were the sons of the Zürich governor, who resided for a time in Greifensee. In their company, Bodmer, as he states in one of his letters, delighted to roam through the woods and across the fields bordering upon the lake close by. In this same lake the boys were wont to bathe in summer, and over its smooth surface to glide with their skates in winter. But, after a time, his two friends departed, and Bodmer remained to wander, and bathe, and skate alone.

The solitude to which he was thus left developed in the boy a diffidence and reserve that proved of great disadvan

1) La Rousse, Dictionnaire du XIX Siècle, vol. 2, Paris, 1867, page 853.

2) Authorities: Hans and Hermann Bodmer, Mörikofer, Gervinus, and others: for works, see Bibliography, pages XXXI—XXXII.

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