N. Scheid

“ Eichendorff's development was even more strongly influenced by his sojourn in Heidelberg (1807) , where the triumvirate of romanticism, Görres, Arnim, and Brentano, had, in the "Einsiedler Zeitung", taken the field against pedantry and Philistinism. With the two last-named the young poet did not then cultivate a closer acquaintance — he certainly did so in 1809 at Berlin — but the lectures of the great Görres made a deep impression on him. Recommended by Count Loeben, Eichendorff's first poems were printed in Ast's periodical, among them the famous song "In einem kiihlen Grunde". ”

“ When Eichendorff, who was a stanch Catholic, was asked to defend the measures of the Government in public, he asked for his dismissal, which, however, was not granted till 1844. The succeeding years were passed mostly in Berlin, where the poet was occupied more with literary and historical than with poetical work; after the death of his wife (1855) he lived with his family at Neisse. Two years later, having finished his swan-song, the epic "Lucius", he died. ”

“ His best comedy "Die Freier" has been found very well adapted to the stage. In his later years Eiehendorff devoted his genius more to the history of literature. His history of the poetical literature of Germany (Kempten, 1907) , especially the description of romanticism, outlined as it is by one of its best representatives, is of lasting value, also the sketch of the German novel in the eighteenth century. His solid character and his strong religious faith raise "the champion of romanticism" far above his fellow-poets. ”