Excerpt from Die Jungfrau Von Orleans: Eine Romantische Tragoedie Mannheim in 1784. To this place the poet returned and here he stayed for two years, mostly supported by a small salary paid by the manager of the theatre. It was not mere poverty however, that led the poet to leave Mannheim, and at the same time to renounce that wild and revolutionary writing by which his first success was won. This style was as popular as ever when he turned away from it. In doing so he made a sacrifice of all hope of immediate success. His motive was noble, and is made clear by a lecture on the moral uses of the drama, which was delivered at Mannheim in 1784. At this time, he had brought to a conclusion the first period In his life - his youthful time of wild impulse already be had chosen another aim - an ideal standard of excellence; but how could he exist while he was qualifying himself for a higher career? Happily the question was answered by a friend - Christian Gottfried Kerner, father of the young poet who fell in the war of liberation. By the aid of this friend the poet was enabled to live and to devote himself to the studies required for the culture of his genius. With 1785 therefore, begins the second period in Schiller's life - the time of reflection and study. The change that took place in his character was first made evident in the slow progress of his fourth drama, Don Carlos, which was written at various times during the years 1784-7 - a time mostly devoted to self-culture. Viewed as a work of art, this drama was a failure. The poet's aim was a general moral reformation; the end gained was a re formation of himself. He was no longer a revolutionist in 1787 when he went to Weimar, then the literary metropolis of Germany. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.