This is the
achievement upon which their greatest fame will always rest. It is
one of the best collections of folk-songs and popular ballads in any
language, and has been of the greatest influence upon Germany. There
was no desire on the part of the editors to write a learned treatise;
they simply wished to gather together and record the folk-songs of the
Fatherland before they were lost forever. In Arnim's own words: "The
richness of this our national song cannot fail to attract universal
attention; it will surprise many; it will supplement many an effort of
our own times, or will render such effort needless. We expect a great
deal from the joyous happy life in these songs--a manifold, full tone
in poetry, an echo of very definite ideas, or an impulse to arouse
many a half-forgotten youthful memory. These poems will not only be
read, they will be remembered and sung. They embrace in their content,
perhaps the greatest portion of German poetry. They will thus set free
many an indefinite longing--a something which is not satisfied by much
re-reading."
Goethe greeted the new undertaking with enthusiasm and urged the
editors to "keep their poetic archives clean, strict, and in good
order." He, too, urged that "this book should be in every house where
joyful humans dwell, by the window, under the mirror, or where song
book and cook book lie. There it should remain, ready to be opened,
and there something should be found for every varying mood.
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