Of his various plays, _The Sons of the Valley_ (1803) and the
_Cross on the Baltic_ (1806) deserve mention for their religious
and mystic subject-matter, for which Werner himself has attempted an
explanation, though without adding to their understanding. _Martin
Luther, or the Consecration of Power_ (1807) is a pageant play of
great interest. Its recantation, _The Power of Weakness_, was written
after Werner's conversion. More important than these is his so-called
"fate tragedy," _The 24th of February_ (1810 per formed in Weimar;
published 1815). This day was a day of terror to Werner, for on it
he lost in the same year his mother and his most intimate friend. He
therefore in the play invests the day with a fatal significance, and
on it a malignant fate has especial power over the fortunes of the
persons of the drama; there is also a fatal requisite and a general
atmosphere of fatalism. The play started a whole series; some of
these were crude and weak imitations, others, like Grillparzer's _The
Ancestress_, were of great power. These plays were conditioned by
something in the air. Perhaps Napoleon, the man of fate, ruling the
minds and destinies of a whole continent, had something to do with the
philosophical background. Werner caught the fatalistic spirit, gave it
concise and logical form, and succeeded in producing a play which has
both atmosphere and logic of development.
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