Abstract

Feminella explores the ways in which Schiller both explicitly and implicitly addresses philosophical concepts in the poems “Ode to Joy,” “The Gods of Greece,” “The Artists,” “The Realm of Shadows,” “The Wordly Wise” and “The Metaphysician.” One of the most prevailing themes throughout his poetry is the precarious role of aesthetics in a world in which reason and scientific endeavors increasingly take center stage. Schiller’s poetry reflects on how art and aesthetic conceptions of the world can reconcile the paradoxes of the modern age and reconstitute the harmony and wonder lost by excessive rationalizing tendencies.