"[15] But Eichendorff was then only
nineteen years old, and he later took this back. Herder was moved to
tears[16] on reading Loeben's _Maria_, but Herder was easily moved,
and he died soon after; he would in all probability have changed his
mind too. Friedrich Schlegel, on the other hand, was not justified in
calling[17] the pastoral poems in _Arkadien_ "Schafpoesie." Uhland
praised[18] these same poems; but he reminded Loeben in no uncertain
terms, that the chief characteristic of southern poetry was
"Phantasie," while that of the northern poets was "GemUeth," and that
the attempt to revive the spirit of Guarini, Cervantes, and their kind
was not well taken.
That Loeben has been so totally neglected by historians and
encyclopedists is simply a case of that disproportion that so
frequently characterizes general treatises. Loeben is entitled to some
space in large works on German literature; but he was, like many
another who has been given space, a weak poet. And the sort of
weakness, with which he was endowed can be brought out by a discussion
of two of his novelettes, _Das weisse Ross,_[19] and _Leda,_ neither
of which is by any means his best work, and neither of which seems to
be his worst.
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