Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller
1759～1805. German poet and dramatist. Together with Goethe, he played an important role in the “Sturm und Drang” movement. The major works of his Die Räuber(1781)、Wilhelm Tell (1804) and others. He also wrote essays on art under the influence of Kant such as Kalias oder Über die Schönheit (1793） and Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen (1795）. In Über die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen, Schiller explained on art's roles in education since Plato.
In 'The Use of Beauty' in Laurus Nobilis, Lee wrote: “Indeed, it has long been remarked (the poet Schiller working out the theory) that, as there is in man's nature a longing for mere unconditioned exercise, one of Art's chief missions is to give us free scope to be ourselves....Art may surely become the training-place of our soul. Art may teach us how to employ our liberty, how to select our wishes: employ our liberty so as to respect that of others; select our wishes in such a manner as to further the wishes of our fellow creatures."
In 'The Outdoor Poetry' in Euphorion, Lee wrote: "Ever since Schiller, in his "Gods of Greece," spoke for the first time of undivinized Nature, it has been the fashion among certain critics to fall foul of Christianity for having robbed the fields and woods of their gods, and reduced to mere manured clods the things which had been held sacred by antiquity."（P.129.）
The German aestheticism including that of Schiller seems to have had a great influence on Vernon Lee.
