To a Young Friend (As He Dedicates Himself to Philosophy)
By David Gosselin
Fortunate child! To you the crib is still a boundless space!
Become a man and see how small the boundless world becomes!
—The Child in the Cradle, Friedrich Schiller
In Schiller’s “To A Young Friend (As He Dedicates Himself to Philosophy)”, the poet recasts the Classical Greek ideal of honor, virtue and fortitude within the context of the most Herculean of all human enterprises—the quest for Truth.
A good number of Schiller’s poems deal with the human challenge of wrestling with the divine questions of philosophy i.e. the love of wisdom. On several occasions, Schiller’s poems depict younger, passionate souls who are sadly unprepared for the monumental task.
The consequences are fatal.
Examples include his novel The Ghost Seer and his poem “The Veiled Image at Sais”, among others. In The Ghost Seer, a young Venetian prince who sought the “peaceful quietude of a private life” wastes valuable time on superficial metaphysical speculations and indiscriminate, leisurely study.
Schiller writes:
“He read much, but without discrimination. As his education had been neglected, and, as he had early entered the career of arms, his understanding had never been fully matured. Hence the knowledge he afterwards acquired served but to increase the chaos of his ideas, because it was built on an unstable foundation.”
One after another, relatives in the royal line of succession mysteriously perish. As the prince moves closer and closer to becoming the heir apparent, shadowy political operators emerge. After a series of seemingly inexplicable circumstances, the prince is lured into a labyrinth of political intrigue and ultimately abandons his powers of discernment in favor of the magical and occult. In reality, what he believed to be supernatural events and inexplicable phenomena were simply the clever magic tricks of a seasoned Venetian intelligence operative.
In “The Veiled Image at Sais”, the neophyte can’t resist lifting the veil of absolute reality, which hangs over a mysterious statue of Isis. Against the counsels of an old Egyptian priest, the boy throws caution to the wind, breaches the temple, and resolutely raises the veil. The next morning, he’s found lying unconscious beside the statue’s pedestal, traumatized for the remainder of his short life.
In this light, Schiller’s “To a Young Friend” offers a series of heroic counsels and sagely maxims which are usually only haphazardly considered by Truth seekers. Composed as a series of couplets in epic hexameter, the verses explore a subject which is daring and heroic in spirit, but cautionary in nature.
The poem reads:
To a Young Friend (As He Dedicates Himself to Philosophy)
By Friedrich Schiller
The Grecian youth would have to overcome great enmity,
Before uncovering Eleusis’ deepest mysteries.
Are you mature enough to step within this sanctuary,
Where grey-eyed Pallas guards her hallowed wisdom’s treasury?
Are you aware of what awaits you there? How dear the prize?
That for uncertain greatness you must pay a certain price?
Are you resolved to bear life’s most exacting strife and woes,
Where heart and reason, sense and thought, must come to blows?
And are you strong enough to slay the everlasting beast,
The Hydra—doubt—to face the one within with manliness?
And with the shrewdest eyes, and playful innocence of youth,
To unmask all the fair illusions tempting you as Truth?
Step away if you cannot trust the guiding voice within!
Save yourself from the gulf, step away from the tempting brim!
Around the steps of those who sought the light, night’s often closed;
But in the gentle twilight, see how safely childhood goes!
Translation © David B. Gosselin
Like many of Schiller’s poems, “To a Young Friend” offers what we in modern speak might call a “teachable moment.”
Using images drawn from Classical Greek mythology, “To a Young Friend” describes the characteristics required of anyone hoping to wrestle with the higher questions of Truth and leap over the many chasms strewn along its way.
Perseverance and fortitude in the face of adversity and life’s monumental roadblocks are emphasized. But can strength and determination of spirit alone overcome life’s most legendary obstacles?
The poem’s conclusion cautions those who think so.
The discerning faculties required to appreciate what lies within the inner sanctum of Pallas-Athene’s sacred temple—her “hallowed wisdom’s treasury”—involve being prepared for situations, “Where heart and reason, sense and thought, must come to blows”. But how to prevail when neither thought nor reason alone suffice?
While self-determination and ambition are prerequisites for overcoming life’s greatest trials, the poem’s playful conclusion reminds us that night has closed around the footsteps of many ambitious individuals “who sought the light”.
So, what were they missing?
One of Schiller’s most famous maxims states that man “is only truly man when he plays.” But does that really mean having a Dungeons and Dragons-themed night with the boys or straddling monkey bars at your local playground? For Schiller, a man animated by a spirit of play never loses the wisdom of the naïve—of the childlike heart. Here, a childlike spirit ironically becomes the thing that carries men over life’s most perilous chasms. A purity of imagination and lightness of heart allows them to leap over the kinds of spiritual gulfs where heavier hearts and austere spirits must ultimately sink, due to the weightiness of their own stern conceits and rigid logical frameworks.
One can also think of Schiller’s poetical resolution as the combined wisdom of two of the most memorable, but seemingly contradictory passages from Scripture.
In 1 Corinthians 13:11, Paul declares:
“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things.”
Mathew 19:13 recounts Jesus stating:
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Schiller integrates these two forms of timeless wisdom into a metaphorical poem which resolves the ostensible opposition between two kinds of genius:playful imagination and rigorous reason, or a childlike heart and disciplined mind. The spirit which matures to full-ripened manhood and preserves its childlike innocence will be able to play through life’s most complex dramas. They will be able to leap over the seemingly infinite gulfs where some of history’s most determined Truth seekers have fallen.
David Gosselin is a poet, researcher, and translator in Montreal, Canada. He is the founding editor of The Chained Muse. His personal Substack is Age of Muses, where he publishes historical deep-dives, original poetry and a variety of writings for a new renaissance.
