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Question 4: Reference to the German poet Goethe in "The Poet"?

Q. I am doing a research paper on "The Poet." I have to include the literary reference to Faust and Goethe. Where can I find more information on it?

A. At the bottom of the fourth page of "The Poet" (Vintage Books Paperback Edition, 1972), "Amongst the treasures which the Councilor had collected in the great world and brought home to Hirschholm, there was none that he valued as highly as his recollections of Weimar, where he had lived for two years, and his remembrance of having once lived in the atmosphere of the great Geheimerat Goethe."

There is a good short discussion of Goethe (1749-1832) (who lived in Weimar) in "The Creators" by Daniel J. Boorstin.

In her book about Karen Blixen, Else Brundbjerg says that Karen Blixen was not an admirer of Goethe. Like her, he was a member of the Romantic school, but his characters failed because of their own flaws--unlike her characters who were the tragic victims of Fate.