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Phantastes Chapter 5: Romance Of Sir Launfal, Thomas Chestre Jan 1960

Phantastes Chapter 5: Romance Of Sir Launfal, Thomas Chestre

German Romantic and Other Influences

A medieval poem of 1045 lines telling of a knight who loses status and wealth and who meets a beautiful woman who gives him love and wealth as long as he keeps her existence a secret. The motif of the lover’s prohibition appears in several medieval texts, and MacDonald makes use of this motif in this chapter.


Phantastes Chapter 6: Der Zauberring (The Magical Ring), Friedrich Heinrich Karl Jan 1813

Phantastes Chapter 6: Der Zauberring (The Magical Ring), Friedrich Heinrich Karl

German Romantic and Other Influences

Fouqué, Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte (1777-1843), is an important German writer who helped define German Romanticism. Fouqué’s Undine (1811) was the fairy tale that MacDonald cites in “The Fantastic Imagination” as the ideal fairy tale. Der Zauberring (The Magical Ring, 1813) follows Otto and his cousin Bertha as they go on a series of adventures to find the magic ring. This work, critics argue, influenced not only MacDonald but William Morris, Richard Wagner, and J. R. R. Tolkien.


Phantastes Chapter 8: Faust, Goethe Dec 1805

Phantastes Chapter 8: Faust, Goethe

German Romantic and Other Influences

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), was a German writer associated with the Sturm and Drang (Storm and Stress) literary movement. Faust 1 (1806) has Mephistopheles, a minion for the devil, seduce Faust into selling his soul to the devil. Faust, in turn, seduces a young woman, ultimately destroying her. In Faust 2 (1831), Faust goes on a series of adventures, meets some fairies, and finally atones for some of his sins and is able to enter Heaven.


Phantastes Chapter 7: Ballad Of Sir Andrew Barton, Unknown Dec 1764

Phantastes Chapter 7: Ballad Of Sir Andrew Barton, Unknown

German Romantic and Other Influences

“Ballad of Sir Andrew Barton” dates from the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1. It appears in the eighteenth-century collection of ballads and popular songs edited by Thomas Percy, Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765). Sir Andrew Barton was a Scottish sea captain who engaged in a sea battle with two English ships. He was killed in the altercation, but became famous for his bravery.


Phantastes Chapter 13: I Prithee Send Me Back My Heart, John Suckling Dec 1647

Phantastes Chapter 13: I Prithee Send Me Back My Heart, John Suckling

German Romantic and Other Influences

Lines 13-18 from “I prithee send me back my heart” by the poet Sir John Suckling. Suckling (1609-1641) is associated with the Cavalier Poets, poets who supported King Charles I. Suckling is the inventor of the card game cribbage.