"He will always remain to me one of the most extraordinary apparitions of my life," wrote one; and he expressed the opinion of all who had the discernment to appreciate originality of gifts and character.

What they found unique in him was inspiration, passion, a zest of life, at a pressure that foreshadowed either a remarkable career or (at times his own dread) disaster.
It was said of Goethe in his latest years that the world would come to believe that there had been, not one, but many Goethes; and, as we follow him through the various stages of his youth, we receive the same impression.

It results from this manifoldness of his nature that he defies every attempt to formulate his characteristics at any period of his life.

In the present study of him the object has been to let his own words and actions speak for themselves; any conclusions that may be suggested, the reader will thus have it in his own power to check.
After Goethe's own writings, the works to which I have been chiefly indebted are _Goethes Gespraeche, Gesamtausgabe von Freiherrn v.
Biedermann_, Leipzig, 1909-11 (5 vols.), in which are collected references to Goethe by his contemporaries; and _Der junge Goethe: Neue Ausgabe in sechs Baenden, besorgt von Max Morris_, Leipzig, 1910-12, containing the literary and artistic productions of Goethe previous to his settlement in Weimar.

The references throughout are to the Weimar edition of Goethe's works.