Friedrich Schiller is not merely one of Germany's foremost poets. He is also one of the major German contributors to world literature. In Germany, Schiller celebrations and commemorations still play a role in the formation of public opinion, and the undying words he gave to characters such as Marquis Posa in Don Carlos and Wilhelm Tell in the eponymous drama continue to underscore the need for human freedom. Schiller cultivated hope in the actualization of moral knowledge through aesthetic education and critical reflection, leading to his ideal of a more humane humanity. At the same time, he was fully cognizant of the problems that attend various forms of idealism. Yet for Schiller, ultimately, love remains the gravitational center of the universe and of human existence, and beyond life and death joy prevails. This collection of cutting-edge essays by some of the world's leading Schiller experts constitutes a milestone in scholarship that is particularly timely in view of the 200th anniversary of the poet's death in 2005. Special attention is given to both the paradigm shifts in Schiller's work in its development over time and the indelible imprint of the early writings on his later works. The contributors also remain sensitive to the multiple levels on which the poet was working. The volume includes in-depth discussions of Schiller's major dramatic and poetic works, his essays on aesthetics, and his activities as historian, anthropologist, and physiologist, as well as of his relation to the ancients and of Schiller reception in twentieth-century Germany. Contributors: Steven D. Martinson, Walter Hinderer, David Pugh, Otto Dann, Werner von Stransky-Stranka-Greifenfels, J. M. van der Laan, Rolf-Peter Janz, Lesley Sharpe, Norbert Oellers, Dieter Borchmeyer, Karl S. Guthke, Wulf Koepke.