Oberon is an epic poem by the German writer Christoph Martin Wieland. It was based on the epic romance Huon de Bordeaux, a French medieval tale, and influenced by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Alexander Pope's version of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Merchant's Tale. It first appeared in 1780 and went through seven rewrites before its final form was published in 1796.
“To do nothing by halves is the way of noble spirits.”
Nichts halb zu thun ist edler Geister Art.
Oberon, Song 5, st. 30 http://www.archive.org/stream/oberon02187gut/7ober10.txt; translation from A. B. Faust (ed.) Oberon (New York: F. S. Crofts, 1940) p. 326.
“Saddle the Hippogriffs, ye Muses nine,
And straight we'll ride to the land of old Romance.”
Noch einmahl sattelt mir den Hippogryfen, ihr Musen,
Zum Ritt ins alte romantische Land!
Oberon, Song 1, st. 1 (1780) http://www.archive.org/stream/oberon02187gut/7ober10.txt; translation from Frederick Metcalfe History of German Literature (London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts, 1858) p. 109.
