Its peculiarity lay in the fact that
although spiritual in its source, it yearned for psycho-physical unity,
and was therefore always slightly discordant. Rousseau was the first
exponent of this romantic nature cult and sentimental love of woman. He
represents the sharp recoil from the frivolity of the _ancien regime_,
and the beginning of the third stage of love. His _Nouvelle Heloise_
(1759) was probably the first work in which sentimental love found
expression. In Goethe's _Werther_ (1774), which is a faithful portrayal
of the poet's personal feelings, it was represented more powerfully.
Werther's love was purely spiritual at its inception. "Lotte is sacred
to me. All desire is silent in her presence." But in the end he desires
her with unconquerable passion; a dream undeceives him about the nature
of his feelings, and as he clasps her in a passionate embrace he is
conscious of having reached the summit of his longing. This would seem
the goal of modern love, embodying all its previous stages.
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